Ep #41: Secrets of a Wall Street Journal Top 250 Agent

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. Hey listeners, welcome to this episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio. How you doing? At the start of Q2, the date of my recording, this is April 11, 2017. How did you Q1 go, are you on track, are you executing effectively on your business plan? Are you adding more real estate agents to your bus, are you categorizing them as ABC players, focusing on your A's and B's, moving people up from B to A, real estate agents on your bus are always going to be coming and going. It's a moving parade. And most loan officers, as you've heard me say before, have no predictable proven system or process for adding agents to their bus. So we're always working with the most productive engaged agents. And you may have heard me talk about doing agent classes as a way to leverage and get in front of maximum agents in minimum time. And if you haven't yet checked out get powerful presentations, which is they done for you library of agent classes, topics like getting started with video marketing, which helps agents understand 15 different videos they should be creating in their business right now. Or if it's dealing with millennial marketing for real estate, how to capture the most profitable group of consumers in history or getting started with content marketing, the new rules of content marketing. These are examples of three different agent classes that are turn key for you and available instantly for download for you and get powerful presentations. So if you haven't checked that out, do so at getpowerfulpresentations.com. That's open for a little bit longer here and our spring fling special. And so what it comes down to is if you really want to capture the attention of real estate agents, you want to get noticed rise above the noise, you've got to add value. Obviously, you hopefully know by now it's not about rate sheets and closing fast, right? Those are promises that agents hear all the time. It's less about you, more about them. It's understanding how you can add value to their business. So that's why I'm excited to bring today's guest to this week's episode, Karen Briscoe. She is an amazing lady. Let me just give you the quick bio on her. She's the principal owner of Huckabee Briscoe Conroy, HBC with Keller Williams and McLean Virginia. She's recognized by the Wall Street Journal as one of the top 250 real estate teams in the US and ranked in the top 100 teams with Keller Williams every year since 2009. She earned her team of collectively sold over 1,000 homes valued at more than a billion dollars. And Karen is my special guest today. She comes by way of a good friend of mine, Wade Vandermohlen, who is a highly successful smart and handsome title rep out of the same DC area. And Karen shares with us a story about how Wade and a very competitive market was able to earn her business as a title rep. So there's lots of lessons in here today, this episode. If you haven't heard that podcast with Wade yet, go back to podcast number one, there's the very first podcast I had Wade on. I had him on a second time talking about a great real estate app called Huckab. And now of course we're still talking about Wade. Man, oh man, this guy Wade. So Karen and I are talking about how do you add value as a loan officer? How do you get noticed? How do you rise above the noise? And we're also unpacking some strategies, tips and success strategies that real estate agents can apply in their business. And I will share with you in this podcast episode today are some lessons, are some great takeaways and examples for you on how you can more successfully attract and convert real estate agents. One of the ways you can do that is by getting and reading Karen's book real estate success in five minutes a day, secrets of a top agent revealed. And you'll hear us talk about this book, but bottom line is what's so great about this book is it makes it easy to read. It's simple. Do you have five minutes a day? Because that's all it takes to read this book every chapter of the book is a day. It starts on January 1st and goes through the entire year. You don't have to start on January 1st. I frankly have started in April when I purchased the book, but every day has a theme and has a quick five minute story tip idea, inspirational thought and it's simple and easy to digest, to consume and read. And I'll tell you when I talk with Karen about ideas, loan officers can leverage to put this book to work in your business. There's so many different ways to leverage this. Listen to the podcast. You hear me talk about how do you create one video a week by taking one tip per week out of this book and simply share the ideas from the book to help them. You're sharing the ideas of one of the mega agents in the country by a few copies, send it with a targeted handwritten note to the top 10 or 20 agents you're prospecting in your local market. Stand out, add value, be unique and be different and I hope you like this week's show. If you haven't yet subscribed do so on iTunes or Stitcher, if you like the content, please do me a favor. Take two minutes and leave us a five star rating, okay? It helps us reach more listeners, helps us know we're doing a good job so we can continue to do this for you. So without further ado, let's get into this week's show. Hey Karen, welcome to the show. Thank you Jeff for having me. It is a pleasure to have you. You are amongst the most successful real estate agents and teams in the country. So I feel it's an honor and a privilege to have you here and I'm so grateful for your time. We'll actually talk a little bit about when I say that what that means in terms of numbers and volumes so those people listen and get a sense of what does that really mean, one of the most successful agents and teams in the country. But as we get into that, why don't we start with a brief just backgrounder on who you are, where you're from, how did you choose real estate? Well I actually started in commercial