Steve Kyles is a partner with Mortgage Marketing Animals, one of the top mortgage coaching programs in the country for loan officers, as well as a top-producing branch manager at Success Mortgage Partner. He's also the host and founder of the Loan Officer Leadership podcast, one of the top podcasts for loan officers across the nation. With over 17 years of experience in the mortgage business, Steve is passionate about coaching other loan officers and sharing the tools that help him succeed.
In this episode of Mortgage Connects, Steve shares:
Thanks for listening to Mortgage Connects, an MGIC podcast. If you have questions, comments, or want to get involved, send an email to mortgageconnects@mgic.com.
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Steve Kyles is a partner with Mortgage Marketing Animals, one of the top mortgage coaching programs in the country for loan officers, as well as a top-producing branch manager at Success Mortgage Partner. He's also the host and founder of the Loan Officer Leadership podcast, one of the top podcasts for loan officers across the nation. With over 17 years of experience in the mortgage business, Steve is passionate about coaching other loan officers and sharing the tools that help him succeed.
In this episode of Mortgage Connects, Steve shares:
Thanks for listening to Mortgage Connects, an MGIC podcast. If you have questions, comments, or want to get involved, send an email to mortgageconnects@mgic.com.
Looking for even more expert insights? Check out our mortgage industry content portal, Mortgage Connects knowledge hub. Subscribe today so you don't miss out on the latest! Subscribe
Concepcion:
Welcome to the mortgage connects by MGIC bringing you the latest insight from top mortgage professionals around the industry. I'm your host Concepcion Guerrero. And joining me today is Steve Kyle. Steve is a partner with mortgage marketing animals, one of the top mortgage coaching programs in the country for loan officers, as well as top producing branch manager at success mortgage partner. He's the host and founder of the energetic and value-packed Loan Officer Leadership podcast. One of the top podcasts for loan officers across the nation. With over 17 years of experience in the mortgage business, Steve is passionate about coaching other loan officers at the Sheriff's tools that help them succeed. Steve, thank you so much for joining us today.
Steve:
Well, I'll tell you, Concepcion. It's great to be here. So thank you for the invitation and I absolutely love what you and MGIC are doing to add value to the marketplace. And so I'm just honored to be here.
Concepcion:
Now, Steve, as we start this new year many top originators are working hard to achieve their new year goals many, and now I've heard, we'll try to increase their lead counts or their perspective, but do you think that having more leads is a good goal or will that just cause problems?
Steve:
Okay. Well great, great question. You know, and I think it's both. And so it's interesting conception. The, when I got in the business and, and it's hard to believe when you said over 17 years, were it, you just, time goes by super fast and, I used to hear this all the time. There was a statement that was said almost industry-wide that more leads solve all problems. And what I really believe is that's a half-truth more leads can help solve problems, but I really believe knowing what I know now, if I were looking back and said talking to myself 10 years ago, I would have said, listen, don't focus on more leads until you focus on conversion. I think it's both and so let me give you an example, Concepcion. The interesting thing is this to our listening loan officer, who's producing right now, if you're getting about 40 leads a month and that's a healthy book of business, so somebody who's doing a daily success plan, they're making their prospecting calls. They're getting referrals. Now these are not paid referrals like internet leads. These are qualified referrals, but if you're getting 40 in a month and you're closing about six transactions, most people would say, well, if you want to double your business, go from 40 leads a month to now 80. And what I would challenge your listeners with is this, instead of getting 40 leads a month and closing six, that's a 15% conversion. If you would work on your systems, processes, structure, and scripts, and convert 40 leads at now, 25%, which means 25% of the leads that come in, complete the application, go through the loan consultation. They qualify. If you'll close 25% of the 40 leads, you get a month, you go from six closings to 10 closings a month. And if the average loan officer's making about $2,000 a file, you literally gave yourself an $8,000 a month raise by not getting more leads, but simply converting more of the ones you currently have in Concepcion. Listen, this one crazy stat. If, if you've got a balanced pipeline and let's say you get 70% purchase and 30% refi, we consider that to be balanced. So I always, you know, from my, my purchases are growing, I want my refunds to grow so that I'm running a 70, 30 pipeline, even in today's marketplace. You can bump your conversion from 25% to 35% because the refi has converted a higher level. And so if I take the same 40 leads that are qualified, good, well referred leads that are coming in, and now I get to a 30 to 35% conversion. You can go from that initial start of six loans a month to up to 14 loans a month with 40 leads. And so I think before you go get more leads, loan officers need to be focusing on systems and structure and processes that actually help you convert more of the leads you currently have. And then once you're, you know, you're at that 30, 35% conversion, if you can tip off there, I would keep getting more leads while I'm focused on conversion.
