Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the sixth episode of Old School, New World, The Life of an Entrepreneur. I'm your host, Mike Diaz. I'm going to be flying solo on this episode. And it's going to be a bit different this year with respects to what we're going to be delivering to all of you. So this is going to be a series of episodes talking about the 30 steps of success.
Now, those are steps that I have put together to help others in terms of what I've been doing over the last 31 years that has led to my success. So I'm pulling back the curtain. I want to share these things with you. And I believe and have faith that if you incorporate or implement.
Some of these things, not all of them perhaps, but some, you will have a tremendous success in your own business and it would lead to a referral -based business because part of these steps is to help create that referral -based business, not based on, depending on realtors or partners, financial planners, accountants, but your clients and friends. So before I dive into all that, let me tell you who I am. So let me reintroduce myself as you will. So I used to be a banker.
I spent seven years with TD and then 10 years with Scotia. Before leaving Scotiabank, I was a senior manager down at their flagship at Scotiabaza looking after the retail team of 40. And I've been brokering consulting now for 14 years. And recently, in October, started my own brokerage, DNA Lending Group.
So I want to be able to share some of this information with you that I've learned over all these years and allow you the opportunity to use some of them to your advantage for how you want to create your business. Now, I'm going to use stories to sort of tie in a little bit of what we're going to be delivering today. And of course, there are 30 steps, but I'm not going to do all 30 in one episode. Of course, that's just madness.
I'm going to split it up between two to three of those steps during every episode that we air that talks to you about what we're going to be doing. Today's episode, we're going to cover three. It's going to be CRM, the follow -up. and sell the benefits. Those are three steps of the 30. And I'm not putting them in order of importance. They're all super important. So it's not that I start with one, it's more important than the other. Not at all. But I do have a preference.
I am starting with the CRM because I do believe that's the most important. So let me talk to you a little bit about the story that ties into this. And I said this during my lead up when we let you know that the episode was coming out. A little train that could.
choo choo so little train that could is a great story that's been talked about for you know over 100 years it actually first came out in 1902 and it's about a train that's asked to go up this really steep mountain to deliver toys to the other side of the mountain. Now, of course, the big locomotives, they didn't want anything to do with it. They thought they were too good, too important. So they asked on the little train if they could deliver those toys.
And the little train said, yes, I'll give it a try. Every time the train would try, it would say, I think I can. I think I can. And lo and behold, of course, the train made it up over the hill. It shows the example of hard work, optimism. and the relationships that it takes to get over a big hill. And how does this tie into what we do as mortgage brokers or mortgage agents? It has a lot to do with it. It's hard work that we need to do.
Some people see the most successful people and where they are at, but they forget those successful people, I am telling you with a thousand percent certainty, had a lot of failures, struggles. They had to learn along the way. So any entrepreneur that's successful will share their stories like I'm doing a little bit today because it's a way of paying it forward and helping you get to where you want in terms of your business.
So let me dive in to talk a little bit about the very first one, the CRM. Now, I got to tell you, you know, when I left the banking business and became a broker. I was scared shitless, to be very honest with you. I didn't know what to expect. I thought back then, 14 years ago, when the bank says no, that's when you go see a broker. And that's absolutely not the case. And one thing I learned from the banking system, and I do think banking system is important.
You know, for all you young bankers out there, you know, even seasoned bankers, one thing I would tell my younger self if I was doing this again is not to stay in the corporate world that long. My son says Nathan wants to be a mortgage broker, and his mom and I both agree. I think it's going to be important for him to start in a corporate role so you can get an idea of how it works. Remember, the banks have been in the business for over 200 years. So they know what they're doing.
Now, I'm not speaking disparaging about the banks and lenders. But I believe that you have to be heart -centered. You have to be authentic. And sometimes it's hard to do that in the corporate world because they want you to sort of fit within their box. But you can learn from great leaders that are in that corporate world. You can even learn from bad leaders because you can say to yourself, I didn't really like how I was treated. I didn't like how they treated others.
I'm definitely not going to implement that as I grow and build my business and my career to help and serve others. So it's important to understand this. So I would tell my younger self, hey, go there. but I would definitely not stay 17 years, maybe two, three, five, in my opinion, is the max because you can learn a lot, like I said.
And a lot of things that I learned from both TD and Scotia is the idea of having a CRM or... a platform that allows you to keep track of what's happening with your clients. So CRMs, you know, shout out to Blue Mortgage. That's the one I've chosen to use. I've been using it now for just under a year. I believe it has a lot of great features, you know, maybe more than you need. I use the ones that I feel are the most important. For me, the CRM and how I use it is particularly for journaling.
It's not just about, you know, a client deal. It's about what's happening before we reach out, during. And just as important, after the transaction closes. And so how do you do that? How do you make a client know that you actually care about them? You journal about your conversations.
You know, in my process, what I do that's really led to success for me is I'll have, if you have a look, and I'm happy if anybody wants to reach out, you know, reach out anytime, happy to share what I've done and actually have you see it. My first journey starts in 2013, starting to put in notes. And those notes and that journaling has evolved, whether it's for that person that was helping originally or how I've changed it, what I've added in and what maybe I didn't need to add in.
