"Grilling New Connections: Unconventional Refrerral Sources!"

[00:00:37] Speaker A: Hey, welcome to Mortgage Me. Marketing education activities and tips for mortgage loan originators. Kicking off 2025 with my good friend Samantha Steen, the selling machine. [00:00:47] Speaker B: Love it. Hi, everybody. Happy to be here. [00:00:49] Speaker A: Well, you know what? Before we get into the show and talk about the exciting topic that you have planned for us. [00:00:55] Speaker B: Yes. [00:00:56] Speaker A: We have a few questions. [00:00:57] Speaker B: Okay. [00:00:58] Speaker A: Mortgage meat. As much as we love the mortgage industry, we love steaks, and we love to eat. Favorite steakhouse. [00:01:05] Speaker B: Favorite steakhouse, sadly just closed. It was called. I know it was called Rembrandt's in Placentia. And, like, the best steak with a nice chimichurri sauce. Chef's Kiss Chimichimi bang bang sauce. We love to go there all the time, close down. So I would say my. My current is, like, teppanyaki. Like, it's called bari bari. So you know, where they're kind of the Benihana style. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Okay. [00:01:35] Speaker B: They throw the garlic in there. Yeah. Chef's kiss, but yeah. [00:01:39] Speaker A: Nice. So at Rembrandts, what was the steak you would get? [00:01:43] Speaker B: New York steak, medium, with some chimichurri sauce. [00:01:47] Speaker A: There you go. [00:01:47] Speaker B: And you. Yeah, I'm. In fact, we're a little bit upset about it still. [00:01:51] Speaker A: Well, anybody out there if you want to open up? Great steakhouse. Ample center search. [00:01:57] Speaker B: There's a need. [00:01:58] Speaker A: There's a need. At least one person will bring. [00:02:01] Speaker B: Bring one family. I got a crew. Yeah, we got a crew. We'll do it. [00:02:04] Speaker A: What kind of sides did you like to get there? [00:02:06] Speaker B: I'm like, kind of a baked potato girl. Yeah. So pretty sour cream and chives. What about you? I mean, nothing too fancy. [00:02:12] Speaker A: Well, you know anyone who's seen the show, I talk about almost the same thing. Usually it's Dab's Steakhouse, which is my house. [00:02:19] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:02:20] Speaker A: Grilled ribeye. You know, my father and I had Sunday dinners all the time. [00:02:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:02:24] Speaker A: Special things for us. And we would just make baked potatoes with sour cream, you know, of course, salt, pepper, the green onions. [00:02:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Extra green onion. Don't come at me with just a few sprinkles. [00:02:39] Speaker A: So. So. Well, that's always the most important thing is food. In my life, food does bring us together, which, you know, interestingly enough, food is another way that you could probably make some new connections. Right? [00:02:50] Speaker B: That's true. [00:02:51] Speaker A: So today's episode is called Grilling New Connections. And we're talking about unconventional referral sources. So Samantha and I were chatting the other day about, hey, look, we're starting a new year. Everyone's looking to expand their business. Last Year wasn't necessarily the easiest year in the mortgage industry. So, you know, what could we learn from each other and hopefully have a more successful year? [00:03:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:11] Speaker A: So how did you come about these topics? [00:03:13] Speaker B: You know, I talk to loan officers every day. I'm really focused in my role on how can I help my customers do more business. And so in talking to loan officers every day, you start to also see some trends and see sometimes low hanging fruit of. Okay, everybody's kind of focused here, but nobody's really paying attention over here. So it gives me a great opportunity, my entire team to really look at, hey, how can we bring some different ideas and solutions so that, you know, everyone's fishing in the same pond? How we. How can we help them over here with some clear waters. [00:03:46] Speaker A: So one thing I forgot to mention. Samantha Steen is with mgic. [00:03:50] Speaker B: Yes. [00:03:51] Speaker A: If you don't see her cup over there, we got cool cups today. We've got the mortgage meat cup, the MGIC cup. So she handles mortgage insurance. [00:03:59] Speaker B: Yes. [00:04:00] Speaker A: If you have any questions about mortgage insurance. Also just education. One of the reasons I invite her here today, MGIC has a good platform of learning tools for loan officers to learn more. [00:04:12] Speaker B: Yes. [00:04:12] Speaker A: How to do income. What is mi? A lot of different questions. Oh, yeah, I should start with that, but that's okay. [00:04:17] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Am I the greatest slowdown payment tool ever invented? Come on, we're talking about meat here. [00:04:23] Speaker A: Yes. There's a new M in meat. Am I? [00:04:29] Speaker B: Yes. [00:04:30] Speaker A: Okay, so we were talking about. Now you guys run some sort of a test, right? Or a survey that you were showing? Yeah. [00:04:37] Speaker B: So we do a loan officer survey. We've done it the last several years. We got about a thousand respondents, maybe a little bit more than that. And we just asked them a series of questions and it's very enlightening. And there was a whole section on referral sources. And so when you and I were started talking, it's like, okay, this kind of rings true to what I see out in the field and what you and I have talked about. The statistics really ring true to what we see. And I thought, yeah, it's a great opportunity for us to highlight some, some things that people aren't thinking about. And the stats show it. [00:05:09] Speaker A: So sounds good. So I guess, you know, what do the stats tell us has been the most common or number one referral source. [00:05:15] Speaker B: Number for loan originators. Yes, for loan originators. Top two past clients at 84% and then real estate agents, 84. So top two. They were actually tied in our survey. And I Think common to what we hear as we talk to loan officers every day