Creating Passion and Purpose in Your Mortgage Business

In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with the real estate agents is essential for success. However, finding effective ways to secure agent relationships can be a challenge. With so many mortgage loan originators vying for the attention of real estate agents, it can be difficult to stand out and establish meaningful connections. Our new case study featuring loan officer Chris Cogill is a must-read. Chris has closed a remarkable 36 million in funded loans from agent referrals. And in this case study, he shares his proven strategies for building strong relationships with real estate agents and leveraging those relationships to drive more business. To get your hands on this resource, head over to LOKestudy.com and download your free copy of the case study today. You'll find actionable insights and practical tips that Chris used to close 36 million in funded loans from agent referrals and how you can too. Don't miss out. Go check it out right now, visit LOKestudy.com and download your free copy today. I was having major health issues to the point where my doctors wouldn't let me drive. I mean, I was blacking out a couple of times a day. It was pretty bad. I mean, I put myself in a frenzy of stress and I remember my husband who was just the love of my life. We've been together 25 years. But at that moment, he's picking me up from work because I can't drive because they've literally taken my keys. They have a lot of nerve taking my keys, but whatever. And I was on a call. My kids were little. He's here with, they're all here making, you know, sitting their butts on the printer, making butt shots on the printer and all the things kids do when they grow up at your office. And he looked at me and I'm on phone with the client and I kept telling him, hold on, hold on. I'm almost ready. And I got in the car and he goes, you know, Christina, he said, um, I know you love your clients, but those people are not coming to your funeral, honey. And it just really hit me like, I can't leave all of myself on the table all the time. Hey, it's Jeff Sinfer, host of the mortgage marketing radio podcast. You know that. So glad you're tuning in. Hope you are doing fantastic and you are preparing for the coming year and preparing in what are your top three initiatives? What are they? Were you focused on database, referral partners, digital social media, not sure, probably all three, perhaps all three have are relevant, right? But which of the three are most important? You've got to put them in a ranking order for the ability for you to get it done to actually achieve, right, forward progress and build momentum and then be, right, that are going to produce the biggest wealth results for you. Because as you may have heard me say before, there's lots we could be doing, right? But what do we, what does the business need right now? Maybe you do need more referral partners. Maybe you do need to get better at scripting a dialogue. Maybe you do need, you know, a better process, right? Your customer experience for your loan process. I don't know. You got to get clear on that and what it ever it is. But I do want to share with you if it is, if additional referral partners agents specifically is what you do need, well, I'd like to share with you a quick little comment from one of our members, the mortgage marketing pro community, my agent classes, Kevin Dwyer. I thought, look, what better way to share with you some of the results we're helping our members get than share with you what he's got to say himself. So here's Kevin. Hey, Jeff, it's Kevin Dwyer. Hope you're doing well. Listen, just what I reach out and say, thanks, thanks so much for everything that you do. The marketing pro class has been a game changer for me. I think I've been part of the group now for over a year and I would have been, you know, a $50 million producer last year jumped up to $82 million. This year I'm already closed over $82 million throughout October with a goal of getting to $100 million was my goal, even in this down market. And all of that is really, I attribute to what we go through on our weekly group calls. It's a mindset of talking with other loan officers across the country of what's working, what's not working is always awesome. And then the resources and the classes that you put together are just awesome. And it helps me actually grow my own business. I'm recording this right now off of with my light and my microphone from things that I've learned from your class. And it's great that I don't have to go and talk to real estate agents about mortgage programs and interest rates. I talk to them about their business and how I can help them actually grow their business. And so that's a very different conversation and a very different relationship that I'm able to build with them and it just makes things even that more exciting. So again, thanks a lot for everything you do. It provides a great mindset and just awesome resources to help grow my business to the next level. So keep it up and I'll see you next Friday. All right. Well, there it is. You heard from Kevin. And if you want to learn more about this program and platform, if you want to get results similar to Kevin's, go to mortgagemarketing.pro, check it out, re-video there, learn more, schedule a call with me. You know what to do. Click that big orange button that shows up on the page over mortgagemarketing.pro. Okay. So this episode I am bringing a fire conversation, just a power team of three amazingly lovely, beautiful, heart-centered ladies and leaders in the mortgage space. Who am I talking about? I'm talking about team Hubbard with Pack Res mortgage up in Albany, Oregon. I met these lovely ladies at the recent Todd Duncan Cells Mashedbury event and I was just struck by their presence on stage and their authenticity and their willingness to share and open their hearts, open their business and there was a conversation I wanted to bring to you, my listeners. So we've got Christina, Elise and Erica, they'll all introduce themselves. They are just a superstar team, did over 300, helped over 300 families this year, get into homes, definitely kind of in the top 1% of producers nationwide. But more important than that is who they are and what they're building in the impact that they're making with their families and their local community. And I think that's the one big takeaway from this conversation that I'd like you to pick up on. And of course, links to reach them, connect with them on social media, etc. We'll be in the show notes and without further ado, let's get into this week's show. Team Hubbard, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. We're so excited to be here. I'm so excited to connect with you guys. I know this is going to be an awesome conversation, a fire conversation. And so let's do this for the listeners so they can associate voice with a name. Somebody volunteered to go first. We've got three lovely ladies here who wants to go first, say who you are and what is your role on Team Hubbard. Oh, well, I can start. I'm Christina Hebert and I'm the leader of this crazy pack. And yeah, I'm a mortgage advisor and a branch manager and all the good things. Awesome. Next. I'll go. My name officially is Elise Bowman soon to be Elise Jansen. I just got married and also a mortgage advisor on the team doing all the things, making people's dreams come true through the acquisition of real estate. Well, but thank you. And I'm Erica Floral and I have been on Team Hubbard for almost five years. I'm also a certified mortgage advisor and I specialize in reverse mortgages as well. Fantastic. Thank you for that. Getting the formalities out of the way. And by the way, for those listening, if you're going to want to connect with Team Hubbard, which I'm guessing you're going to want to, all those links will be in the show notes when we're