real estate right out of college in Dallas, Texas and did residential lot development for Tremacrow. So I've always had a passion for real estate. The journey into residential happened because my husband's career moved us up to the Washington DC metro area and when after our kids reached a certain age, I wanted to get back to work. I went to work for the Starbucks company and had the next cell account and that was during the dot com bust, which there is no money in disposition is I'm sure you realize. So someone suggested residential and I really do feel like it's a great combination because it combines my strong negotiating and understanding markets and value and what creates value along with the people's skills of really enjoying working with people and making some of their most important life decisions. Well that's great. So let's give some context here then for the listener. So you are the principal owner of Huckabee Brisco Conroy Group or HBC with Keller Williams. You're in McLean, Virginia and I need to point out because people really need to know what you've accomplished in your career. The Wall Street Journal recognized you as one of the 250 top realtor teams in the U.S. You're ranked in the top 100 teams with Keller Williams internationally every year since 2009 and since 1977, you, your team has sold more than 1,000 homes valued at a billion dollars and you consistently sell today over 100 properties a year. So how the heck did you start from where you just described to get there? It was just overnight success, right? Well, I actually joined a team at top producing agent when I went from commercial to residential because I felt like well success leaves clues and there's really not much benefit in trying to reinvent the wheel. And so the agent that I joined sadly was ill. So when I became partners with her in 2006, it was with the plan to take over the business which I did in 2008 when she passed away. Happened to be the same month that the financial markets crashed, was not great timing. Yeah, so it's been rebuilding since that time. So I started at a higher platform in the beginning though I was a team member and worked with buyers and sellers. So anybody can achieve a high level success. It just requires taking some certain steps and actions. Okay. And I were connected by way of someone else I've had on the podcast Wade Vanderbolen who's a title rep out in your area and I want to come back to tying Wade into the conversation because it deals with a few listeners by the way loan officers, how do you earn the business of a top agent like Karen and perhaps get introduced to her team. So that was kind of Wade's story and he was I think the first or second guest on my podcast. I've had a second time since then but we'll circle back onto that because I want to right now ask you this question about you said anybody can be successful. My question for you was when you decided to switch over to residential, what was your mindset on that? I mean, did you, did you set about to be one of the top agents in the country and with your franchise or it was just, huh, this real, this residential thing is interesting. Let's try that out. Yeah, but like a lot of women, I had been home with my kids. So returning to the workforce was something that I actually only wanted to do part time and a lot of people enter the industry that way. It really didn't turn into a business and taking it to this level until like I said when I became partners with the top agent. The thing is though, the secrets to success are really the same. They're just exponential, right? So I would say what was the secret to my success and why was I selected? It came down to lead generation. I understood very quickly that if you don't have a lead, you don't have anything to do. And so rather than relying on the team or my mega agent to give me leads, I proactively got out there and found them myself. And what did you do to get out there proactively and find leads? Well, leads are all around you, really. And that's the thing that I discovered proactively through my sphere. And yet having many full conversations with people, what I call pickup line is a little bit different. I open conversations with where do you live rather than what do you do for a living or some other perhaps lines that people use or what they're introducing themselves. And where do you live line actually opens up so many conversations because once you know where somebody lives and you can remember them and you can have a real estate conversation when you share that the reason why you want to know is because you're a real estate agent, you can start to discuss often they want to know about the market. You might have friends that live in their community. And if you truly become a neighborhood expert and know those different neighborhoods, then they're going to want to ask you more about real estate and seek you out. And that's really that. And then good follow through. I am like the energizer buddy. I don't give up somebody mentions some question or interest in real estate and I stay in touch with them to see how I can help them. Okay. So there's a lot of directions where you go there. You don't give up. You follow through like crazy. That's awesome. You stay in touch with them. And often times in getting feedback from listeners on a podcast like this, people always ask, well, you know, well, what tools does Karen use? What's CRM? How does she stay in touch? And so I'm naturally curious, you know, obviously at Keller Williams, you have a lot of solutions provided for you. So how do you kind of stay top of mind with your leads referrals past out of base? Actually, a CRM is priceless. If you don't have one, that's the first thing you should get. And I currently use wise agent Wade helped me see the benefits to that. But there are many good ones. The important thing is to do it. I think people are driving for perfection. And sometimes just being done is better than than that. And in terms of follow through with people, like for example, I have a property