Do I really need an assistant?

Welcome to Loan Officer Freedom, the #1 podcast for loan officers in the country. On this episode, you will hear a candid conversation between Carl White and loan officer Maria Wilder. 

Maria sent in some questions for Carl a couple weeks back and they went a little like this…

  1. If I can only make 1 hire at the present time, who should that person be?
  2. What does their pay structure look like?

They discuss what that 1st assistant does, how they help you close 5-7 more loans per month, what their pay structure looks like, and some huge landmines to avoid. 

Listen in as Maria shares some incredible growth in her business, having had her best month this past August closing a whopping 3.6M. Even in times like these, she stays the course by keeping the pipeline strong in ways that she reveals in this episode.  

One of the top questions you’ll be asking yourself after listening is “am I working with the right people?” Let us help map out what your course should be looking like to keep your pipeline strong. Schedule a complimentary call here.

How to close more of your “leads”

When people struggle with lead conversion, or “closing leads into loans”, it’s often because of one simple mistake…
The loan officer doesn’t actually have a “true” lead.
You see, there is a major difference between an internet “lead” and a true REFERRED lead… Huge difference.

See, 98% of the time (literally), an internet lead that the LO either buys for themselves, or worse, buys and gives to an agent thinking they are “bringing something of value”, they are actually making their life and their agent business worse… worse with useless clutter.

It’s totally not their fault, but…
…Beginning and low producing LOs fall into the trap thinking that in time they will actually convert the internet leads into closings…

But the reality is…
There’s practically nothing you can do to convince anybody of anything… unless they already want it, and 98% of the time, internet leads don’t “want it”.

You can’t wrestle your leads down until they give in, can you?
The only thing you CAN do is to find out who already wants what you have.
In other words…

You can’t turn someone into a 5-star prospect, but you can discover who already IS one.

And you can do this simply by using the following five-step criteria…

Number 1: They’re willing to engage in a dialogue…
Number 2: They’re friendly and cooperative when you talk with them…
Number 3: They know what they want…
Number 4: They know when they want it…
And number 5: They want YOU to help them.

Which is much much much more likely with referred leads than with internet leads.

But here’s the thing…
All five of these steps have to be true in order for you to be working with an ideal client.
You can’t skip ahead. And you can’t artificially speed the process up.
So instead of being focused on short-term results of trying to convert internet leads… 
Think of it as a long-term investment. Something you’re willing to spend your time on…

Which is getting REFERRED Leads

You patiently educate and motivate prospective referral partners… week after week…
Until they convince themselves that referring to you is the right thing to do.
And make no mistake. It’s always until THEY convince THEMSELVES.
Because you can’t wrestle anyone into using you as their lender.
So…

Step 1:  Focus on getting to know people who are already talking to your ideal client. 

Step 2:  Have conversations with those people and simply ask for referrals.

The end.

(Everything else is clutter and unnecessary work that is designed to keep you “busy” but not productive)

When you are ready to copy how we epically and successfully do Step 1 and Step 2…

Meet me here and I’ll give you the same exact demo that our top producers get in the Loan Officer Freedom Club.

Talk soon.

Carl White

Many thanks for my friend, Dean Jackson who taught me this simple message 15 years ago.  

Big Basics, Sneaky Tricks, and Resources

Welcome to Loan Officer Freedom, the #1 podcast for loan officers nationwide. In this episode, I’m joined by one of my favorite people and a good friend of mine, Colleen Wood. 

Colleen is a fierce leader with the Wood Team – HomeTown Lenders. She starts off this podcast mentioning how she credits Mortgage Marketing Animals and The Freedom Club – mortgage coaching programs – for where she is now, but I want to stress that the success is truly from her focused work as she continues to achieve goal after goal – and I’m so proud of her.

In this episode, she’ll share her strategies and mortgage marketing efforts behind the success story.

Hear what we refer to in our program as “getting a bigger cup” and why drawing a larger circle and realizing you can do the work anywhere is a game changer. 

We also discuss reasons why “milking the cows” until you can’t anymore – around your areas – is a better way to approach this idea rather than reaching for the expanded shiny objects a bit too fast.  

Tune in to hear some amazing tips that Colleen gives us and get the lowdown on the best way to make the most of the market today.

Want us to help you focus on your goals in the mortgage business? Let us help – schedule your complimentary call here and let’s get started.  

Sneaky Trick…

Ok, I’m not actually sure if this is officially a “sneaky trick”, but it certainly falls into the “clever” category…  read on…

Here’s how to get your clients to talk to you during your regular office hours instead of them wanting to talk to you after hours (that time is carved out for family or just chill’n).

This is a note that Loan Officer Freedom Club leader, Tyler Osby sent to me.  It’s absolutely brilliant:  <here’s his note and clever idea>

…Hey Carl, if you ever have a client that’s not willing to carve out the time to discuss their loan during business hours, I’ve been having a lot of success saying the following:

“No problem! We can find a time outside of market hours to discuss your loan!

Before we do though, I wanted to confirm you knew what that meant to your loan terms…

Did you know when the market is closed, you actually pay .125%-.25% higher in rate because of something called ‘overnight protection’?

We can do a call after-hours, but it could literally cost you $20-$60/month to do it. Let me know!

My goal is always to help you secure the best terms possible, so I wanted to make sure you knew what it meant!

Are you able to carve out some time for a brief break, or lunch break to avoid the increased payment?”

….Tyler told me that he’s never had someone NOT carve out time after saying that.

So yea, hopefully that helps someone if you’re still running into friction on after-hours appointments.

Just sharing some morning coolness that was shared with me, because that’s how we roll around here ☺ 

Be sure to thank Tyler next time you see him for sharing with us.

Loan Officer Freedom