as well. [00:05:30] Speaker A: And you know, the thing too is that I know there's real estate agents that also follow mortgage meat. Out of the six followers, I think three or four. No, but. But here's the thing. Is a lot of stuff we're talking about today is ways for us to all work together. Right. How do los work with realtors? How do realtors grow their base? That might refer back. So many of these referral sources aren't just for a loan officer. They could be for real estate agent as well. [00:05:55] Speaker B: To help expand 100% networking, getting your name out there and everybody is so important in the transaction. [00:06:02] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:03] Speaker B: And so it's a great way if a loan officer is expanding or realtor, they're bringing in their partners. [00:06:08] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:06:08] Speaker B: Which is great. [00:06:09] Speaker A: Sounds good. So when we started talking about unconventional sources, you know, I had the luxury of being involved with sales coach years ago. Who? My company. 26 years ago. It was like Sandler Sales. I believe they're still around. But they did an event one day where they brought in all these balloons we actually duplicated. You may have been at the event for camp a couple of years ago. [00:06:34] Speaker B: I know what you're talking about. Yeah. [00:06:35] Speaker A: And so what we did is we wrote almost like little fortune cookies and rolled them up and put them into every one of the balloons, and nobody knew what it was. At first, I was really cool. There's balloons down the aisles of the conference, and we told them, grab a balloon and pop it. And inside each one was a different potential source. And I would encourage people, if you want to get your team together, take some of the topics we talk about today and do the balloons. It's crazy. You pop that balloon and it gets everyone, you know, excited or whatever, maybe scared. [00:07:03] Speaker B: They're anticipating for sure what's going to. [00:07:06] Speaker A: Happen when you pop this balloon. And the idea is that if I'm a loan officer and I have a group of realtors that have been phenomenal referral partners, that is one of my balloons. And that's awesome. But if I'm going to grow my sphere, maybe I need another balloon. [00:07:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:20] Speaker A: And so we want to talk today about what some of those other balloons could be. [00:07:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:07:24] Speaker A: So what are some thoughts? [00:07:25] Speaker B: Yeah, there are a lot. So when you think about. It's funny because we were just talking about our kids right before we hopped on here. [00:07:35] Speaker A: Shout out. Always talk about our kids. Princess Daisy. Love you. By the way, it's her birthday today. Good. Shout out. Happy birthday. Daisy. [00:07:45] Speaker B: And you know, it's interesting, my youngest daughter went through high school sports. She was a cheerleader. And I at the time, there was a lot of pressures for like the Sports Boosters Club. And, you know, you, whoever, if your kids in sports, if they're a football player, whatever they were, the baseball team, there's some pressure on your kid to get these sponsorship dollars for the boosters. Right. And so if you could get a business or somebody to sponsor, it was a big deal. So if you were like, it was like 250 bucks. I mean, you know, she's 26 now, so inflation, I don't know, 250 bucks and somebody would have their banner, their business banner up at the football games. And I can tell you the loyalty from us parents because it was a lot of pressure on your kid. It's a lot of money to do these, you know, sports activities. And so we would reward those businesses and we would go to those restaurants. There was a dentist, I'll never forget a dentist. I was like, you go to this doctor. And so I thought, gosh, something so simple as that. But building trust. People do business with people they like, know and trust just in your local community. Things that are. Don't cost a lot of money but can really create some loyalty and get your name out there. I think it's a great idea to that point. [00:08:57] Speaker A: You know, there's Jeffrey Gittermer, the author that I love. He has. Yeah, I have a quote. We'll get you on here one day, Jeffrey. Yeah, but there's a quote in one of his books. It says that people, let's see, all things being equal, people would rather work with people that they like and trust. Right. Things not being so equal, meaning we get shot to death for rates as a loan originator. Right. Maybe your rate isn't even the lowest, but it's competitive. They'll still work with you if they like you and trust you. I think that's the win. Right. Because if you can take off, there's a lot of concerns about why AI is going to take your jobs or the Internet's going to do this. I'll tell you what, in my line of work, I get to talk to a lot of loan originators. And the number one source that I see for most of them is still people working with people. And I think that that's where you can win. If you just go online, it's just about price. It's a tough battle. [00:09:48] Speaker B: Right. [00:09:48] Speaker A: Or you're just always undercutting yourself. But to develop Relationships, you know, another fun one that we're talking about. That's not. I don't think a conventional thought of getting business is going bowling, you know, so years ago I was in the title insurance business and one of the realtors I worked with had set up a, like a realtor bowling event. And imagine this. It doesn't have to be realtors as happened to be, but what if you just joined a local bowling event or what do they call it? League, Bowling league. Sorry, unprofessional. My dad was pretty good at it, but so you think about it and you meet once a week and they go in there and there's 10 different teams or whatever, and each week you're. You're bowling in a lane against one of these other teams. We have an opportunity to meet four, I think was four, maybe five people on each team, and you get to spend a little time with them. So I