and a contract right now that I met those people originally in 2009. So I put them on a drip campaign and eight year drip campaign. Yes. Well, you see, that's the part where I think people see this business and the longevity of it, the benefit of it is when you stay committed and you stay into it in the long run, then you get the benefit of the fact that people come back. I think that a lot of people forget that 80% of the sales is made after the fifth contact. And most people give up after the first or second. And do you see that as a recurring issue with agents in wanting the quick hit, the quick fix and not being in the long, long play of the game? Well, it must be because what they say, 87% of agents leave within the first five years, I think there's a disconnect in what people realize what it takes to build a business and to sustain a business. And there's some misconceptions perhaps in the industry about, you know, it's a lucrative industry and relatively easy to enter and to achieve at a high level success requires doing this over and over and over again. One way he shares the same statistics in the industry for that he's in in the title business and I would say any top mortgage originator would share as well, very similar statistics. Okay. All right. So let's talk about Wade seeing as we've mentioned him a couple of times here. So like I said, Wade is how you and I got connected, had Wade on the podcast as a guest. Tell me the story about Wade, how did you get to meet Wade? Well, he was introduced to me actually through a mortgage person because after I wrote my book, real estate success in five minutes a day, she felt like I should meet him because he has some creative ideas and ways that he helps agents market themselves. And when we did meet, I really was impressed quite quickly. His video presence and using video to help agents market themselves is really tops for our area and the industry. He also does some great, absolutely fantastic lunch and learns and training sessions on some topics that if you're not quite as comfortable with the technology into the business, he's very, very good at that. And I've had my office manager and marketing person attend a number of those and those were very beneficial. So he kept adding value in very unique ways. I would say that and he's pleasantly persistent. Okay. So you already had a title partner before meeting Wade, somebody else you were sending your business to? Yes. Someone that I knew through other relationships in the business. And so when Wade came to me, I was like, well, you know, what are you going to do that's going to be different? And he clearly showed that he did have some new approaches that were very valuable and beneficial. So I would say the number one thing that mortgage originators and title reps can do is add value. Actually, I say the same thing to real estate agents. I'm like, you two can add value by having true market knowledge, by being very knowledgeable on the neighborhoods and the homes that are previewing those homes and actually being knowledgeable about them and using some creative community engagement events and other ways of reaching out to your sphere and beyond. Okay. So in terms of adding value, I mean, a lot of people say that and talk about that. But in the case of Wade, for example, and this is right, I've got my loan officer had on. And I'm listening to this adding value to agents. So how do I do that? And I constantly try and get out loan officers out of the conversation of, you know, what people call show up and throw up, right? Which is, let me tell you about how great my rates are, my service, I close super fast. You know, I work weekends, all that usual noise that you agents, I'm sure here all the time. Wade's approach stood out because it was wasn't based on all that and there was no rush to get there. It was, oh, let me better understand what's going on in your business and how can I help you? Is that right? Absolutely. And really, truthfully, to close a loan on time and to provide market rates and to give good service is basic for what load originators should be doing. So what are you going to do that's above and beyond and looking for ways to add value for the agents business that ultimately is going to benefit the load originator? I mean, think about it. Agent does one more deal a month, then that's one more potential deal that the load originator might have. And so it's a win-win opportunity, actually. I would think that more would want to be doing this, but it does require thinking outside the box. Sure. And it does require consistency as well. And of course, a different approach. Did Wade then ultimately earn your business? Oh, absolutely. I think he's been quite pleased that he got to know me. Well, because not just me, I mean, I have a team as well. And so when I was sharing all the things that Wade was offering, several other ones stepped up and said, yes, I want to get into doing some video. And also, he just had some unique approaches of marketing in terms of doing some campaigns together. And those things are always helpful in generating the agents business again so that that in turn helps a load originator or a title person generate business. Do you find that approach refreshing then as opposed to the other approach we described? Absolutely. But I will say that Wade was pleasantly persistent. He wasn't annoying. There was a point. So what does that mean? What do you mean? Well, now that I think back, there were a number of times that he tried to meet with me. And it was actually an almost direct referral that made me say, okay, I'm going to circle back and see about this relationship. But he had added value before that because again, I had some of my office staff go to some of his training. So I think that that's where, and I see this with agents too, they think, okay, I tried one or two things and that didn't work. So they don't want to do anything with me. I don't think that's necessarily case. And also, remember agents business changes. I have this one lender