You think this is hard?

A few years back, I found myself in my Ford F-150 pickup truck, sitting in the parking lot with my head in my hands thinking that this loan officer work was just too darn hard…

Leads were a little hard to come by, appraisals were slow, and I was having to make some difficult phone calls… <those are never fun>.

As I was having my own little pity party, I heard an inner voice tell me to look up.

When I did, I had a life changing moment.  Let me explain further.

When I looked up, on top of the building next to me, there were 3 men and 1 lady on top of the roof.  And this roof wasn’t like most roofs, it was a flat roof.

Well, from time to time with a flat roof, you have to “Tar Mop” it.

That’s where you get buckets of super hot tar (so it’s spreadable) and literally get kitchen mops, and spread the hot tar on the roof.

I did that one summer when I was in high school and I can tell you it was the hardest job I’ve ever done.  The tar was super hot, it splattered on my arms causing instant burn blisters, the fumes from the hot tar were almost as bad as the mosquito bites and the heat burned from the hot Florida sun.

As I looked up from my air conditioned seat in my truck that day and saw those 4 people working very very hard in the most miserable conditions, I heard “that voice” again…

“Carl, you want to know what hard work is, those 4 workers on that roof are experiencing hard work.”  It’s hot, spreading the tar is like spreading molasses, just backbreaking work…

… oh, and by the way, it pays around $14 an hour at best.

I then heard that voice one more time…

“Carl, I’m asking you to do 3 simple things to make more money than you could have ever dreamed of…”

I’m asking you to Talk, Type, and Think… Which you can do while sitting in an airconditioned room, in a very comfortable chair… no fumes, no mosquitos, no sunburn… all while making more in 1 month than the roofers will make in the entire year.”

Talk, Type on a computer, and Think.   Resulting in helping a lot of people, making lots and lots of money, and no tar fumes.

and here’s the other thing, we don’t even have to think too much because we can just copy the already super successful, well, as long as that’s who we’re hanging with instead of the doomsayers.

Once that was crystal clear in my head, I felt a wave of relief and gratitude wash over me like a warm blanket on a cold night.

So here’s the thing, we are not in “hard times” right now, we simply have to talk (saying the right things to the right people), type (communicate and follow up with those people) and think (again, this is minimized by hanging out with the winners).

Now, those that don’t do those things, those that try to do business the same way they did it last year, well, it could be a very very hard season for them coming up.  Don’t be one of them. 
We have to be adaptable and working the “purchase market plan” while talking, typing, and thinking. It’s really just that simple and doesn’t involve buying a bunch of widgets.

The Purchase Market Plan is exactly what we are mapping out on our coaching calls with our high level and high productions (while low stress) loan officers.  It’s absolutely amazing what can be covered, and the results some of the LOs get on even just 1 of these 1 on 1 calls.

If you want a free sample of what even just 1 of those calls can do for you, I’ll give you one.  <no credit card, no “trail”, and no strings attached>  We’ll help you with what to say, who to say it to, how to communicate with them, and what the top producers are thinking… you know, their Purchase Market Plan.

Free Sample 1 on 1 Coaching Call

Just go here
and we’ll help you with the right activities, the right conversations, and with the right people… right now ☺.   Why, because that’s the way we roll around here.

-Carl “this is really easy” White 

Sort Out the Who and What By Using The ‘Axe of Freedom’ In Your Mortgage Business

Help your business sort out the who does what on the team so that there’s no cracks in the system.

This simple strategy, called “Axe of Freedom”, is a method used by our loan officer coaching program to sort out the where/when/how/who/what so that when the ball is hit to center field, there aren’t three people standing around wondering just who’s ball that is as it drops to the ground. Ooops.

We use this to make sure nothing gets mixed up for management purposes as well as the individual team member’s checklist – by keeping things organized and laid out in a simple to use approach. It also comes in very handy if you need to replace someone in a certain position, since you have a whole job description basically written out for you already. 