thought, okay, great. So imagine you go in there and you just said, okay, you know what I'll do? I'm the local realtor and hey, Keith Realty is going to buy a pitcher of beer for everybody to get started. Big deal. You spent 100 some bucks to get everyone to pitch your beer. But you know what they're gonna do? They're like, hey, yeah, thank you. [00:10:57] Speaker B: Yes. [00:10:58] Speaker A: By the time you've bowled with everybody there, you just expanded your reach to probably another, you know, four times 40, 50 people. [00:11:05] Speaker B: That's a great idea. [00:11:06] Speaker A: Got to know and like you. So again, think of things that are maybe a little bit different. People love their kids, people love their pets, people love their neighbors. Right. So what can you do to be involved in something like that? That I have a gentleman I worked with for years that he was very involved with his school, his kids, sports. [00:11:23] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:23] Speaker A: Got a tremendous amount of business. [00:11:25] Speaker B: Yep. [00:11:25] Speaker A: So I think that's huge. One of the other ones that we've talked about before is different kinds of attorneys. Right. [00:11:33] Speaker B: Yeah. So I recently this, this last year in 24, came across a strategy. There's a divorce lending. Wait. Divorce Lending Association. I didn't even know that was a thing. But it's a thing because divorce is great. [00:11:52] Speaker A: People always hate it when I say that. But it could be great because you could get two loans. [00:11:57] Speaker B: Okay, I'm gonna flip that. I'm gonna say divorce is terrible, but if you can help people when they're in a very difficult time in their lives, that is great. So I think that's the. [00:12:07] Speaker A: Yeah, that's what I meant to say. [00:12:08] Speaker B: Yeah, I know that's that's what keeps. Of course that's what he meant. But, you know, I'm married 30 years. Most of my friends are married. And we, we had some close friends that recently, after 27 years, unfortunately had a party of the ways. I won't get into that. But, but seeing. [00:12:27] Speaker A: We want, we want the tea. [00:12:28] Speaker B: We want the tea. I don't. We should do mortgage tea at tea time. Seeing my, one of my very close, close girlfriends finding herself in a position to look and go, okay, are we selling the house? She's still got some young kids. What do we do? What's the interest rate? What's the payment? Should I pull from our retirement? Do I buy him out? All of these really challenging questions. When you're dealing with a heartbreak, it can be overwhelming. So to have somebody come alongside that can provide some professional information, I want to just, even before we get to the attorney, talk to my friend because she happens to be close friends with five other people. And I'll tell you, anybody that's coming to her rescue during that, you're automatically getting some goodwill with everybody else in that circle. So just coming alongside to provide some information and to be there during a difficult time is huge. Then you look at the divorce attorney. So, you know, you've got mediators. There's a whole list of different. We think of divorce attorneys. They actually like to be called family law professionals. So something else I knew. So we're not going to say divorce attorney, family law professionals. They actually need help because just because something is legal doesn't mean you can do it in lending. Right. So when they're trying to come up with, how are we going to settle this? They might come up with an idea that, that just doesn't work. Now we've got one income, not two. Can somebody refinance? Does it make sense? So having a mortgage professional involved in that negotiation process is a really big deal. So you have an opportunity to not only work with divorce family law professionals, but also think of that, the goodwill of coming alongside people during a most difficult time, and the Divorce Lending association for you loan officers out there, you actually can become certified to provide continuing education to family law professionals. So talk about building some trust and credibility. There's even some opportunity to earn fee income so you can get paid for your advice or being a witness. So there's some way to supplement your income in a different way. [00:14:37] Speaker A: Ka ching nugget. [00:14:41] Speaker B: That just sizzled. [00:14:42] Speaker A: Yeah, that just sizzled. What they can't see is that we actually have our camera up On a barbecue, on a barbecue griddle that I. [00:14:49] Speaker B: Should take a picture. [00:14:50] Speaker A: Post that later. Speaking of sizzle. But you know, it's funny is I had, I still have a friend who's a real estate attorney that I work with, you know, pretty frequently or at least five questions I ask him and he's asked me questions. And I think when you can develop that kind of relationship too, these aren't just, you know, oh, I'm going after this to get business. Can I be a resource to this attorney when they have a question that I might know an answer to and they can, I call upon them. And that's really what it means to me when you think of a professional network. Yeah, it's not a one sided thing, it's not some marketing thing. I'm just going to pay this money, I'm going to get something back. It's just like we develop these relationships with our peers that are, let's say if you're a loan officer and they're realtors and the title reps that you work with and escrow companies. But think of these other folks, how can you help them to your point, like if you can help their continuing education, if you can help them understand what you do to better serve and. [00:15:45] Speaker B: Then reciprocality I will say too just to know, you know, divorce doesn't equal a loan. Right. So you could be spending some time giving some advice. But that's why I pointed to you don't know who they're friends with, who's their circle. So you might not necessarily get a loan just because somebody's going through a divorce. But what business? How are you expanding your sphere of influence and then building that trust