done here. So the various Instagram links and all that kind of jazz you guys can connect there and follow up on some of the nuggets you're going to get here today. So collectively as a team. So here's, let me set up the context. You guys were at sales mastery with Todd Duncan just a few weeks ago in Palm Desert and you were one of the highlights for me, at least as I'm sure many others as well. First of all, because you're just real and raw, right? You're just like telling it as it is because this business can be real and raw. And so we need to like not sugar code it so much and just be truthful, right? And I think that's what stood out for me about you guys as I'm watching you. I'm like, okay, they're telling the truth. They're not like, you know, sugar code and it like you guys talked about some hard times, you know? And specifically you did. I remember that Christina. So collectively, how long have you guys been working together as a team? So Eric is almost five years and at least are you at three? Yeah. I think we're a little over three. We're a little over three. Yeah. So not an incredibly long time. So did you have a team before Christina? I did. Yeah. Well, kind of what I talked about on the stage, Jeff was really about, I've always believed in having a team. I've had a team since the beginning of my career, even if I had to put an assistant on a credit card. I mean, I started with always believed in the concept of having a team. And so, yeah, so the idea of kind of crashing a team, building it, crashing it, and then really starting over to build it the way when you start building it from your heart and not your head makes a very big difference. Is that something you recommend crashing a team? You know, we've been talking, at least in Eric and I have been talking about that. And they all think that yes, you should definitely crash a team because you, as a leader, you really learn a lot about what not to do. So was that intentional? What do you mean by crashing a team? Oh, God, I wish I could say it was intentional, just like playing the whole thing, yeah. No, no, I ended up completely on my face. I had a math exodus, and it was painful. It was, I had family working for me, aunts that had been working for me, cousins. I had an assistant, an L.O.A., really, who'd been with me for about 13 years, and these people were very, they called us a family branch because a lot of us were related or became family working together. So when that blew up, I was literally on my face. And that's part of what I talked about as being on my face in my closet, praying for God to shut down my phones and shut down my team because I had no business doing what I was doing. And I really was looking for him to say, fine, you're done, tap out, and that was my lowest is literally just begging for my phones to stop ringing because it was that bad. So I don't want to hang out here super long, but I do think the context is important. When you say you had no business doing what you're doing, what do you mean by that, because when I hear that, I assume that means maybe you were not performing at your highest level as a manager. Yeah, you know, I think that in our industry, people make a lot of management owners make mistakes. They think that because you can produce and you're a highly productive loan originator or advisor, that means that you're going to be a good manager. And I had been managing people, listen, I was in, I was at Wendy's at 14, I was the drive through supervisor at 14, okay, so I've always been very bossy. I'm also a seven-second sandwich maker, but that might be another podcast, both together. But yeah, I mean, I'd always been managing people. I always thought I, you know, had a pretty good idea of how to do it. But I was being coached at the time by a coaching agency that is a very hard core. I won't tell you the name of the agency, they're a very hard core and very directed on numbers and what you're producing and not necessarily the heart or the people behind it. So, nobody's fault but my own, but I made a lot of mistakes in driving myself and people around me incredibly hard to the point where everybody broke. Yeah, got it. So they just couldn't take it anymore. The whole thing fell apart. Correct. Yeah. Wow. So, kind of like a rising of the phoenix on this, right? You came back from the ashes and now you've built another team again. Yeah, but this time I did it a lot differently. We did it very strategically. We did one person at a time. We paid really close attention to what's the need of the team and everybody, you know, you saw on stage are really the way we believe is one team, one voice, right? So there's no difference between our ops and our sales aside for us, which I know is different from a lot of originators, but for us, it's all, we're all together. We all get a voice. We all get a seat at the table making decisions on what is the best thing for the client? It's not about what is the best thing for me or the best thing for Eric and at least or the rest of the team. It's how do we create a five star experience for the client and at every spot, every little nugget on the way, what's the best thing for them, not the best thing for us? So he goes aside and it's really all about the client experience. Are you saying that you didn't necessarily always operate from that? Yeah, I mean, I hate to say that, Jeff. I'd love to say, yeah, I mean, I have my, my husband makes fun of me all the time saying I walk away from a client and I know their, their kids, you know, best friends name and I know the name of their dog and I know their favorite color. So I've always been very relational, but I think in this industry, it's easy to get burnt out. It's easy to forget who you really are and who, and, and what we're doing for someone in someone's life. I mean, we are manufacturing pens. I say it to my girls all the time. We are, we're strategically helping someone get into the biggest debt of their life potentially. And so we have to take that really, really seriously and I think it's easy to take it for granted. I mean, it's easy to take people for granted if you don't really check yourself. So that's where I found myself was just making decisions based on production and being, being a high volume team and being built for volume and not really doing the right things for people. Okay. So let's mention volume then real quick and then at least in Erica will come to you, but here we are November 2022, almost yet year end. What are you looking at closing out at? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I haven't looked as of like this morning or anything, but I would say this year, last year we ended as a team really close to that 100 million mark in Albany organ, which we average like 336s of our loan amount. So I mean, that's a pretty decent number year before a little bit more than that, 2020 was fantastic. We, I think like most people in 2022 are not going to close that, that big of volume will probably end up somewhere in the 70 million mark, I would say roughly as a team. Yeah. Still fantastic as you know, um, thank you for that. It makes me curious then. All right. So we're you're on your face and you're off is saying God stopped the phones from ringing, right? Well, that's stuff. And I remember the story from sales mastery is the phone did ring, uh, and you had like 15 leads or whatever it was to sell up on that day. How did you wind up though building this team that you have here right now, Erica and at least like did they find you or vice versa? How did this whole thing come together? Yeah, I'll let Erica start that out because she, uh, I love her perspective on how this went. Oh gosh. Oh, so I actually have been in the finance industry for about 17 years, um, mostly consumer lending, banking, that sort of thing. And I had a short, short period of time where I was a mortgage advisor for a bank, uh, before I