Concepcion:
Good, good tips there. Thank you, Steve. Now I'm sure many have come across those rate shoppers that say, "You know, the quote you provided me a couple of weeks ago was lower than what you're showing me now." So how would you suggest these types of customers are addressed? Or how would you go about coding those interest rates?
Steve:
That's a great question. You know, it's interesting. And we really, we just had this happen to us. We had a client we were working with back in January and then we're doing our follow-ups. We do something on Thursday called pre-approved and looking. And that's where we look at everyone. Who's gone through our loan consultation and they are pre-approved and they're searching for a home. So we're doing weekly follow up on Thursday. That's the theme day from nine to 11. And what's interesting is we had one just a few months ago, we're following up and you know, he's been slow to respond and then finally sending a follow-up text. And and he said, Hey, Steve, we already purchased a home. And I said, well, Hey, if you don't mind what happened? And he said, well, the rate you quoted was higher than what I was able to get. And it literally changed everything for me because what I realized was the day we did the loan consultation, I told him a specific rate, but he didn't buy for four to six months later. And of course the rates were different and that day just happened to be better than what it was back in January. And it was a great lesson. I learned, I don't quote rates. I quote a wrote a rate range, and this has helped us not lose clients because see what clients don't understand when you're talking through the loan consultation and you walk them through, Hey, today's rate based on today's market is let's say 3.25. They don't realize rates go up and down sometimes multiple times in a day, depending on market activities. So when they hear one rate, they think that's what you've got them. And so what we've been doing is saying, Hey, listen, based on today's market, there's a range. The rate range today you know, if you're looking for the lowest rate and I would usually quote something with one to two points to give them the lowest rate, then I would look at something with no points. And I would just say, Hey, the rate range today is 2.9 to 3.5. The reason why there's a range is because once we go under contract, we're actually going to find out which one is the best to help you build a clear mortgage plan, which one puts you in the best position. But if, you know, based on today's numbers, I'm going to use three and a quarter as a placeholder. So when I quote rate and I don't quote rate a lot, but I'll do the rate range so that they understand the market. There's some movement in that market based on market conditions. And that's helped us keep from losing clients who said, well, your rate was high when you told me the rate several months ago, because a lot of these buyers, Concepcion, they're in the market longer because the L the inventory has been so tight that we're seeing, you know, instead of it be, you know, a normal cycle is every 30, 60 days. Some of the buyers we've got are 90 to 120 almost a half year in process. And especially as we get to the end of the year, people are going to start picking it back up, but we do a rate range, not necessarily a specific rate. So hope that helps.
Concepcion:
No, it helps tremendously now kind of, you know, expanding on what you just said. You know, there's a lot of lenders out there that are getting shopped in today's environment, and really the client knows that you don't get paid until that loan closes. So talk to me about how do you overcome that challenge of converting more of those rate shops?