and credibility. So that's huge. And then possibly fee income. [00:16:09] Speaker A: So sounds good. [00:16:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:16:11] Speaker A: So one of the things that I was thinking about is how would you locate a family law attorney? And I thought I found out how you can do it. [00:16:21] Speaker B: Okay. [00:16:22] Speaker A: All you do is go on Instagram and look for a family law attorney and then don't do anything else because with technology nowadays they'll just start popping right into your space. It's really a great tool that'll work for pretty much any one of the people we're looking at. So yeah, just do as a Google search. Yeah, Google will send them right to you. [00:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah, well, and you know there's there, we also talk about financial planners. There's actually financial planners that specialize with divorce. So imagine the help that they need on the assets. And you know, so like I said, under family law professionals, there's a few different headings including financial planners. [00:17:00] Speaker A: So which by the way, let's talk about that. Yeah, Financial planners are a great resource. They know people's financials. They know, hey, you know what, you either have more money, maybe you could put in an investment property or why don't you want a home? You're not getting a tax break. So again, don't think of it just at tax time. I know a lot of people say, oh it's tax time, I'm going to call CPA today. Probably not the time to call. [00:17:21] Speaker B: Yeah, right. [00:17:22] Speaker A: That's probably when they're going to be overwhelmed. But think about, you know, just after the tax crunch, just after the main tax season. [00:17:28] Speaker B: Right. [00:17:28] Speaker A: And try to, you know, become a resource for them. [00:17:31] Speaker B: Right. Well and think about, financial planners are motivated. You know, they don't like when somebody pays all cash for real estate or makes a large down payment because they're, they're losing money. They, they get rewarded on, you know, the more assets, the higher they're going to make themselves. So they're highly motivated for somebody not to pay all cash for real estate or make a large down payment. So just even your education there on, you know, does it make sense for somebody to get a loan? How much should they put down? What's the return on investment are they going to have? [00:18:01] Speaker A: That's the point. I was biting my tongue over here. So you think about it. Let's say you take a million dollar property for easy math, which is probably a lot of properties in Southern California. On average we've seen 5% growth in real estate since my entire life. I think in California. Sure. There's going to be. First of all, I don't verify anything here on mortgage. We say what we think and you. [00:18:23] Speaker B: Can do your own homework. [00:18:24] Speaker A: We don't guarantee any of the data. [00:18:26] Speaker B: Yeah. There's a legal disclaimer ticker. [00:18:29] Speaker A: However, historically it's been about 5% a year. So if you had a million dollars and you bought a piece of real estate with 10% down. [00:18:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:18:37] Speaker A: So you put in $100,000 and you made 5% on that million dollar assets you're controlling every year. Well, you're making $50,000 a year. Right. If you have a financial planners, you can chime in later, I don't know what their yields are, but let's say their yields were also just 5%. Why would you take all of your million dollars if you have it deplete your retirement and savings and other assets just to control a million dollar assets? So Again, not giving any financial advice or legal advice, but I think it's a discussion you should have because it seems like it would be better to have more assets earning at the similar rate. And I'm sure there's folks that will tell us that can get a better than 5% rate on their financial assets. Right. [00:19:21] Speaker B: Well, and that's. I mean, I think that's the beauty is we're talking about giving. Helping somebody with the largest financial decision of their life. Right. Their home, their largest asset. And if you can involve multiple professionals to put somebody in the best spot possible, that's huge. So financial planners benefit, you know, are benefiting from. [00:19:40] Speaker A: You're. [00:19:40] Speaker B: You're giving advice on the mortgage side. You know, it's interesting because financial planners also have to have continuing ed education. And I did a little research and looked at the classes that they. There's. There's a few. One of the largest financial planner associations who provides the most continuing ed. It's like 246 classes. Only four deal with mortgages. Can you guess what topic those four classes are on putting you on the spot here? Reverse mortgages. So the. Only. All four are on reverse mortgages. So when you think about the. From an education standpoint, really what a loan officer and a realtor has to bring to the table to help a financial planner, it's a great yin and yang. I also love a story. I had a co worker up in Northern California years and years ago, had a best friend who's a financial planner in a building with two mortgage companies, stopped by his office and he said, hey, do you ever talk to so and so? And he goes, I have never talked to one loan officer and they're in the same building. So also, you know, we kind of talk about everybody's casting their. Their poll over here. If you want to fish in less muddy waters, you know, expand your network, but also you're bringing along your realtor into that as well. So as you said, you're networking everybody, but it's a great way to expand. And you don't have, you know, financial planners are typically not working with probably a loan officer. So there's some loyalty there. [00:21:03] Speaker A: Till after this episode. [00:21:04] Speaker B: Till after this episode. Yeah. Um, but going back to the survey, because I wanted to look and see what were the stats on what people said. So financial planner, only 21% of loan officers said