who had contacted me a number of times and we'd done a few things to gather. But there was never really an opportunity until I really hit a tough loan situation. And she had always said, call me if you have a challenge. And I'm like, okay, I'm calling it in. And I did. And she performed. And so it really changed my dynamics on that relationship. She had done it when it was hard. And so then it led me to one that sent more business her way. Okay. That's great. Now, I definitely want to dive into your book in just a couple of minutes here. If you could for the listeners, again, right, lots of loan officers, how is your business currently structured in terms of your loan officer relationships? Do you have just like one predominant, do you have a couple or a couple of three people on your team? Well, I predominantly am a listing agent as many mega agents are. And I have agents on my team that predominantly work with the buyers. Of course. Yes. My relationships are in terms of if there's like a buy sell, like I sell a house and then that person goes to buy, there's those opportunities, then obviously the ones with the team members. And there's the co-marketing, co-branding opportunities. So broker opens, we have community events that we have lenders that participate in. So there's several opportunities. I do often when somebody requests a lender, I do make several recommendations that don't usually just send it to one lender because the other factor I'm taking into consideration is who is a good fit. I have some lenders that for example, we do a first time home buyer seminar with one of the agents on our team. We have a lender who's more of a millennial age. And so he's a great fit for that when we're doing events that are more in the lines of people that are right sizing, downsizing, that demographic may not be a good match. So I do have, like to have relationships with a number of lenders, some are specialized in doctor loan, some specialized in other type of loan products. So I do keep a repertoire, if you will, of lenders. Sure. But obviously you focused on listings and doing lots of other things in building your business. The engagement really happens with your buyer's agents. Yes. I mean, I still do about 20, 25% of my business is buyers. Okay. So there is opportunity there. And there's opportunity, I always tell people, the opportunity is really as much as you want it to be, because if you're adding value to our team, then that's going to overflow. There, I think people sometimes are, if they're transaction oriented or de-oriented, I saw this and I was on the committee at our local Chamber of Commerce and people would join the Chamber and they're like, well, I didn't get any business out of that. I was like, oh, wow, you should be going to the Chamber of Commerce because you want to do contribute to your community. And you want to be at the table and part of the conversation. And then you do that at some point, the business is going to flow your way. And that is something I share with, I know we're all in business and we need to make money and where are we? In the States. Just we need to make money. I mean, we are a four-profit, we are not a nonprofit organization. That being said, I do think that there's a mindset or the potential of a paradigm shift. If you're going into the relationships as if every deal, every time you meet with somebody, they're going to send you a deal. And that starts to make it feel like you really aren't there to help them grow their business. You're there for the deal, right? That is such a great point. And it really comes from being genuine, right? And really having that genuine intention that you do want to help. And I definitely know that was the case with Wade. That's I think why he was successful, yes, persistent, but also he was authentic in really wanting to make a difference in your business. And that comes through. People can tell the difference. And also they usually drop out. So the people, the lenders and title wraps that just come and say, I want to take you for coffee and meet with you. And then if you don't sit in the deal right away, then they're not around. They also usually don't say. And this is very long because they're missing, again, the overarching is that you add value. You're generous. Michael Mayer is fantastic on this. I don't know if you've read. Sure. Here he's been on the podcast. Okay. Well, there you go. Michael Mayer in the generosity generation. The idea is you're generous. Not expecting anything to return. But the law of attraction by giving and value will, it will come back to you. Absolutely. And I don't know why that's such a hard thing for some people to get. And I guess right to your point that, you know, maybe that's why they don't have longevity in the business. But I think that's a success long term no matter what, right? Is that whole servant, servant's heart, servant attitude, you know, like you said, it shows up and people can tell the difference. And if your intention is just all about you, that's like you say, that's going to show up and that will not have longevity. Well, I think that in, I've seen this occur where people get stuck in a transactional loop. But this is one of the themes of the book is that everybody has to have a lead in order to do anything, even dentists have to have a patient, right? Sure. Sure. Sure. You have to have a client and church has to have parishioners. So everybody does lead generation or business development. And then they get caught in this transactional loop. They convert or consult it to sell really in order to sustain and to make it be an ongoing enterprise. You have to connect to build and grow. You have to do those things that create the systems and their relationships and the connections that makes it ongoing. Otherwise, you're only as good as your next transaction. Right. And that's really what this business is. It's a relationship business. It is. I've got to sustain over the long run. I think that there really isn't any other way to do it. Right. Oh, by the