Steve:
Yeah. Hey, and I'll tell you one specific, I'll give you one phrase that helped us convert 30% more of our clients. So I'll never forget. It was about two and a half years ago. I had worked with a client and, and, and I know loan officers, you can relate to this, but at that time I was working nights, I would work weekends. And I'll never forget. We had a referral come in and she was moving fast, multiple offers on the property. Hey, Steve, is there anything you can do to get me approval today? So we really pull her to the front of the line. We put all of our time, energy and effort. We helped the lady get approved. The first offer was not accepted. So then of course we roll into the weekend and what happens on Saturday morning at my kid's soccer game. Hey, Steve I'm desperate, we're trying to make an offer. Multiple offers need your help. So I'm breaking away from my kid's soccer game. I know the listing agent, I make the phone call and I've spent about 45 minutes running numbers, running scenarios, missing my at time, six year old soccer game to help them win the deal and guess what? We won the deal. So I'd worked nights, weekends pushed hard, moved them to the front of the line, put all my resource to it. And then on Monday, I said, Hey, just send me over the contract. And the client said, this, Concepcion,. She said, Hey I'm looking at two or three other lenders to shop for the lowest rate. You understand? Right? I'm like, what are you kidding? After all this time, energy and effort like you can't shop. I helped you win the deal. I knew the listing agent, I made the call. It's a 21 day close. And she ended up going with her bank which was a large bank that doesn't work nights, doesn't work weekends. And if the seller had known it was a large bank loan, they absolutely would not have taken our deal. And so, you know what I learned that was a lesson in, I could get better or I could get bitter. And so many times it's easy to get bitter and say, I'll never do that. And I hate that. And I just chose to get better. And what I realized was this, I went home and I told my wife, I said, Hey, Steph, can you believe what just happened in my wife has a 99 D on the disc assessment, 99 C. And she said, Steve I said, babe, look, after all I had done, you wouldn't have shopped me, would you? And she said, I absolutely would. And I'm like, girl, are you kidding me all the time, energy and effort. And here was the one phrase that changed everything. She said, Steve, you never gave me the option. So I assumed because that borrower knew all of the time, energy and effort we'd put in that. I assume they were going to go with me. She said, if you would've asked for my commitment, then I would have committed to going with you, but you never did. And so that was when I added one phrase. So every time a contract comes in and on the property, we would lose. I don't know we would gain or close 64% of them. So if I got 10 contracts come in today we would get six and a half of them would lock it and go through closing. And I was losing the others to rate shoppers. And here's what I, what I realized when Stephanie told me Concepcion. She said, if you would have asked for my commitment, at least you would have given me the option. So here's the one phrase we added to our loan consultation. So we added this phrase at the end of my loan consultation. I'll ask every single client, Hey, is there anything that would prevent me from being your lender? Is there anything that would prevent me from being your lender and Concepcion? That was a game changer, because at that point, the client's only got one of two answers. Is there anything that would prevent me from being your lender? No, you're doing a great job. Thank you for helping me build a mortgage plan. I'm excited to work with you. Fantastic. Or the other one is yes. There is something that prevent me from being from you, from being my lender. And that would be, I want the lowest rate. And so what it allowed me to do was this, I think as loan officers, we get concerned or nervous like, Hey, the rejection is, they're going to say, yes, there's something that'll prevent you from being my lender. I want the lowest rate. Well, fantastic. Here's the way I handle that conversation. Hey, Concepcion, listen. I know the lowest rate is important. I'm confident we can help you build a clear mortgage plan. We've already walked through that in this conversation, but Concepcion, most people don't realize this. My team and I are not compensated, unless we go all the way through to closing. So we've invested time, money, energy, resources, to help give you the competitive advantage in today's marketplace. And we do all of that in good faith. But what's interesting is most people don't know that loan officers in their teams are not paid, unless we go all the way through to closing. Now here's the good news Concepcion that gives us that makes us fully invested in your success. Start to finish. We want you to win the deal. We want to make sure it's smooth and a flawless closing. We're fully invested. We're not even compensated. We're operating in good faith until you go to closing. So that's why I always ask, is there anything that would prevent me from being your lender, because I'm asking you to commit to working with me and my team from now through closing a start to finish right now. And if you're not able to completely understand, but today the full resource of my