that they're working with financial planners, which kind of rings true, by the way. The family law professionals, only 13%. [00:21:21] Speaker A: So there you go. Opportunity there, good opportunities. Yeah. The Other ones for both realtors and LOS would be involved in the probate time, right? [00:21:31] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:21:32] Speaker A: Do they need to sell the property? Are they going to maybe be able to refinance it for one of the other siblings? Maybe on title or not on title, but in the trust. So what are some other options of. [00:21:44] Speaker B: Places to cast pieces? Places to cast. I'd say another overlooked opportunity is hr. So looking at companies, so the big thing now if you go on LinkedIn or you go go on Google and you just say like, you know, companies in branch of Kookamun. It's interesting if you look at anybody who has job postings, the new, the new term is wellness. Wellness benefits. Right. That's part of their package and their job offering. And it's big for the younger generations on what, what's the wellness offering? And you'll see things like, you know, health savings accounts. So it's not just health insurance, which I think our generation maybe goes more. [00:22:23] Speaker A: To like medical and dental. [00:22:24] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Medical dental. Is there a 401k? Cool, great. But it's health savings accounts. It's now a lot of different type of education. And so a lot of these larger companies have wellness managers as part of their HR team. So when you look at what is the wellness manager? Well, they're looking for what they call point solutions to bring to their benefits. Right. What can we offer? And a lot of times you're going to see that they don't have financial wellness as part of that. So if you can come as a realtor, as a loan officer, come in and offer education to the employees, that's going to be a huge deal on getting you in and access to a huge group of gainfully employed borrowers. Really important gainfully employed borrowers. But now think of the remote environment too. You have a potential of reaching people outside of your immediate footprint because of remote working. So what you have an opportunity to do is you go to the wellness manager and you offer to provide education. That's the key. And I think you and I talked about that. Like don't go in and say hey, $500 off closing cost if your employees come with me. And why do we think the reason why employer wouldn't want to do that. Liability. [00:23:38] Speaker A: They probably don't want to sue that they got paid to refer you now. [00:23:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:41] Speaker A: You know, it's funny because to me it rings. Reminds me of working with VA Rep Shout out better association, their professionals working with them for years in the nonprofit side with financial literacy for veterans. And it is missing in all Segments, not just for veterans. We definitely need to support our veterans. But I'll tell you what, my daughter just graduated. Well, she just graduated Baylor University and National Master Program. But when she graduated high school just a few years ago, they didn't have a financial literacy course. They didn't, they don't have that. And, you know, we'll see how, you know, education changes. But I think that if you can offer that to employers. Think about it this way. If I always joke with leading sales teams, you get a sales guy, you're like, hey, go buy a new car. Why do you buy a new car? Have more debt, more debt, work harder to pay your bills. I was always just kind of going. [00:24:31] Speaker B: I thought, because you want to see the salesman. [00:24:32] Speaker A: Okay, no, because here's the thing. If they, you know, if people invest in some things that they hopefully that they want, they're going to work hard to maintain them. If somebody owns a home, they're less likely to just quit their job, Right? So it is a big kind of incentive, I would say, if you're an employer, if your employees are homeowners, I think you have a better chance of less turnover and things like that. Turnover costs money, training, etc. So I know a gentleman who was working with a local hospital and he was able to do trainings with them. I don't know, they did quarterly or something. Just explaining the potential benefits of homeownership. Homeownership may not be for everybody. I'm not saying that, right? There's. We see a lot of people acquire wealth through it, but if somebody moves a lot and they're buying and selling, maybe it's not for them. Again, not saying it has to be just another option. So reach out to hr, offer financial. [00:25:23] Speaker B: Literacy, financial training, education, home ownership education. That really is the offering. That's kind of the buzzword because that would be the point solution that they're looking for. They're not looking for you to come and say free appraisal. They're looking for you to come in and say, this is a benefit to our employees to provide this education. [00:25:41] Speaker A: So, yeah, I think that's, that's a great way to look at it because I think a lot of people have thought over the years, well, I'm going to give you something to get business, right, which we know, like respond, probably not something you shouldn't be doing nowadays. But. And that's not necessarily. That might be an old mindset of this is the carrot that's going to get me in there. When really the carrot Is satisfying this wellness benefit or helping them just be better educated? [00:26:02] Speaker B: Well, and when you think of. Again, talk about clear waters, you're the only one providing this education, building trust. And again, those people likely have family members or friends. And when somebody's looking to do something, oh, hey, yeah, oh, my gosh, I just went to this class. Or here's somebody that we use. So you're building credibility and it's such a great way to expand your, your sphere. And then when you're providing that education, let's say you're doing it in person, you can invite your other, you know, part of your strategic network in, in front of those