met Christina. And it was awful and I hated it. And I got out of it pretty quickly and decided that I wasn't going to do it again. It was mostly broker transactions, well, all broker transactions. Um, and so I had no in house underwriting, no in house processing. It was pretty, pretty big nightmare. Um, and I was working in a credit union doing, um, home equity line of credits and Christina and her team, um, at the time, would reach out to me and ask me questions about home equities that I could help them with and, you know, I, I would send my clients to Christina because the credit union in bank world don't always specialize in mortgages. So I would send my clients to Christina and her and her people and she would send her clients to me. So it was kind of like this nice little trade, um, and then I got a call from her, oh gosh, it was almost five years ago. And she said, hey, um, we love working with you. We love you. Would you be interested in meeting with us for a potential position we have open? And I knew I loved them, but I also knew what they did, you know, so I knew they were in mortgages. It really wasn't something that I wanted to do. And I think I even told you that I was like, yeah, it's mortgages. I'm not really, you know, um, and I had just gotten my business management degree. So I was really like, I got my degree and I don't know what's going to happen for me. Um, and she convinced me to have an interview. More, sorry, convincing. Uh-huh, very convincing. And, um, at the time, we had another gal on the team who's now in, um, in corporate, but she was amazing and wonderful, just like Christina. And in the interview, I actually interviewed with the both of them. And they're telling me about the position, telling me what they're interested in, like what they're trying to find. And it's pretty, pretty close to what I did already. Um, and it wasn't necessarily a mortgage advisor at that time. It was more of like a lone partner, like an up front person. Um, so, you know, the description and it self seemed pretty good. But what stood out to me the most in that interview was actually the love that Darla and Christina had. Um, they were so connected. They were in such a good place. Um, it felt inviting and warm and happy, um, to the point where Darla was sitting next to me in the interview. And she's kind of going up and down. I know our listeners can't see me. But she's going up and down in her chair and ask Christina if we can have her. Yeah, she did, she said, can I have her please? And I was trying to act cool because this was like a recruiting situation. And I'm trying to act like, oh, you know, and as Darla is jumping, can I have her please? I'm like, well, the gig is that dude. I mean, if you want to cover it up, it's out there. And at that point, it's like, whatever you want us to pay, it was probably going to happen at this point. Because yeah, beautiful. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and the rest is kind of history for us. Um, I, I couldn't say no. They're amazing women. And I just wanted to be a part of that and take this adventure with them. And then over the last five years, I've just grown so much as an employee, but also as a person, as a leader, as a mama. It's, it's crazy when you, when you say that you're doing life with people that you work with. But that's what we do. So it's, it's totally different than any other job I've ever had in my entire life. And we're completely invested in each other's success, in each other's goals, happiness, whether that be work or home life. And it's been a whirlwind ever since. Just incredible. Awesome. And what is your then primary function or kind of, you know, I know this, it can be 100 different things you do, right? But like, what is like your main objective for the team? Yeah. So I, um, I'm a certified mortgage advisor, which means I do originate. I bring in my own business as well as work on Christina's business. So Christina's clients can call in and they can talk to me or at least, um, and then I also go generate my own business as well. So I cultivate her partners and I also cultivate my partners. Um, and so it's kind of like this really good dynamic, because I think a lot of new mortgage advisors or load officers come into the industry and they don't have a lot of experience and they're not getting a lot of business upfront. So it can take them years and years and years to reach a senior position because they're not working on enough loans where I get to work on all of Christina's loans and my own loans, um, and really master the craft in a faster way and more efficient way. Um, and I'm able to be exposed to all different loans that that may be limited if I was just doing my own. I like that. That's smart. Accelerate learning. Cool. Thank you very much for that. We're going to keep going around here. So at least, you know, it's coming. Uh, how would you get into this, uh, crazy bunch of gals here? As special crazy beautiful gals. Um, so I actually got my start. I was Melissa Stachian, who she is the founder and president of our company, Pacra's mortgage. So I actually started as her executive assistant. So I got to see, I had this really cool opportunity where I got to see a bunch of different behind the scenes, secondary underwriting processing and mortgage advising. So I had gone to her one day and said, I really think I want to be a mortgage advisor and she's so gracious, so kind and let me do that. Well, I was kind of on my own. And I grew up in a very team environment. I grew up on cheer and dance and I loved being around people. Um, so me being on my own wasn't very successful. I like people. I like coming together and seeing how we can all think of things differently. So I already knew I was struggling in that regard. And then just to be completely honest, my personal life was at a true crossroads. And I was like, life is hard. This job is hard. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to do this. So I'm going to piece on out and do this. And I had told Melissa that I went to her and I was like, Hey, I'm interviewing other places. I'm packing up. I'm heading out. Um, and she again, so graciously was like, I want you to go to Albany to Christina's team. They need some help. They're amazing women. Just try it until you get another job. And I love Melissa. So I was like, Okay, I'll I respect you and up. I'll do that. Well, I mean, my life truly changed. I came to Albany and I sat down with Christina actually and she was like, So what can we do on this team? What are we going to do together? And I was like, Oh, I'm heading out. Like I'm here because she wanted me to and I'm trying to wait until my other interviews, you know, I get that job offer, but I'm done. And I remember Christina literally like turned around in her chair. I was like, I, I don't know. Well, literally, because if you want to make God laugh, tell me you have plans, those places that I was all interviewing at never offered. And so I'm like, Okay, well, I need to pay the bills. So I'm going to stay with this Albany team. But honestly, I love to learn. And so then I was hearing Christina talk and I was hearing Erica talk. I was hearing Darla at the time talk and just so captivated by these incredibly strong, really, really smart. And then obviously beautiful women and combined with that the time when my personal life was just like a crap shoe. And they just took me in and was like, Let's take care of you and let's nurture you and let's get you back to hell. All of those things combined. I was like, I can't ever leave. Like these are my girls. These are my heart. They're smart. Like I was just saying and they're kind and it's very different there. This team is so unique. The mortgage industry is very like on your own cutthroat, really intense. But this is so different. So I was like, Okay, God gave me this great opportunity. And I can't ever leave. And