way, for those that are listening, you're wondering how do you learn more about this esteemed way to defend or more than we've been talking about. I'll put a link to his website in the show notes, but it's dc titled titled guy. com dc titled dot com link in the show notes, plus you can check out podcast number one. I believe it is. He was my first guest. Wow. I saw that. Yes, I listened to it. All right. So let's talk about you being an author, man, oh, man, I'm holding this book in my hand. Hope you can hear that. It's a big, thick book. I just love the concept of this. And you know, when you first get this ordered out off of Amazon, you first get this. You're like, man, this is a serious book. But don't be intimidated by the sheer size and weight of the book because I love the way this is structured. So it's real estate success in five minutes a day, secrets of a top agent revealed. And what I love about this is, is it's just one success strategy every day. Take five minutes. You know, you and I talked about the miracle morning with hell, Elrod. Take five minutes out of your day, probably in the morning is best. And just read this one short little chapter, each chapter or each idea is really just about about a page or, or less. And so I'm curious what inspired you to do a book like this in this structure where it's just, you know, one idea a day. Well, so when you tube a high level success, people come and want to know how you did it. And I've been coaching and I had been doing training. And I would encourage agents to read and to do work on their personal business development. And many times they would read the book and they would have the book or they would buy the book and they would have the book, but they didn't actually read the book because they said they didn't have time. And so I finally, like, well, do you have five minutes a day? And everybody said, well, sure, I have five minutes a day. Google has done a study and they found that about 10 years ago, the tension span of an average adult was 10 minutes a day. It's now five minutes a day. Right. So if you think about the way our world is now, five minutes is actually a very long time. Everybody could commit to five minutes a day. And the beauty of the book being structured this way, I call it a unique delivery system, is that you actually can think about and find ways to apply it. Many books, although fantastic information, it starts to be tsunami overload. It's too much information. And so what happens is many people don't do anything, right? And so with one idea a day, one concept a day, then it's easier to remember it because you're focusing on one thing. And that's what I've heard from many agents that have actually I have a number of lenders and title company representatives that are using it as well. Because if understanding what an agent needs to do or should do or can do in order to achieve success at a higher level, the lender in the title company, right? That can actually contribute in a much more meaningful way. Yeah, but the way you've written this is like so creative. I mean, each, each lesson of the day includes a story. It's engaging. It's like, you know, you talk about the breakfast of champions and for those of us that are old enough to remember that from Wheaties, and so structuring your day that way every single day. But I mean, I'm looking at, okay, so I love some of the, some of the titles of this. For instance, January one, okay, what a great title. Are you all in? That's great. But then I move out to April 5th and I will sell this house today and you tie in a reference from the movie American Beauty. I get a sense that you made a major investment of time and effort to make this engaging. I mean, because this is fun to read. Well, and that is how people actually remember as well because the stickiness of it, a story, an example that they'll remember. It's actually a combination of information and inspiration, which becomes transformational. And that's very intentional because that's what people remember. And then they, they, they need to remember it in order to be able to apply it, right? Well, come on. April 6th, you've got all about the basics and you're tying in the Meghan Trainor song, all about that base. How can you not remember that? That's awesome. You've been like, remember that being no treble is in the song is the agent who sticks to the basics is more likely to have no treble. That's awesome. Well, you see, you're already figuring out how the system works in terms of, of people using it as a memory device. I had this one gentleman I met him at a regional event, he bought a book and then I saw him in another event in another city a few months later and he came up to me and he said, Karen, I bought you a book and I'm like, yeah, I'm actually reading your book and I'm like, well, W and he goes, it weren't sort of like, oh my gosh, you have a story to tell. And it was in November and he had read the story about first mover advantage. And that is mostly a technology term, right? You want to be first to market, first mover advantage. The applications to real estate are there's advantages to being first to market. A couple of days later, he was on a listing appointment and the seller was saying, well, I think I'm going to wait until spring and all of a sudden, he remembered first mover advantage and he shared it with the seller. The seller was like, oh, yeah, I want to be on the market for everybody else. Got the listing sold to house. He's like, this stuff works because I actually remembered it because that's only thing I read that day that applied to my business. Wow, that's great. And it's just like I said, it's a lesson every single day and you do make it very memorable. And it will trigger those things to come up. As a matter of fact, in the start of the book, let me just go back to this right here. I love that you have the sweet spot, right? How this book can help you achieve your sweet spot of success, which you talk about is, you know, you label this as success thinking. Number