office stops. And I got to tell you that that is the most freeing thing in the whole world is it's like, okay, well, the full resource of our office stops today. And, and listen, I would encourage you to go ahead and shop, find the lowest deal, send it to me if we can meet or beat it, we'd love to be your lender. And, and if there's anything that happens, what we find is the lowest option typically has challenges. So if something goes awry, just call me back. I'd love to pick things back up and help you. And what it did for us Concepcion was it now gave me the control me the authority to stop working with clients who wouldn't commit to working with me and listen, there's 10 to 15% of the clients we're working with that. When you ask for the commitment, they're just going to flat out, tell you the lowest rates, the only thing that matters. And here's, what's great. I don't have to work with those people. I mean, it was so freeing to know that my gosh, I get to choose to not work with you and that's okay. And then I can hear the loan officer saying, well, what do you do about the referral partner? Here's how I handle that call. So I'll call and I'll say, Hey, Summer. First off, thank you for referring Concepcion over to us. She is an exceptional buyer based on everything. I see, man. She's well-qualified. Hey, I got some good and bad news, which would you like first? Well, good news, great news. She's well-qualified, W2, great credit scores. Easily qualifies for a home. The bad news is I can't protect your commission. And I just shut up. They're like, what do you mean you can't protect my commission? Well, you know, at the end of every loan consultation ask, is there anything that would prevent me from being your lender? And they said there is, they're only interested in the lowest rate and you and I both know the lowest rate tends to have the most problems because it's likely an internet lender. Who's not low using a local appraiser. The reason they're discounted is because they typically run lean on process and people which typically run into problems at the end. And so I'm not able to protect your commission, but man, if there's anything else we can do, let us know they're a great borrower, but you know, the resource of our office stops today. If something happens, call me back and I love it because it gets the agent engaged and excited about the conversation because they want me to protect their commission involved on that transaction. So it's one of the things that has absolutely helped us. We went from 64% of people locking in at the point of a contract to now 94% of every contract we get in. And we've, we've measured this for the last two and a half years. It's still sitting at 94%. And regardless of the loan partner sitting in that spot, whether it's me, whether it's a loan partner whether it's another loan partner, there's three of us that move in that spot, locking in loans, doing it the same way and it has been a game changer. Is there anything that would prevent me from being your lenders, the clothes that will help you identify the rate shopper and, and here's the deal you're going to lose them, but at least, you know, and now you stop and move on to the next one. Who's not a rate shopper.
Concepcion:
Yeah. And I think you hit on a very good key point there, Steve, you know, being transparent more than anything can really have a huge impact when it comes to that deal. You know, just being transparent with the borrower, right from the get-go.
Steve:
Let me say something about that? You know what I found Concepcion, it's interesting. I've found that the borrowers, when I asked a bar said, Hey, who, who pays us? How do we get compensated? They think loan officers are hourly employees. They think teams are paid and what they don't realize now at a big bank, like at chase or Wells Fargo or, you know, rocket mortgage, some of these other places, they are hourly employees. And so as you are more transparent and say, listen, I love the fact that I've got, I've got to stay fully engaged to earn your trust, start to finish, because what it does is it keeps me fully invested. You know, I'm committed, committed to you, committed to your success and making it a smooth and flawless closing. And I just found that people didn't know that we weren't paid unless we go to closing. They don't know. They don't realize that every credit reports costing us $75. They don't, you know, maybe 50 they don't realize that we're spending money to run automated systems. They don't realize we're spending money and the hours our team put into look at the documentation and validate the approvals. I mean, I bet a great loan officer team spends 200 to $500 per file, depending on the complexity. And so the more you're just transparent, the more I found borrowers were willing to engage and make a full-on commitment to you.
Concepcion:
Yeah, no, I agree. I think a lot of the times loan officers are, you know, doing a lot of education and walking that, that borrower, you know, step-by-step educating them in the process as they go. So I think, you know, you hit on very good key points there. Thank you for that. Now, you know, there's many originators that have, you know, quote unquote "a standard plan" when it comes to that initial meeting with the home buyers. So what do you call that initial meeting and, you know, are there any tips on ways that originators can structure that very first important conversation?