here I am. That's great. That's fantastic. I'm curious as I as I hear that, first of all, yes, it does not sound like your typical mortgage office, right? Kind of vibe and all that. But Christina, was that like your approach or kind of like you heart-centered leadership? Let's call it that. Was that after your epiphany? Was this before or what? That at least came into the scene. There was this welcome open arms thing. Well, I think when Darla came to the team, that's part we kind of left out. Darla, who is now a corporate trainer with her company and who's just ridiculously amazing. But she actually called me when my team all left and crashed. And she said, I have a gift for you. I have a Christmas gift I want to give you. And I love gifts. I love giving gifts. Getting gifts is pretty cool. I mean, I'm just kind of that chick that I'm always wanting to like surprise somebody with something cool. And so when Darla said, I have a gift for you and you're not acting right about it. Like you're not getting excited. I kind of was in the zombie state of like I just blew up my team and I don't know my name and kind of thing. And she's like, well, and you know, I've got clients tomorrow and Friday, but you know what? I'll be there Monday. And she's an originator at the time with the company. And she was in about an hour away, branched about an hour away. And I literally was like, and I'm not a person that takes help very easily or asks for help, which I've now changed of that. But at that time, I had a really hard time saying like, I'm on the ground, guys, like I need help. And but when she said she'd show up, she did. And she never left, right? So her coming in and just like having somebody who was very much like me, she could go into any position in the in the branch and kill it. But what we realized very quickly was that she loved to get into that file and figure it out and tweak it and figure out the right product. And she loved all that. And I love to, you know, kiss the babies and meet the people and love on everyone. And so she just kept saying, you go do that. You're really good at that and let me do this. And so once we started getting that combination together, I realized I could have a lot of fun. I could love and respect the person that I work with. I could learn to trust someone who had my back and cared about the client. And I think that's when the heart center thing happened for me was realizing like it doesn't have to be, you know, the first one to work and the last one to leave is the most important person. It doesn't have to be, I don't see my kids and I don't see my husband and I don't get to do life. It doesn't mean I have to not take care of my health because all I'm doing is taking care of my clients. And I actually was having really, really right before the crash. I was having really bad health issues. Kind of like at least the talking about stuff was going crazy. I was having major health issues to the point where my doctors wouldn't let me drive. I mean, I was blacking out a couple times a day. It was pretty bad. I mean, I put myself in a frenzy of stress. And I remember my husband who was just the love of my life. We've been together 25 years. But at that moment, he's picking me up from work because I can't drive because they've literally taken my keys. They have a lot of nerve taking my keys, but whatever. And I was on a call. My kids were little. He's here with, they're all here making, you know, sitting their butts on the printer, making butt shots on the printer. And all the things kids do when they grow up at your office. And he looked at me and I'm on phone with the client and I kept telling him, hold on, hold on. I'm almost ready. And I got in the car and he goes, you know, Christina, he said, I know you love your clients, but those people are not coming to your funeral, honey. And it just really hit me like, I can't leave all of myself on the table all the time. Like I can't do that and be a functional human being and be the best I can be in my marriage. And as a daughter and as a mom and all those things. So really that heart-centered stuff started when I had to make a change. I didn't have any shot, any other decision I could make. And when Darla kind of showed me like, trust me, I'm really good at this. You go do what you're really good at. And then seeing that together completely different in the mortgage industry. Usually as a branch manager, they're like, go get a bunch of elbows, train them all up. And let's just see how it goes. And typically you have one person, maybe in that branch, maybe two that are top producers in there. It's that 80-20 role, right? You've got 20% of the people doing 80% of the business. And that model doesn't work in a small town like Albany really doesn't. And it didn't make sense for us. And so doing life together, figuring it out, figuring out who do I want in my world every single day. And how can I bless other people to do this incredible career? How did we form into them and bless them so that they can get to the next level? So that's kind of where the heart thing started was purely I had to. I had to to survive. Wow, that's amazing. Yeah. Really, really incredible. So it's just I'm paused for a moment just because I'm reflecting on how like you guys know this. But what you said there is like those people aren't coming to your funeral like that's like right here, you know, like so true and such so impactful like that gets your attention and you're like what the hell have I been doing, you know? So I mean, I guess I'm trying to say is technology for having the courage to do that because I think a lot of people listening to this want that kind of business. But they don't necessarily know how to get there. Or they feel limited by where they work or that's not allowed or that's not how we do it here, you know what I mean? Well, and you know, Jeff, it's interesting since we did sales mastery and and I'm I love Todd Duncan. I followed him for years. He's I've I'm coached by a down from group. I mean, I love those people and they've really teach that heart first thing. And so it's started with really understanding that whole concept. But since we've been at sales mastery, the amount of people that have reached out to us across the country literally um asking, you know, like can I have an hour with you? Can we have a little time? Can we do a big meeting? Whatever it's overwhelming to me and I'm so humbled that people would even go like, wait, what are you doing? And so but what you just said is huge because I'm having these conversations with these mostly some men but mostly women that are going like you don't understand. I've been there. I've been leveled. I've been bawling my eyes out. I'm a I've failed as a mom and a wife. You know, I'm on my second or third marriage like whatever and they've traded that money for like who they are in their soul and and I'm so lucky that I'm with these women and the right didn't even the rest of my team is like I can't even tell you these people are incredible and and I know that like you know attracts like um but the entry level to get on this team is really really really high and we all do it together. Everybody gets to decide. If I find somebody that I really love and they we've vetted them out and I've talked to them and they've got I've got all my stuff done. The next meeting is with them because we're going to do life with them too. So if they want to train they want to grow if somebody wants to come and be a part of this team then they're going to have that entry of is this somebody we want to do life with too because we're not going to work with agents that aren't kind that aren't working with our hearts. We're not going to work with business partners that treat people terribly like that's just not our GM. So who we are and and we get to craft that life and we get to craft our business this way and and you know