one, commit to get leads, consult to sell and connect to build and grow. And you've got success activities and success vision, all tied into those. And in the middle there is that sweet spot. What do you mean by that? If you could elaborate a little bit on what that all, how would we use that? Well, when all of those come together, that's where you have a transformational experience. Again, in the living in world, in the total world, in the real estate world, and tell you have a lead, you don't have anything to do. Well, once you get that lead, you still have to convert and consult to sell it or get the loan close. To get out of that transactional loop, then you connect to build and grow so that you can sustain it like with a, you know, a database, a CRM and leveraging people. And then all of that is encompassed with mindset, because that's where the thinking begins, and the activity is envisioned, begins everything. So when you bring all that together, those are the sweet spots of success. Yeah, and you've got the daily topic key, where there's icons associated with different elements of the book, which is great, because then that triggers you to remember, right, what parts of the sweet spot that's in, right? Yes, and some of them, there's more than one, and there's some that are a focus on one area of success. And as you go through the year, and you really can start it any time, I know some people think, oh, well, I, I didn't start January 1. I need to catch up. I'm like, no, no, this is I know guilt books start right where you are. And, and just start here, it is set up somewhat seasonally as well, because it follows the calendar. And some of the topics are going to be more applicable to the time of year, and others are going to be just basic principles of lead generation conversion and growing a business. That's awesome. Yeah, like, like today, April 11th, the day we're recording this, go up swinging. You're tying in a baseball story. How appropriate is that? Seeing as it's opening day, right? Yesterday for a lot of baseball teams around the country. That is awesome. So it's interesting. When I, when I first saw this book and I came across it, and I've got it in my hands, obviously, there's the way the real estate agent can apply it to their business, and of course, right, reading it once a day, setting it up. The breakfast of champions kind of process way to set the tone for your day, loan officers can do the same thing. But I had the other idea, knowing that a lot of my listeners are loan officers, you know, we're always looking for ways, as we said earlier, to add value. I was thinking that this would be a great way for the loan officer to finally get started with video marketing and take a couple of minutes, right? You don't have to do one every day, but pick one a week out of this. Do a quick little share and send it out to your real estate agent partners of, hey, here's, you know, it's May 21st and here's the success tip of the week, right? Fight, flight, tend and befriend. Then you basically share the story and the concept from that one particular day and send it out to your agents. What do you think about that? That's actually brilliant. I think that that is one of the powerful ways that loan officers can use the book because you're given some topics that are going to be relevant to a real estate agent. They're going to be relevant to helping that agent grow and build their business and they're going to be more receptive to tips and techniques that are going to empower them to be successful. And you're going to stand out because what everybody else is doing is sending out rate sheets, right? So if you're sending them a tip, like, okay, in what ways can I help you go up swinging today? If you're making a, if you're going out on a listing appointment, what ways can I help you go up swinging? If you are meeting with a buyer and they're getting ready to write it off or be in a competitive situation or looking at houses, how can I help you go up swinging agent? That is going to be a much more meaningful conversation than can I send you some rate sheets. So it's a brilliant idea to bring in the video because then you can have a broader audience with the video topics. I've also known people to use it as part of Lunch and Learns. Those work as well. Many teams are incorporating it as part of their team meeting because you can pull a topic and you say, okay, let's talk about this one way we can help the agents or the people on our team. If you're working with your processors, if they can understand what the agents going through with their client, perhaps they'll be more on board as they help the client or the borrower navigate the process. There's lots of ways to use the book to success. Yeah, I mean, just to build on that. So as a loan officer, first of all, I would target the top agents in my local area, pick a list of top 10 or 20 who you want to start getting on their radar. I would, first of all, make the investment and send them this book and with a little handwritten note, hey, thought of you, right? This is obviously from a fellow mega agent to use your words and just thought you could get some ideas out of it. I mean, what an incredible gift of value for that. But then, of course, when you're doing your videos, and this is for you listeners who still have to get over the getting started with video because you don't like how you look on camera and all that fun stuff. You know, you simply, I would start by, look, hey, here's what I'm doing. I'm doing a series that's coming out of Karen Brisco's book real estate success in five minutes a day. I wanted to share one weekly tip for it with you. But by the way, there's a tip every single day in here for every day of the year. So if you want to talk more about this book, love to chat with you. Happy to send you a copy of it. But anyway, so we're going to be doing this thing. Boom. Here's the tip of the week today. Boom. Hold up the book, right? Just like that. You're investing, you're investing in them and that their