Steve:
Yeah. Great. Hey, that, that's a huge deal. It's funny up until about two and a half years ago you know, loan officers, you get a phone call and it's like, Hey, I'm going to walk you through the options or, Hey, I'm going to put together, I mean, call it what it, whatever it is you want to call it. What's interesting is when you name something and in my wife is in apparent mastermind for coaching your kids. And it's so funny, she told me this a while back and I thought, that's so good if you name it, you can tame it. And I think it applies to the loan originating business as well, instead of just saying, Hey, I'm going to give you options. Here's what we do. We break up our process into two things. Now we want to make it very simple, but here's an interesting stat in the United States, about 60%. And I saw a recent statistic that said as much as 69%, I'm going to keep mine at 60 to be conservative. But 60 to 69% of the population is a high S. Now when you look at the disc assessment, the disc stands for you know, the high D is a driver, the high I as an influencer. Now that's not the official names, but it's really an individual falls into one of these four categories as a primary behavior style. So a D is a driver and I, as an influencer, kind of gregarious, big personality and S is steady. And then a C is compliant, which means they like the details. You'll find out that a lot of engineers are high CS. Those are also some of the hardest rate shoppers, but good news is only about 10 to 15% of the population is a high C. Now what we found was over 60% of the population is a high S and what's interesting about that is the number one thing, a highest once is to be led well. So you could win six out of 10 opportunities just by leading a client. Well, because it's an interesting stat. I was with my buddy, Alex Kutsishin this last week in, we were in Charleston and he shared that with me, that was absolutely staggering. The stat was something like 79% of all borrowers here. It is 79% of all borrowers will move forward with the first lender they speak with 92% of all, borrowers will go with the first or second in. What I found was this. If I would just be first to lead the client, well, I've already won 79% of all the borrowers. So here's what we do in our initial call. My only goal is to do two things, complete a loan application and book a loan consultation. So Concepcion, what we did was we called it a loan consultation. And the reason why we call it a loan consultation is because you don't do consultations with people. You don't respect. You don't do a consultation with somebody who like attorneys do consultations. Doctors do consultations, medical professionals do consultations, a high-end CPAs and accountants and financial planners do consultations. So we named it the loan consultation. So what we do in the first call is we're going to, the only goal you're trying to do is complete the application and schedule the loan consultation. So, Hey, Mr. Borrower, we're so excited that you called Hey, we're going to walk you through our clear next step. Number one, we're going to complete the loan application. What that's going to do is give us the information we need to help you build a clear mortgage plan. Number two is we're going to schedule that loan consultation and based on the speed, you know, if somebody came in with a contract, I may book them this afternoon for the consultation, or if they're 30, 45 days out, I'm going to schedule them within 24 hours. And we do loan consultations from two to four. I love to chunk time because you don't want one at nine and one at 11 and one at three, and then one at four 30, it's too scattered. So we chunk them 30 minutes, segments, 30 minute lone consultations at 2:00, 2:30, 3:00, 3:30 and 95% of every client will fit in those four spots. And then if you got to have a morning, you can do it 11 to 12 outside when you're not doing prospect and we prospect nine to 11. So what we did was number one, you're wanting to complete the application preferred over the phone, if not text it or email it so that they complete it, upload documents and schedule loan consultation. Then when I do my loan consultation that's, that's the amazing thing. We found that having a great three or four minute first call, or however long that first call is man, we've already won their business. 79% of the borrowers will go with the first lender they talked to. And then now in that loan consultation, even if I'm a loan officer with no helper support, I'm going to complete the app and say, Hey, listen, I'm going to go through all the documents. We're going to go through a loan consultation tomorrow. I'm going to move some things around because of your relationship with summer. She's one of our best realtor partners. And so look, if I move some things around how about tomorrow at 2:00 PM? Excellent. I'm going to call you in that 30 minute loan consultation, we're going to help you build a clear mortgage plan. I will go through sales price, monthly payment cash to close and answer any and all questions you may have about the home buying process Concepcion. Is there anything else that I can help answer for you today? And that's how the first call ends. And so I love it because now I've got them to take action. And then the next part will be the actual loan consultation. And in that loan consultation is where we asked the question at the end of the 30 minutes after we've gone through sales price, monthly payment cash to closed answered any, and all questions is where I'm going to say, Hey, is there anything that would prevent me from being your lender? And that's where you lock in the commitment.
Concepcion:
Well, we know Steve that, you know, every home buyer is different. So each initial consultation will obviously have to be different. So how would you structure that initial consultation? So that the process is something that is consistent consistently successful and also repeatable.