I think you were talking about numbers and I mean three hundred and ten units or something last year that's families. People say transactions or whatever. It's families. Three over 300 families got to be in our world and we got to impact their world and that is humbling to me that we could even get there from where we've started. So it's it's I've heard you use language a few times in asking you guys these questions and once again I appreciate you like being real and sharing but one of the things I notice when I talk to people is like language right and and you use at least use the term mortgage advisor I believe and you know heart center leadership and family and all these types of things and makes me curious because you know you said you're not going to work with realtors who don't fit your what's the right word identity let's say your preference you know. So what I want to say about is do you guys have you clearly established or do you have like a mission values thing because what the way you talk and communicate seems very intentional whereas what I'm not hearing is loan officer you know and I mean ref all that you know I'm saying like usual language have you guys very conscious about that. Yes absolutely. We're not like other lenders and that's why we're so different and that's why we're so unique and that's why we get to choose choose our own path. So when we're meeting with with new potential agents or business partners we're we're we're having an interview with them without them knowing. So we're we're meeting we're having lunch we're breaking bread or coffee or you know what have you and and it's really a chance for us to understand who they are as a person what their values are what their goals are what their dreams are how they are as a family you know. How do you know that I don't want to interrupt you but like are you asking those questions like what are your values what's most important to you things like that. Absolutely. I think that's shocking though that's shocking. No I'm sorry you guys know 70% of the mortgage regionators and I love you guys and gals listen but most of you aren't going deep. Yeah you know Jeff I think too what makes this different so we realize what their clients last couple years like they need love right there are so much bad information and anxiety and depression being at them so they need love but we also need love our realtor partners need love and if you take this job apart from us us three and everyone on our team our hearts are we love people. You have to have that unifying characteristic before you hire someone of knowing what are your dreams what's your five-year plan what would be the coolest vacation you want to go on where do you go to church what's your dog you have to ask those questions to know are you going to love our clients and our business partners the way that they need and the way that they deserve to be loved they deserve to have that hope join opportunity because there's not much of that being given to them right now. I love that all right so let me ask a couple hard questions here. Hard is what I mean by that is less esoteric if you will right. Starting out I'm a newer loan officer it's you know roll back the clock Erica Elise whatever you're out there hunting right and we know it's a grind and realtor can be tough is it easier like is it more difficult whatever side of the coin you want to look at to have those I'm meeting with a realtor and I'm like well listen Elise what I really want to know is like what's most important to you in life you know and like you know what I mean like you start going down that road either you get the realtor resistance of like who the heck is this person asking me that like just close my loans right or you're like look at man I'm going to answer my phone 24 seven that's how I'm going to win your business is there a balance there or how do you approach that. I mean we literally just ask the question like what's most important to you about being successful and specifically about in a transaction or closing a loan you will probably ask that question but that's not necessarily what's most important. Yeah because for us the bigger picture is what's most important to everybody I mean we want to share like God's love and we want to join opportunity it's not about a loan if that's the medium that we need to use to serve people then that's the place that we've been given. Where do you got where are you from you guys. Like if you would I mean they're incredible it's like I don't have to say anything Jeff just let I have never a 260 interviews I have never heard somebody say God's purpose through alone. It's true no it's true I'm serious like that's pretty cool and I know you get different reactions to that but so what you know you gotta be you. Well and I think it's it's so funny I just went to we have a boys and girls clubs I don't know if they're everywhere but we have a boys and girls club I went to a meeting yesterday and I came into the meeting and and was my goofy bubbly self that like I always am and there's like eight people in the room right and and and I can't even remember what I was saying but I was just being me like I'm very open to be me and my my friend who's also a part of this group with me he's like oh my gosh you guys you should all know this is just Erica this is just who she is she comes in like this everywhere she goes and it's true like if I'm at a grocery store I'm telling the girl that's checking me out how cute she is like I'm just telling her how much I love her outfit or you know it's a little weirder when it's guys but I still try to give guys good compliments too um but that's just who we are so if it comes into like that meeting that Elise is talking about it's not a like we don't get resistance and and hardly ever do we get somebody who doesn't open up to us because we've already been very open to them since since the moment we started talking to them well it sounds I mean I get tired of having to talk about this and I know Todd Duncan's been talking about it for years I mean I got started in 2003 so I used to have his stuff on DVD you know and so hi truss has been around a while in Timberheen one of my original mentors um and why does it why you would think that more people would just all right let's put down the agenda and just be like if I met one of you guys right I'd be like all right listen I don't want to talk about business I don't want to talk like we can get there but I just really want to know more about you what do you into what do you like why do you do you know what I mean you come at it from that angle and why can't more people do that well you know Jeff we say that so we joke around all the time and I say I'm not gonna work with a real estate agent that I wouldn't have to my home for dinner okay and the reality of that is that wisdom is the best teacher right I can't teach you wisdom you're gonna have to have the experience to know and as being an originator at one point you know you understand that you can work with those people that you're not with them you're working for them and they're treating you like the gum on the bottom of their shoe and they're acting as if you're their slave and that you should be answering your phone between eight p.m. and three in the morning and the weekend and whatever and those that's not the way to do a viable business that is fun and a blessing to people and being a blessing in this community being able to do the outreach that we do and the things that we do for veterans and the things we do for the reverse mortgage community the different things that we do that we're really passionate about you have to have a heart to be in that part of it and if we're working with an agent that is all about the money they're about the transaction they're about lighting you on fire when something happens instead of locking arms with you and being your partner they don't get a play in this sandbox and they can go do loans with I wish I was a lender.com I don't care they can do whatever they want but it's not going to be with team Hubbard because it's not going to it's not going to bring anything to to this group to have that being treated that way. Yeah I wrote down you get what you tolerate. 