business, you know, there are many gifts that won officers can give agents and many of them are very enjoyable, but they're not as long last day. Yeah. And it's a win-win because when the real estate professional agent has more business, then that's going to flow over. And who else are they going to think about, but the person that helped them grow their business? And to your point earlier about why I like this book as opposed to some others, and there are definitely other good books out there. We all know, right? The Gary Keller books and all that stuff. This book is something that people will go back to on a more, I think, a more frequent basis. I don't want to say necessarily everybody's going to do it daily, some will, but at least I think it'll have shelf life on their desk. They'll take it with them. It'll go home. You know, it may travel with them when they go, you know, on vacation. And so I think that's where you get the longevity out of a book like this. Well, and it is to have a digital version as well, which is actually great for traveling. You can download it to your your handheld device. I think that the fact that the stories and the applications are going to resonate on a kind of an evergreen type of these these topics and techniques and strategies are basic principles. And I think that they because of that, they do have many books are written such that you read them over and over again because every year your business is going to be at a different place. You're going to have different kinds of clientele. You may be in a different situation. And yet everybody can use some inspiration and information on a daily basis. Everybody needs the reference to champions. Do I mean because you you eat to feed your body, but this is a way to feed your mind. One question I wanted to ask you you talked about how your business you know changes over time. And so you've been doing this what for 15 years 15 years. Yes. Yeah. So that's that's 30 in real life years. How is your business? I've heard somebody said the other day that you know how we communicate how we quote market brand ourselves today in real estate has changed probably more in the last five years than it has in the last 20. So any things you want to share with the listeners agents, loan officers and how you've had to adapt your business with you know to to keep up with well clearly the social media has changed it, but I think it's changed it in a good way. I have many situations where I found out people were in a transition in their life and was able to reach out to them and help them with the real estate needs. The beauty of LinkedIn is before you go out and meet with a potential seller or buyer. You can do a quick search and you can find out a lot about them and look for points of connection. The whole just time factor that's saved by having digital you know contracts and and digital signatures and all of that. I mean I just think back to how we used to do that we were able to accomplish so much more and then the wealth of information. So you can either look at the Zillow or the other sites that provide automatic information as being taking away our so as a source or you can look at it as an empowering because now in some ways the the market or the the consumer is in and data with so much information that you can become an expert at helping them discern the information because discernment is I think the new what what is going to be the value proposition. So I find it to be fantastic. I am embracing it and I hire all the millennials because I want them to keep me on top of all of the technology and it's going to change again. That's the thing is that really if you're it's kind of like you know Wayne Grutsky you have to go where the puck is going. We need to be going where all this is going and embrace it because resisting it and and pushing back against it will actually be counterproductive. Right right and really it's it's ultimately leading to what this is all about which is relationships it's just another way to connect with people. At the end of the day people still are wanting to do business with people that they know and trust. They may be obtaining the information and the data from sources that are digitally produced and you may be making those connections that way but at the end of the day I still believe that people want to do business with with others that they know and trust. Absolutely and so I want to kind of close out with just the last couple of minutes we have which is something you mentioned in your book that and actually you reference this quote by Peter Lowe that the most common trait you find in successful people as they have conquered the temptation to give up and so this ties into your success tip for January which is are you all in and so the aspect of being all in to achieve and success attain success in real estate. I want to like you know share something inspirational because obviously you coach agents and you work with people that I'm sure you've seen want to give up probably some have but what advice do you do you give to people when you see they're having a tough time because let's face it right some people listening might be in a tough spot in their business or their life so what how do you encourage them to not give up. Well I too have had times where I have felt you know discouraged because again I live through the market run up and then the market crash was the same time my business partner passed away. The thing is is that there is some elements to the ebb and flow of markets and business and life and so I would just say that if you think about it is at some point you're going to get back up there again and to to push through it the alternative is then you're going to have to go find something else and all industries have some sort of you know either frustration or difficulty so that to think that you're going to avoid it is counter productive and counter intuitive. So the persistence if I was going to say the one thing that people should embrace and that is persistence because in