Closing Gift Myth

Someone asked the other day what the best and most effective closing gift was. 

There’s no need to leave a lasting impression when you continue giving impressions using this simple to use follow up strategy that we implement here at Mortgage Marketing Animals

It’s crucial how you follow up. Let me help you…

  1. Call with a simple script 4x per year
  2. Snail mail 1x per month
  3. Email with a certain type of content

“Follow up trumps a closing gift every time.” Complimentary Gift: Free one hour coaching session for a focused strategy or let’s map out your next 90-days.

“Who turned off the “more loans” switch?”

Another branch manager that I hadn’t seen or spoke to in a few years called me up the other day.

“Carl, who turned off the “more loans” switch?” he asked me in a panic.

First of all, we have to have clarity of the current situation.  Here’s the truth:

2022 is expected to be the best year ever for purchase mortgage business.

Yepper, you heard that right… 2022 the purchase business is expected to be $1.739 TRILLION.  Just for comparison, 2021 was $1.646 Trillion in purchase mortgage business (2nd only to this year’s projections).

So what in the heck is everybody worried about?  This is going to be the best year EVER for purchase mortgage business (just in case you forgot I said that just 1 minute ago).

Ahhhhhhh, oh, I see, some LOs haven’t been doing our referral partner marketing as part of their weekly routine.

Ok, here’s the thing, It’s not your fault, I see this kind of thing all the time.  Many of our mentors just shared what worked for them way back, and it did work for them way back.

No big deal, it’s going to be ok, we just need to map out how to get agents to refer to us, and it’s not buying Zillow or online leads and dumping those things that will never close on their desk like a pile of rotting fish.

The reason I focus on referral partner marketing is the CLV (client lifetime value) is soooo much higher with them.  You see, with each dollar invested and with each hour invested, the return on investment is so much higher with referral partners than consumer direct.

Focusing on “consumer direct” is like trying to fill an empty lake by buying buckets of water.  It would cost a fortune and likely evaporate faster than you could fill it that way.

If we want to fill a lake, we need to dig a well, and then run a hose from that well to the lake.  In short order, we will be ready to enjoy the fruits of our smart (and wayyyy easier) activity.

While I do some consumer direct, for market research purposes for ongoing loan officer training that I offer and for research for my own mortgage branch, I can tell you that the referral partner marketing is what has made my branch one of the most successful in the entire United States industry… and without overly exerting myself.

So that’s where you and I together want to spend the majority of our time.  When we do, all the stress of “what am I going to do” all goes away. ☺

As the famous hockey player said, “Go to where the hockey puck is going, not where it’s currently at..”

It’s a purchase game, and the next two years are slated to be the best purchase market ever, let’s just go there together. ☺
Focus on referral partner marketing and the good news is, we just have to put into place a simple, easy to implement, predictable process to make that happen.

If you need help mapping out a plan to get more purchase loans that are referred to you, without ever buying another lead, let’s get on a 1 on 1 zoom call here.  <no charge>.

Talk soon.

If You Are Grinding, You Might Be Doing It Wrong

On this episode of Loan Officer Freedom, the #1 loan officer podcast in the world, you will see the simple tweaks that have taken many LOs from working 60 hours a week and closing a few loans per month, to working 40 hours a week and actually closing more…all without buying anything. 

I remember someone said some words to me that changed how I thought about being the “working stud”. Those words went something like this… “Hey Carl, if you think there’s no such thing as work/life balance, you’re doing it wrong”. 

After a little bit of time really thinking on those life changing words, I started realizing that doing what the top producers around me do, it’s achievable. And it was. 

So, here’s the deal. We do these very simple set of activities first thing in the morning, and these are the things that get you more loans in less time

Tune in to hear about how I roll out the Daily Success Plan.   

Jump on a 1 on 1 call today with someone from our team to learn how to stop being so busy building the farm, that you’re forgetting to milk the cows.