100% and that's really what Todd teaches us which we've been doing for a long time is a high trust interview and you have to be able to have a high trust culture before you can do a high trust interview so I cannot go preach trust me unless I trust these ladies I have to trust that they're going to do they've been trained and they've spent a ton of time with me during during at least than I thought there's a bunch but at least was newer to me during the 2020 disaster and our team was so crazy that we were linked by video all day every day even if it was on mute kids were crying dogs were barking all the things were happening but we needed to be together because we being isolated in our homes was not working the beauty of that the blessing that came from that that we didn't expect was that you're literally having the opportunity for every client interaction can be watched by your team right everything they're doing I'm just listening I'm watching and when they're done we're critiquing we're talking it through we're walking through I loved how you did that I didn't love that like let's talk about you know hey the sale should look like this or did you did you miss this I want you to talk about like one this one thing and so we started this practice of when they would handle a client they would sell me the way they would sell the client and that means setting up the file setting up the system literally showing everything they would do and adhere all the options and then they would summarize it to me going how I would sell this client is this and that gave me such trust because when I got to a point where we were like minded in yep that's exactly what I would do it was like it's kind of like that you know smacking them on the hiding going go get it you've got it you're there right and I think having that blessing I know we were all under our desk in 2020 and it was tough and all the things and it's kind of a blur for all of us but the blessing in that for team Hubbard was we came out of it so much stronger because we do we are saying the same things we are doing the same things we're we are talking about Erica just had a meeting a couple days ago with a new business partner and we noodle it in our in our 10 o'clock we do a meeting every single day at 10 o'clock when we get together we talk about leads and agents and clients and CPAs and financial planners and all the people we do business with and she brought this this new relationship to the table and said this is what I like this is what I don't like what do you guys think we kind of noodle it together like is this a fit and she even said if I'm in the service person I need to sell them this way because they're not for everybody and guess what neither are we we're not for everybody that's okay but but but when we get to bless business partners that we're in business with with great clients that already trust them because they trust us that's the coolest thing ever it's a win-win in our community right right um one quick point about that high trust interview uh uh I wrote this down because it reminded me of a quote I heard yesterday we've all heard that quote that people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care here here's what I heard yesterday you show people how much you care by the quality of the questions you ask oh yeah yeah that was a writer downer at the writer downer yeah that's why the high trust interview works by the way and this isn't you know it's not talking commercial but hey you know there's a mentor for all of us um but that's goes back to you want to differentiate yourself like in this current market we're in let's pivot right now talk about you know the shift right because 22 22 definitely has been a shift positive day today for rates the one thing that's certain is change and I think some people have already been scared out right some people are left I've gotten calls from L.O.s I do them out the arm retiring whatever and that's going to happen right the tide's going back out you at least said something earlier I wrote down as well is this is something many people don't think of is agents need empathy like a referral partner's need everybody needs empathy but right but let's talk about in the business context and and that's one place that if you could just show up and be empathetic and be like because a lot of L.O.s you can jump in the Facebook groups they throw realtors on the bus we see it all under the bus all the time um and they're in easy target you know but let's say there's a lot of bad L.O.s too so I get tired of that a little conversation but how about if you just be empathetic right and understand that the the stuff we're all going through it together if you're in real estate we're all going through this together how about we just set the you know the the posing aside and just be like so I'm curious how have you guys engaged with conversations to be empathetic or to address some of the shifts and changes that's you know got some people scared maybe yeah yeah um well I can take this unless two girls want to because you you guys are doing this really well too oh yeah well it's just an example of yesterday we have a newer agent in the industry he's working for a team lead who's an epic leader and doesn't a great great job as a realtor and and has built a great team and this the this particular person is got an incredible personality a wonderful heart and here he is you know less than a year in the industry and so we just reached out to him and said and I just said I I don't know what you need and I don't know how you're feeling today but my team and I are here and if you want to come in and talk about any of the problems that you're having or anything you want to overcome we can strategize with you and and walk beside you and and he's like when can I come you know so we met with him yesterday and it was simple stuff that he just had to get off his chest yeah his problems and his issues that he was having are going to be different than other people but if you don't ask the right question if you don't what what is your biggest fear in this market that's a great question what's your biggest fear about buying a home or going into this much of debt what is your biggest fear about you add it in there and somebody's going to talk to you about what that is and then you're going to be able to not just overcome an objection like a salesperson but like but actually have a conversation like somebody that you want to be in relationship with and and find out if you can problem solve together hmm something tells me there's going to be some more loyalty there than we close in six hours you know it takes the right question off the table it's it's I tell my kids this all the time and I think they're tired of hearing it for me but it's about relationships it it's literally who who are you in relationship with it's in relation with someone else that maybe you should know because you're all sort of like minded you all want to do life together and that's really that's the one question Jeff when I started talking to you about people across the country that have reached out that is super humbling and I even know what to do with it other than to just book these hour appointments with people and talk to them because I want to love on them the best I can but I've been where they all are and I get how hard this is that's the question I always get how did you do this how do you find them how do you and it's like it starts with the leader you have to have a servant's heart to lead you can't just be like well I know all the