employees. Right. Bring the realtor in. Maybe you bring in a home inspector because you're talking about home inspections that week. I mean, there's a great opportunity to bring in your other network and help them shine. So everybody wins. [00:26:43] Speaker A: Everybody wins when we're together. [00:26:45] Speaker B: Yes. [00:26:46] Speaker A: So what else was on the list? Was another great source. [00:26:48] Speaker B: Are you curious about the stat, though? I wanted to share the stat on hr. [00:26:51] Speaker A: Oh, yes. What is that on hr? Hang on. I'm really curious. What is the stat on each. [00:26:57] Speaker B: On HR? You know what? 1%. So only 1% of our responders actually, you know, deploy that, that type of, of strategy. So again, we talk about kind of fishing and clear waters. Yeah, 1%. So, you know, you got nowhere to go but up, right? [00:27:14] Speaker A: Yeah, that, you know, that's the thing too, is that what we're trying to show today is just some ideas and some of this you might have said. You know what I always thought of that, always thought of talking to other people. Hey, start the year out. Make a little checklist for yourself. I'm going to talk to this many people, I'm going to build this fear and then just go after it, Right? [00:27:32] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:27:33] Speaker A: If you have a plan, it's better than no plan. [00:27:35] Speaker B: It is better than no plan. Yeah. You, you miss 100% of the targets you don't aim for. What is it? [00:27:41] Speaker A: Or the nets or the shots. I think with regrets, getting the shots you don't take. [00:27:45] Speaker B: Yeah, the shots you don't take. Yeah. But something to do about, like, if you don't have a target, then, you know. [00:27:51] Speaker A: Well, of course on New Year's, if you don't go out drinking, you miss something. That might be a good thing. [00:27:54] Speaker B: Yeah, that might be a good thing. That's true. Yeah. [00:27:57] Speaker A: So, you know, we talked a little bit about using Google indirectly to find some of these sources. And it's funny because I've done I was, you know, looking for a car or something and also. [00:28:07] Speaker B: The car. Yes. So not funny how that works. [00:28:09] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Or you just talk about it. Sometimes it seems like it shows up. One of the things I was thinking about too was just a little bit on technology is also, you know, Facebook's been around a long time and I felt like I'm too old for Facebook, probably too old for period. Cause I'm 52. But I see and hear from people getting involved in like some of these, like chat groups or neighborhood network type stuff. I think there's one I have too that's actually called like. I think it's called the neighborhood app. [00:28:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:39] Speaker A: Where these are people that live around you and if you can just share things with them and you see people selling things locally and whatnot. But creating another group for local people. I know a gal that was involved with VA rep and she would help with relocating veterans. So they were not active military, I should say. So they're going to move from. From here to another state, right? Well, they would go on like a local group for Rancho Cucamonga or for Phoenix, Arizona, and start to just ask questions about the neighborhood and being involved in things like that again, offering your advice, offering your knowledge without an expectation. And then every once in a while, you will gain from that. [00:29:22] Speaker B: It just makes me laugh. We relocated. This was before Facebook was even a thing. And I went to. I know, sounds so wild, but it makes me feel old every time I say it. But. So I went to check out an area and I went to the local library and I went to the local sheriff because I wanted to hear like, what's the crime and what's kind of the. You know, Google was around, but it just wasn't as prevalent of like, you just didn't think about it. But to have these local groups, I know there's one in the city that we live in. And you'll see people post like, hey, does anybody seen this? Or sometimes it's a lost dog and sometimes it's I need a plumber. I mean, it's just. It's a. It's a variety and it's kind of nice because you feel like you're in the know. Makes like kind of a safety thing, I think as well. [00:30:05] Speaker A: Well, you know, the nice part about that is talking about your local sheriff department or firefighters, etc. By the way, that's another part of your sphere in your neighborhood. Support things that are going on. [00:30:17] Speaker B: Yes. [00:30:17] Speaker A: You know, if your local chamber of commerce has an event, show up, get Involved. [00:30:22] Speaker B: Yep. [00:30:22] Speaker A: We talked briefly about VA rep. Find a local chapter, NAR rep. By the. [00:30:27] Speaker B: Way, a lot of HR reps go to the chamber of commerce. [00:30:30] Speaker A: There you go. [00:30:30] Speaker B: Bonus. [00:30:33] Speaker A: Well, I think too, because they want to expand, you know, employment in the area. [00:30:36] Speaker B: Extra green onion. [00:30:39] Speaker A: Extra green onions on the potato. So anything else you think from technology? We've seen, Obviously we see LinkedIn for businesses and whatnot. Do you have any? [00:30:48] Speaker B: Yeah, I think even LinkedIn, if you were looking for HR groups, you know, LinkedIn posts, jobs, people that are looking for jobs. What you'll see is salary ranges on there. Yeah. Company websites, you can get an overview what kind of business is this? And there's a lot of vetting that you can do just quickly on LinkedIn. But Google put, you know, top 10 employers in whatever city and see what pops up. And then I always like to go and see what, what are their job postings. So there's a lot of intel that you can do. [00:31:14] Speaker A: I think Glassdoor is one of those two that will put information about companies, what they're hiring for. [00:31:20] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:20] Speaker A: And again, reach out to them. [00:31:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:22] Speaker