Steve:
Yeah. Hey, and you know, what's interesting about that is that every borrower's different, but when you think about what a borrower wants to know, like there's only a couple of things that a borrower needs as far as information. And so the loan consultation is set up the same way. Every time, regardless of the buyer, it could be an FHA loan. It could be a hundred thousand or loan. It could be a conventional, it could be a half million dollar loan. It could be a jumbo, a $2 million loan. The consultation is still the same. What are the four things they want to know? Number one is, Hey, what price home can I afford? So sales price, the second thing is what does that cost me per month? That's monthly payment. And Hey, if I buy that house, how much cash do I have to bring to closing that's cash to close? And I'll tell you, the reason we do cash to close is because we find that most borrowers they're thinking about a down payment, but they forget closing costs and prepaid items. And so in Texas, you know, your prepaid items on a half million dollar home could be seven or $8,000. When you look at property taxes and homeowners insurance, if it's being escrowed. So what we do is we say, Hey, listen, Concepcion so thrilled to have you in this loan consultation in this 30 minute consultation. What we're going to do is we're going to help you build a clear mortgage plan, and we're going to walk through sales, price, monthly payment, cash to close and answer any and all questions you may have. Hey, let me ask you this. Is there any question you have right now that I can help answer? And that's the way the consultation literally starts, and then they'll go through and they'll say, well, Hey, listen, talk to me about what happens when the, if the appraisal comes in low. Cool. So I don't get off on that tangent. I write it down and I say, cool. If the appraisal comes in low, you want to know what we do next. Excellent. Hey, what are your interest rates? Great. Your, you want to know the rate range? Yes. I want to know rate range. Cool. what other questions you have? Well, I think that's it. And that's, there's only usually a couple of questions they'll have, but now I know that I've answered all the questions they may have. And so I just take them right back up to the top. Hey, listen. Fantastic. So we're going to answer what happens if the appraisal comes in low, and then we're going to answer the rate range. You want to know where the rates are. If we go through sales price, monthly payment cash to close answer these questions where you feel like it was a great consultation and you're getting them to say your first. Yes, yeah. Would be a great consultation. Great. Well, let's start with a sales price. Hey, you've been looking at homes, what's the price range you're looking at. And so, and I literally just dissect all of them. And then I say, okay, how much are you hoping to spend per month? You found out how she couldn't live without what's the max you want to spend. And then how much cash do you have to get into the home? And then what I'll do is say, Hey, have you found a home online that you're currently looking, looking at, and I'm telling you 95%, half. So we just pull it up online. And we look at the numbers and pull it in. I answered the end of the questions the two that they had and at the end say, is there anything that would prevent me from being your lender? And we find that when you build that kind of structure in a loan consultation, you can have a loan partner, do it just as effective as you. You can have a mortgage expert, which would be a loan officer who sits in your seat. When you grow your team, they could do it just as effectively as you because the structure is the same, regardless of the buyer, regardless of the bar, regardless of the program, regardless of who's actually having the loan consultation. And so creating systems and structure around that will allow you to produce a repeatable referable experience.
Concepcion:
Now let's take it back to prospecting Steve. It is no doubt that success is a team effort and that, you know, communication is key. So what is the best way to get more effective when it comes to prospecting?
Steve:
Yeah. You know, one of the things that we've found, it's interesting, there's only about five challenges that a loan officer has. And really one of the things that we do is like, it's, Hey, how do I get more leads? I'm too busy. You know, I need to build a team tracking my business, or I'm just not saving enough money. Those are really the five challenges any loan officer has. And one of the things we're looking for is what can I do that gives me the greatest impact. Now we follow a DSP at the marketing animals. And so, you know, if you're ever interested, you know, we'd love to Concepcion a portal, put a link here, but freedom planning call.com is where we'd love to help you with that. But a daily success plan, you need to be following something you're doing every day on Mondays. What do you do in Tuesdays? What are you doing Wednesday, Thursday? And then we take freedom Fridays off because we've worked so hard and been so focused with great results and effort Monday through Thursday, man, our goal is that you would take Fridays off. So one of the things that I've found, and this was just a real quick hack like a kind of just something we learned just from getting to a place of man, there were so many calls coming in. How do I continue to prospect? So we teach something called touch, the referral, touch the partner, touch the referral, touch the partner. Every time I talked to a referral, whether that's on the initial call, whether that's in the loan consultation, whether that's in my Thursday pre-approved and looking calls, whether that's in my, just as Tuesday calls, when I'm doing my pipeline updates, any time I talked to a referral, the lead I'm going to call the partner that referred them to me. And what's amazing is this, I mean, most loan officers when we track our business, that Mondays are your busiest day. So let's say you get four leads on a