things and I have this ridiculously huge database and no it's not about that it's about being that leader and doing it with your heart and building the team that you want with the vision that is what is the most important thing and I said this on stage this generation these beauties right here this Disney princess kind of gals I have come on you know that's real um I mean yeah they they came to you know the old school way that we've done it for you know 27 years for me it was you know you're working every you're working every single day there's no break I was required to call in on my honeymoon in the morning and in the afternoon every single day there was no time off that everybody was grinding so hard and that old school mentality is how I blew up my team because this generation they're not driven by money and prestige and all the things that I think you know I was the fifth woman hired in my company at the time it was all men and as if and they were literally like we better figure it out you get a you get an office in the basement and the fax machine was upstairs I lost so much weight on those stairs looking at value that was the best workout situation ever because you're running up and down but until you could earn your own fax machine downstairs right so like that was literally the way it was and so you came in on Saturday dressed from head to toe in case a customer stopped by or a case a realtor needed you to run to an open house this generation is like yeah no thanks that's not what we want we want a quality of life we want to be covered when we're on our honeymoon we want we want to have a long weekend with our girls and did not have to answer one phone call and by the way we want everybody to answer that call to that realtor that business partner that attorney or that client and we want to say the same thing that Erica wants me to say the same thing to her client that she would I want at least to say the same thing to my client that I would and we all know that about each other and that it doesn't matter who's client it is they all get that five star service and they get all of our brains in it and our hearts in it so it's it's a whole new way of doing business I know people think maybe it's a little bit off or crazy but this is how we're doing life no I don't think it's off or crazy I think that that's the direction we've been going for some time in this world right is that we do want more of what's meaningful you know I think of the quote from my friend Mark Schaeffer who wrote the book marketing rebellion and he says the most human brand wins right so you're creating a human brand a human company experience with you guys the way you've designed it so you're good that's why you're winning right all right got a few minutes left let me get a little bit tactical if you don't mind I'm really curious and I'm sure the listeners are like what if I was looking at a month your calendar let's say for activities that generates business what are some of the highlights that would be on it this could be realtor stuff events database what jumps out for you guys database database we're yeah thanks we love our clients right and so when it closes I mean we literally will say Texas pictures of how you set up your living room so we love those calls that we love doing our database calls our annual mortgage reviews that's a huge chunk of our calendar that's a huge chunk of our business okay okay so database calls Erica I know you wanted to get in on this yeah so number one and most important obviously is database and and then we also add in some other things so we're using the home bot right now and that's a really good touch point for our clients and for us just to check in on them see how they're doing and then our goal really is to have five partner meetings a week so we're meeting with five of our business partners every week every week and we try to be intentional with those and make them in person you have a different experience when you're in person you have a different experience when you get to be face-to-face and a different connection really so those are really important and then each of us kind of do different things within our community so I've got probably once a week I'm at a community type event and whether that's you know a chamber event or again the Boys and Girls Club which is what I'm really passionate about I'm always doing that every week I'm being intentional with my time and how I spend it fantastic how would you guys score yourself right now with the more I've been using this term hybrid loan officer right which is hybrid is more traditional stuff you just described the other side of hybrid is the more like digital and all that how how do you guys what comments do you want to add around that in terms of what you're doing like social etc. I mean I think we're fantastic I think they're fantastic they are really pushing me to be a little better about the whole social media stuff but those two I mean they are incredible with it and have done an amazing job I think that we've done a lot better of connecting the you know emotional to the AI all the things have to happen so really embracing that coming from old school right like there there are things that we can do together we're realizing clients don't like for an AI to text them 20 times like clients don't like you know they're like I'm not paying attention so you're also there's a way to do it to the point where you're going to hurt yourself not help yourself and so we do it you heard this on stage we do a team efficiency meeting that we try to do at least once a month it doesn't always happen sometimes something happens but where everyone gets to come to the table and talk about how is this thing that we're doing impact on the client experience is a good or is about could we could we we joke around and say can we throw some more glitter on that is there any more icing on that cake what else can we do to really really get out of the box and provide something amazing and so there's a lot more for us to do with AI there's a lot more with us to do with with me being connected with our clients home boxman a great way we have an incredible marketing company with Park Res that that are just in it with us and trying different things we but we are it's really important for us that that hand in combat that being in person being intentional we do a lot of charity stuff because our passion we love veterans we love you know the kids and homeless all the things that we are all passionate about and I think so we show up to that stuff a lot with our with our time and with our talents and our treasures we try to do it all but the reality is when you're going doing something that's really really you and it's not fake it's really how you believe in what you think then it's just going to be a joy it's just going to be another Saturday night where you're hanging out with people that are like minded so I don't think you ever lose that we do homes for heroes you know that's some technical piece of of what we do for our veterans and for our first responders and it's easy for me to say yes to stuff like that for the team on behalf of it because it's like yeah that's where our hearts are yeah we all absolutely want to do the very best we can for the firefighters and paramedics and the police officers and that's all really important to us because they're giving back so I think being in the community doing that is is more important to me than the next crazy cool technical thing that's trying to get a customer to call me. Mm-hmm love it love it okay so what would be and if you've done any planning yet for 2023 let's close out on this would be your top one to three initiatives for the coming year. Is it too soon to ask are they already gotten ready? They're already starting I'm gonna let the girl I'm dying to hear what theirs are. Are you wanting personal or professional because that's