this business or in the title business or the lending business it's the ones that stay with it and stick to it are the ones that are going to make it in the long run. Hmm and have the long-term focus and be less about you and more about them. Yeah so if your focus is long-term and then you realize there's going to be some ebb and flows and there's some down times and up times and enjoy it what is up and and just power through what it's down and then you'll come out on the other side. I think that the ones that are that are in it as a passion and as a you know mission to help people will have a better time with that a better perspective. Right absolutely and of course let's not forget if you're having your daily dose of real estate success in five minutes a day your breakfast the champions right that's going to help you get through some of those rough spots help you get extra motivated and focus for the day and actually have a theme for every single day which is great because I know that's sometimes a you know like I talk to my kids right every day I drop them off at school whatever it's like hey it's magnificent Monday or it's you know terrific Tuesday or freaky Friday right trying to give them a theme that's going to set the mindset for the day because that can make or break it. Absolutely and and if you start out the day with the inspiration and information then you have all day to think about it apply it and then there's some folks that journal them to success by at the end of the day closing with a few thoughts of okay this is how I apply this today or this is how I found success in today. Absolutely and of course referencing the book one more time December 27th power through the dips talking about how this business can be like a roller coaster ride so that's what's so great about this book every day there's a new little discovery thing that the you know for you to discover as you go about your journey here over the next 365 days and that was part of the idea for the concept is I do feel like real estate agents and many sales people they they like that new every day they're a little bit wanting that shiny object or the squirrel and I'm like okay well I'll give you your shiny object every day will be different. That's great hey I'm curious is this book you know has it had an impact on your real estate business you know in terms of your buyer seller engagement anything like that. Absolutely the people that I've met all over the United States and world by conversations about the book have definitely expanded my business and received referrals from folks that I didn't know before and I really it's a journey that I didn't necessarily know where it was going to take me but now that I'm down this road it's very exciting. Wow that's awesome. So how do people order the book just go to Amazon Amazon is a great source it has both digital and print if you want bulk sales then check out my website or contact me directly and which website should they check out the five minute success. Is it the five minute success? No just five minutes success and the other thing to be sure and check out is the Facebook page because every day is different that means we are actually reading the same page every day if you think about it you read books in a book club or whatever everybody's on a different page we're always on that same date and so on the Facebook page we actually have a prompt for the topic and people are sharing their takeaways and their aha moments and it's becoming a very rich conversation so be sure and like the Facebook page five minute success. Yeah I can see that right now actually it's funny the one we were just talking about there take the go up their swinging stance in your business which was the theme of the day we just talked about. Yes and so you can carry on a conversation with others that are reading the book at the same time and get their ha ha's and ways they're using it for success. Yeah people are sharing some tips and learning lessons and things like that that's great. Awesome okay so we'll make sure we put links to the show notes for your website which is five minute success.com and that's the number five and so we'll make sure we put that we'll put a link to the Amazon purchase in there so if people want to buy it individually you want to buy bulk it's a great tool for teams loan officers to share with your real estate agents make it kind of a you know a talking point ongoing have a lunch and learn and talk through some of the topics send the video out right one video tip a week choose a different topic from the book every single week lots of great ways for you to leverage this and add value to your local real estate community. So Karen you're obviously incredibly busy what's next for you what's got you excited in the coming months. I have some great speaking opportunities where I'm doing some regional events and also doing some work with some other authors and again these opportunities came about because I felt that there was a need in the marketplace people wanted inspiration and information but they wanted it in a different way so that's how real estate's success environment today has impacted my life and business and you've definitely done a great job with it like I said it's very engaging and I highly highly suggest anyone listening to this rush and go order it right now by five copies ten copies use it getting front of agents add value of mega difference it will do that and so for you listeners thank you for tuning in this week we hope you enjoyed this episode make sure you subscribe iTunes Stitcher leave a positive review if you enjoyed this content or others and as always I appreciate you thanks for listening and we will see you on the next episode bye for now thanks for listening to mortgage marketing radio one more truth in mortgage marketing get more free training and resources at mortgagemarketinginstitute.com 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 weekly mastermind calls with top elbows 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