Monday. And if you touch those four leads, you call the borrower. Hey, Mr. Borrow at Steve just wanted to follow up with you. Thanks so much for reaching out. We love working with summer. She's one of the best agents in the market. If I were buying in that area, that's absolutely who or who I would use. So I'm going to do my whole script and all my follow-up with that borrower or that referral or that lead. But as soon as I hang up, guess what? I'm calling Summer. Summer. Hey, I just talked to Concepcion. I got to tell you, it is unbelievable. Super happy to be working with her. Thank you for the referral. We completed the application. We have the loan consultation scheduled tomorrow at 2:00 PM. Hey, once I get out of the consultation, I'll call you with a full update. So you know exactly what to go looking for. Once you put her in your car and in what we found was the busier. I get, the more intentional I need to be with my prospecting efforts. So touch the referral, touch the partner, touch the referral, touch the partner every time. And everybody on your team do that. And we found our leads to explode because we were touching the partners more and more with intentional calls. And the three biggest complaints, you know, here, here was an interesting stat at the marketing animals, we surveyed a ton of realtors. We had 10,000 respond and, you know, we asked them, what's the biggest complaint you have with your lender that you work with, or with lenders and, you know, Concepcion. There were only three things that came back over and over and over and over again. And it was these three, my lender or lenders. Don't close loans on time when the loan is in process, I don't have any idea. I don't know what's going on. There's no communication. And then whenever I give the lender a referral there's that they don't follow up on my lead. So it was, they don't close on time. There's not clear communication through the process once they're in the pipeline. And when I give them a referral, they don't follow up on my leads. And so what this does is we're in a trust business, the agent is trusting you with their commission and the leads they're working so desperately hard to get. And so what we want to do is trust is built in small cap promises. And so every time I touch the referred lead, I'm going to touch the partner because they are gaining confidence that we're going to do what we say we're going to do. We're going to follow up. We're going to follow up so much that our goal is to get even more referrals and bring them back to that agent. And so I think it's an easy way to continue to prospect, even when you're busier, because every time we touch the referral, we touch the partner.
Concepcion:
Thank you, Steve. Great insight here now, you know, in closing, is there anything else that you would like to mention or say to our listeners here as we start this this new year?
Steve:
Yeah. You know what, first off, thank you for the opportunity. I love MGIC. I've been a partner with you guys for a long time. Couple of things that, that I would my first thought is, is this on the podcast? My podcast loan officer leadership podcast, I end the show and started every week with this one phrase, anything worth doing is worth doing. And most people would say, right. You know, that's, that's what I used to. I grew up hearing that from my dad who I love so much. You know, he would say, son, anything we're doing, just do it. Right. And what I realized was that's a good saying, but it causes you to be paralyzed by fear because what if I start something and it's not good, or it's not done right. And I really flipped the script on that and said, anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Just get started in my encouragement to anyone listening to this episode is what is it that you've wanted to do? What have you wanted to do in your business, in your family, in your personal life? What are the one or two things that, you know, they nag you, whether it's working out, you know, I have a saying, it's like, don't start today. Not Monday, you know, everybody's like, Hey, I'm going to start on Monday. And then it comes around and it's like, okay, I'll wait until next Monday to start. We want you to start today. And even though in starting, know this it's going to be terrible more than likely it's going to be bad. And be okay with it being bad because the goal isn't to start it out with a bang, you know, I think Instagram and Tiktok and all of these social media platforms, it's such a fallacy, there's a perfection illusion, like man, with all the filters and the cameras, you can make anything look great. And so you see it and you're like, well, man, it's gotta be perfect. Well, no, it doesn't. Anything we're doing is we're doing badly, just get started. So I would encourage you to get started on what is it? What's the dream that's in your heart? Is it to double your business? Is it to hire a new team members to start working out is to, to engage more with your family? Is it to buy a new home? What is it that you've been putting off start now and, and be okay with it being bad because it may not start as good as you think it should, but you're looking to get to version 3.0, which means just keep getting better. The second thing is do it consistently. Anything we're doing is we're doing badly, just get started and then be consistent with the activity because here's what happens is half the battle is starting. The other half. The battle was being consistent with your energy and effort. And if you'll be consistent over time, pivot, as you see fit to get results, you'll see huge success. So with that, anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Just get started.
Concepcion:
I love it. Thank you so much, Steve. Thank you so much for your time for your insights and tips for our listeners as we kick off this new year and thank you all for listening for the latest industry insights, subscribe to Mortgage connects on Apple, Stitcher, Google podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, or go to mortgage connects.com.