a really good question. Let's talk about personal Erica. I'm getting married next year. Oh my girlfriend. Cool. So I'm I'm super excited about that and I can't wait professional wise I am looking to grow some of my partners. I really want to get deep with some CPAs with some financial planners and attorneys so I'm really trying to to target certain people that are going to fit in our box and be able to utilize them for our clients just to dive deeper. Yeah fantastic thank you Elise would you like to yeah personally I definitely like the word I think for next year for me is going to be roots I just really want to I want to cook I want to be in a garden I want to go to church every Sunday I just want to home body but professionally definitely making that shift from realtor focused to financial planner CPA attorney focused I think it would be amazing us three we want to continue to be together as much as possible um and getting ourselves more margin in our day so maybe that means even adding someone to our team and continuing to grow and dominating our community there you go love it love it um you mentioned real quick um changing the focus a little bit from realtors is that just for diversity standpoint then more than anything else different sources yeah that's a great question um in in real estate agents are definitely don't have the control of the client as much as they used to the clients are getting even even if a client is referred to us by a real estate agent that they trust and love the first thing they do is go and look at our reviews right so they're you know you have to do a little of everything but I think really as a team we're focusing on we're this is the biggest financial decision they're making and we want the best heads in this we want your financial planner with us we want your CPA with us we want to make the best decision this isn't just about like close the mortgage pat you on the hiding and say goodbye we're in relationship with these people so to do that we have to look really big picture and that means finding the right I can't refer you to somebody that I know of interest if I don't know them and love them and trust them right that's just BS that has to be real so we spend a lot of time figuring that out in the market um I think that the real estate agents that we are in business with that we love that we trust that do an amazing job um are gonna that cream is gonna rise to the top they're going to continue to do a great job and they're going to get more market share because a lot of agents that are part time or have their toe in the water are running scared right um so that's I think why that's that's more like minded business um but but we've we've always been a 90% purchase shop we are a purchase shop that is what we do and our realtor partners are incredibly important to us and we'll continue to be incredibly important to us um it's just a matter of how how else do we impact their business too because we have to figure out a way to help them be successful so that they stay here too um and so it's really also about like like we have some really great partners right now realtor-wise so I don't want to like lose sight of that but it's about going really deep with them and you can't go deep with 100 realtors right you can't you can't so so we have to we have to now shift that to the value going back to the client you've got these great realtors already we love and trust and our clients love and trust them now let's add this extra extension to this for them no I love that and thank you for clarifying I have said that for years you know going deep versus wide and and as your business matures right you get those extra choices and now what I'm sensing is that you're at this place where I think the concept is a good better different it's like so so you start with like the core foundation of the business let's just say that's realtors as a source of business so what happens is too often most people before they get better they're just in the good category they wind up adding additional stuff shiny objects and everything and therefore they never really get go from good to better because in order to go in order to do different you got to get better first at the thing you're already doing you know what I mean yeah or else you're spread too thin and it doesn't really optimize this then you're like chaos and crazy which we know can happen so I think that yeah that's funny because I ask of it all the quote top producers even though with this talk about realtors then the disruption and this and that and you know still the core business like you said with the right realtors who are growing and who are approaching it from the right way they will continue to adapt and thrive and survive and we'll always need that type of personal wonderful client experience that that is provided by a local in market mortgage professional right track okay read and green cool well listen um we are like one minute left and I've taken such time from you in your busy day you get to get back to the market and the rates and quote and lock and all that kind of stuff because it's a great day great market I can't thank you guys enough this has been wonderful conversation I'm really grateful for you making time to be here so thank you thank you for asking us it was really cool to have you come up and introduce yourself and ask to do this we were super honored we've been really excited to get this time with you and love what you're doing so thank you for making a sub part of it that that means a lot to our group we appreciate it you bet I'm just trying to bring awesome conversations to people that help make a difference in their life so six years now I think hopefully we're doing that okay so by the way everybody who wants to connect more but look out because you said people connect with you but links to like your Instagram email whatever it is that we put in there that your website that's how for those listening that want to learn more about this amazing team Hubbard listeners if you like this episode you know what to do leave us a review see you on the next one hey guys what's up real quick you've heard about the mortgage marketing pro membership before and I just want to quickly remind you if that you're in a place in your business where you simply need more purchased loans you need to fill your pipeline with purchase business let's just face it agents are still a solid pillar of business and sources of purchase business for you well good news our mortgage marketing pro membership helps loan officers like you close more loans without the hassle of chasing agents or cold calling done for you agent classes expert training videos a marketing automation platform that automates the entire process for you everything you need to build your personal brand in your local market attracting convert agents into referral partners plus done for you proven marketing materials and plug and play content to make promoting your class getting agents butts and seeds partnering with affiliates real easy but that's not all you'll also get access to our weekly mastermind calls with top LOs authors speakers and coaches to learn the best strategies to grow your business right now in today's market and as an extra bonus for limited time for all new members you'll get access to a database of 200 agents in your local market that have closed anywhere to from eight to 50 transactions in the last 12 months and we'll provide that list uploaded to our platform for you so you can get off to a fast start in reaching actually productive agents so what are you waiting for you can check out more at mortgage marketing.pro see more of the success stories there and if you feel compelled to do so book a call we'll have a chat we'll see if it's a fit don't miss out on this opportunity to take your mortgage business to the next level right now head over to mortgage marketing.pro