A: What's, what's the. [00:31:23] Speaker B: Nowhere to go but. Yeah, nowhere to go but up. And it's not a huge time commitment too, so. [00:31:29] Speaker A: Well, that's one of the things I've always saw with like professional networks. [00:31:33] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:31:33] Speaker A: If we have our local group of real estate agents that we're working with, they're busy. Right. So. And there's a lot of people fighting for the same referral source. So if we're all going out to some referral source and we're there all the time, it takes a lot of your time. Right. It might be a weekly commitment. I need to talk to, you know, 10 realtors a week, whatever your numbers are. Where with professional networks, it could be like once a month. [00:31:57] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:57] Speaker A: It could be like, hey, once a month. You got time for a coffee? No. Great. Cool. Just want to let you know I'm here. Hey, any questions that you have about my industry that I could share and just have that dialogue and be available to answer a question when they have it? That's huge. I feel personally it's been easier to maintain professional networks than some of the more specific, you know, one to one type relationships. [00:32:17] Speaker B: Also think about your past clients. Right. Which is of course one of the, the, the top two 80 referral. Yeah. Start to think about what, you know, do they work for any large employers or do you have any small business owners that, you know. [00:32:33] Speaker A: Yeah. Imagine if you could, if you just close A loan for your los for a local plumber and you happen to get another client who needs plumbing and you can connect the dots. [00:32:44] Speaker B: Yep. [00:32:45] Speaker A: Who's going to want to refer you a deal? Probably that plumber that you referred a deal to. [00:32:49] Speaker B: And I, you know, my husband owns a, a small glass company. And it really got me thinking for sure. If somebody was loyal and like referring some. If it's a loan officer or realtor, I'm going to tell everybody about that loan officer, realtor. You're helping the small business and you never know what their spouse does. Right. Like you could have a small business owner. That doesn't mean the spouse isn't with a large company or, you know, very involved in other groups. So I think just looking at everybody and how do you expand that? But for sure, think about your past clients. Think about what they do. You're involved, close up and personal with their life. When you're going through that transaction, do they have kids that are in sports? Right. You know, the booster clubs supporting the clients. Maybe your kid doesn't go to that school, but you know, it's a connection through that client. So as we've talked about these different referral sources. Think about your clients, think about your current clients, think about your past clients because it's a great opportunity to. You've already built some level of trust. Obviously they did. [00:33:47] Speaker A: Well, your, your past clients, always your best. Right. I mean when my dad, years ago, my dad sold real estate and I did loans and we would go door to door and I'll tell you, we're pretty awesome at closing a deal. We weren't real good at follow up. And I remember driving around the neighbor being like, I can't believe the Smiths listed with so and so. [00:34:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:06] Speaker A: And then we'd be like, hey, dad, what was the last time we talked about the day we handed him the keys? Right. [00:34:11] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:11] Speaker A: So a little reminder, at the beginning of the year, none of us are perfect. I mean, if you are, you're probably not listening to our podcast. [00:34:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:34:17] Speaker A: But just remind yourselves how important it's just to follow up with your clients. [00:34:20] Speaker B: Oh yeah. [00:34:20] Speaker A: Because if not, somebody else will. [00:34:22] Speaker B: Yeah. So I actually have a stat on that, which is pretty alarming. So I think it was. It's Homebot again. There's a ticker. Right. If I'm wrong, but I believe it was Homebot put out a stat and they said 71% of borrowers forget their loan officer's name 13 months after the transaction closes. That's alarming. Right. [00:34:42] Speaker A: So 12 months minimum. [00:34:45] Speaker B: 13Th. They're like, who are you? But it's amazing, though, when you think about that. But the more you're kind of entrenched in bringing value and bringing help to somebody. And I think about, you know, when someone gets into their first home and you know, the average money that they spend just on repairs or now when you change the windows, or now we need a plumber, the roof, whatever that is. And if you have some local professionals, a few contractors that you can refer out, that's a big help to somebody, especially if they're in a new area. Big deal. [00:35:14] Speaker A: The other thing is maybe just wear your real estate or loan shirt to Home Depot on the weekends. [00:35:20] Speaker B: That's a great idea. [00:35:21] Speaker A: Catch them. I spent plenty of time at Home Depot. New networking, sort of. So let's see, what else did I not want to miss today so far? I love what we're talking about. So we're discussed a little about the beneficial partnerships. And one of the things too is about nurturing the relationship. So we say, okay, well, when should I reach out to these people? You know, we talk briefly, maybe once a month. Do you have any tips or guidance on frequency with these other types of referral partners? [00:35:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it depends on how, you know, are you somebody providing education? Are you? You know, I think it's going to be different for each type of business and you want to be authentic. But consistency, I think we both know as salespeople, and you said it, I mean, consistency is one of the hardest things, I think, for most salespeople. We all know what we're supposed to do, and you might be good at it, but then you. We just fall by the wayside and. [00:36:14] Speaker A: You get back into, oh, this deal, you wouldn't believe. I got to take this call right now. This deal, yes. Falling apart. [00:36:19] Speaker B: Yes. What's next? So staying consistent. But I think that's the great thing with some of the groups that we did mention, because it will be a little bit laid out for you, right. You have a plan. So if it's hr, the financial planners, or the family law professionals, it's going to be kind of laid out because you're bringing something to the table, you're bringing some education. And so you're probably going to have a normal cadence and it's not going to be kind of flying by the city or pants. [00:36:40] Speaker A: I think it's great. So like being involved with camp for years, right? The California association board professionals shout out. Great organization here in California, El Presidente Pastel. But here's the thing. Our group for the San Bernardino chapter would basically set out a plan for the year. So we've got 12 months. What can we do? And you want to do this typically in November, right. Is a what can we do once a month for the next year? And if that calendar is done before the year starts, wonderful. You don't have to think about it. It's like this month, this is what I'm doing with this organization. [00:37:16] Speaker B: Set it and forget it. [00:37:17] Speaker A: Correct. And I think it was Gary V. That I heard saying something the other day just before New Year's. He said, well, what do you think of New Year's resolution? He said, well, I think year's resolutions are great if today is New Year's. He said, but if today is December 28, then I see December 28 resolutions are the most important. So to put that in perspective, today, January 13th, maybe your January 13th resolution, right. Is to build a calendar. Don't wait for some magical day. I think that's a good takeaway, is that it doesn't matter what day it is if you make the plan today, hey, I should have lost weight. I didn't start my diet on the first. I guess I'll just wait till next year. Today's a pretty good. [00:37:55] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:37:55] Speaker A: Although we are going to go have Danger Dogs after Scared Hot Dogs, one of our four favorite mortgage meats. But so have a plan, have a calendar. And the thing is, a lot of the trade organizations we did discuss, they already have a calendar. [00:38:11] Speaker B: Right. [00:38:12] Speaker A: So just plug in. And the other part of that I would say is get involved with the organization. It's one thing to say, okay, I. I'm a member of this trade organization and that's a good thing. It's good to support your industry. I think it's even more important if you can get involved, can you get into a leadership role there? Can you really get to know and make a difference? Because I think that's where people will see it even more. [00:38:32] Speaker B: So they even have like Toastmasters, right? People get together. I mean, so. And that's a lot of different people you're going to meet and stuff like that as well. [00:38:41] Speaker A: All walks of life, right? [00:38:42] Speaker B: All walks of life, for sure. [00:38:43] Speaker A: I think it was really our goal today is to think, we all know of the loan officer, realtor, partnership. It's been the number one thing. I think you get your. Your animal last and they tell you, okay, here's the realtor, which is like the stork carrying the baby. You know, that's where you got to go. But I think we can help each other by expanding that a little bit. Because I'll tell you what, if I'm a realtor and I'm getting 10 loan officers asking me for my. My business, I love to help you, but I only have 10 deals this year, so you could each have one. I mean, that would be great. [00:39:13] Speaker B: Right. [00:39:13] Speaker A: But what if you could refer them a deal back? Well, you probably just moved yourself up the list. [00:39:18] Speaker B: Yep. [00:39:18] Speaker A: Right. Because if you happen to know a plumber who helps somebody else who needs to buy a house and you're doing the loan, you refer that back. I think the reciprocation, consistency and reciprocation would be my kind of two takeaways on it. [00:39:29] Speaker B: Yep. [00:39:30] Speaker A: You know what we do in our business, we help each other. [00:39:34] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:39:34] Speaker A: And that to me is one of the keys. So be, be present, be available to them. Don't just take. Right. Don't take from the corn aplenty. [00:39:43] Speaker B: Right. [00:39:43] Speaker A: What can you give back? And I think that's really. That's really the goal today. [00:39:48] Speaker B: Yeah. So I think. [00:39:49] Speaker A: So with that, Samantha, how could someone get a hold of you if they have questions? [00:39:55] Speaker B: So, Samantha, underscorestein gic.com I don't know if you'll have my contact information. We will get a hold of Keith. He'll get a hold of me. MGIC.com is our website, a ton of resources. So even in the strategies that we spoke about, we have a ton of content to help you get out there and actually not have to reinvent the wheel to provide some of that education. Even so, there's a lot of resources, but, you know, certainly reach out to Keith. We partner together a lot, but yeah, we don't want you. You know, you're not starting from scratch. Right. There's a lot of things to help you hit the ground running. So don't feel overwhelmed. I think that's the biggest thing. Right. As salespeople are like, that's a great idea. And that's a great idea. Grab one that really feels authentic to you and, you know, make a point to do it like this quarter, this is what I'm going to tackle. And then you add from there. Right? [00:40:44] Speaker A: Yep. I think that sounds perfect. Well, once again, thank you, Samantha, for joining us at Mortgage Me. [00:40:48] Speaker B: Yes. Oh, I thought you were gonna give me nothing. [00:40:53] Speaker A: Again, thanks for joining marketing education activity and tips from original originators. Stay tuned. We got a lot of good stuff coming up this year. We're excited 2025.