Because, you know, when you're dealing with thousands of clients and friends and you want to make sure, as long as you're leading with the heart, that it's important for them to feel you, not only hear what you're saying, then, you know, you want to be able to build trust and credibility. How do you build trust and
credibility? By acknowledging conversations you've had with clients, you know, whether it's the birth of a child, whether it's a birthday, whether it's a tough time and they opened up and they were vulnerable with you during your conversation, you know, you're making a note because when you're going back and you're talking to them again, and if you refer back to that, they're going to feel that. Like Maya Angelou said, you know, it's not what you do or what you say, it's how you make them feel.
That's what is memorable. You know, that's what's unreasonable. You know, to be able to make someone feel your passion, your support, your willingness to help and serve. If you can have someone feel that, oh man, I can tell you there'll be a client for life. And again, remember this series is about helping you understand how to create a referral -based business. So in saying that, it's important to also understand that this just doesn't apply. to mortgage business.
These steps apply to any sales industry, whether you're in life insurance, home and auto insurance, retail sales, any kind of sales driven employment or career. If you can make a connection with your clients and friends that you're dealing with, that connection is going to be really, really, really difficult to break.
Because, you know, in today's world of digital, like right now we're here and talking to you through the camera, I still have value in meeting people personally if the opportunity presents itself. I'm a bit old school maybe that way. But, you know, those are the things that we have to make sure we're doing properly. And again, so back to the CRM, how do we do them? We journal about it to communicate the things that we've said. Because, listen, I've been in business 31 years.
It's impossible, you know, unless you have a photographic memory or, you know, a memory that's just maybe genius -like. You can't remember every single conversation that you've had with every single person you've been helping and serving. But to help you, to support you, you can journal it. And, you know, in today's world with technology and for the young people out there. You know, AI will be able to do that. Now have AI to create emails for you.
It can have AI to be your own personal assistant. So there's all kinds of different things that you can incorporate, but to have it in place, CRM or journaling creates this connection with your client. When you have the ability to make that connection, you create trust and credibility because, you know, trust and credibility can be taught. You know, a lot of people in any sales business, oh, you know, somebody, you know, they're not just going to buy from me because I'm selling the best product.
They're going to buy because they trust you. They're going to buy because they like you. And they're going to buy from you because they see you. And what I mean by see you, they see you're genuine, you're authentic. You're not one person one day and another person another day. And it's important to make sure authenticity is apparent. And how does authenticity come to the forefront? And everybody talks about it. They throw it out all the time. You know, be authentic, be authentic.
Just find a way to just be comfortable with who you are and be comfortable with what you believe in. Know what your values and principles are. And those things typically will lead to that idea of being authentic. There is a law, the law of authenticity. The greatest gift you can give anyone is yourself. When you are authentic, what ends up happening is it magnetizes you to people.
So you're out there, you know, whether it's at a function, whether it's just with friends and you are, you know, being true to yourself, that authenticity, somebody will look from the corner and say, hey, who is that guy? Who is that girl? I need to go talk to them because there's just something that's drawing me to them. That's that magnetism because, you know, when you're authentic, there's energy that flows from you. So how have I been using the CRM
I'm implementing? So not only do we have my notes that I deal with clients and friends, you know, my team, especially in today's world, sometimes you're working from home and working in the office, depending on the hybrid models that you have, you know, you're not only wanting to journal and write notes on the actual transaction.
It's a way of communicating if you have a dedicated underwriter, if you have an associate to be able to put notes into the system so they understand, you know, what they're doing and what you're needing them to do for you because you've talked to the client and you've looked after that way. So it's another way how the CRM can be super valuable.
You know, we've used it this way a lot, but, you know, there's campaigns that you can run or just communication with clients, whether it's a beginning of the year. Hey, here's what's happening this year or year in review. Here's what happened last year. And here's what we should expect happening this year. You can communicate that out automation through CRM. That helps a lot.
But the key here with the CRM is that it really becomes the springboard, really the only springboard that you need to create a longevity of business. Because, you know, a lot of the time I believe, and it's served me well, that we are the center of what's happening. Because, you know, without a mortgage broker or agent providing counsel. advice, guidance, you know, everyone else around. Realtors, unfortunately, won't have transactions to clients to purchase.
Accountants can't file taxes because people are making income. Financial advisors can't continue to create wealth for clients because real estate, when it comes to financial planning, is one of the pillars to help springboard. Because if you get into the market, client comes to you and asks you, what's your opinion on what we should do? then, you know, you can leverage what you're starting. There's two necessities in life, guys. There's food and shelter.
So that's why shelter is such an important piece in Canadian culture in terms of home ownership. And once you're able to do that, work hard, pay down that mortgage, take advantage of the prepayments that are available. And you're going to share those, the information you're going to share with them. Then, you know, they could be able to leverage. So you'll be able to make a referral yourself to someone else. I, you know, been very fortunate. and how I've created my own business.
My business is 95 % from clients and friends. I have referral partners, people that I deal with, talk to every day, but it's not a reciprocal relationship. And that served me well, even during the toughest times, you know, when people were, oh man, I'm slow, you know, real estate agents weren't closing on transactions because the world was happening with interest rates. That ability to continue to grow your business, keep your business growing and earning an income for your family is paramount.
And then that way you disconnect from being dependent on others' success. And if you're depending on your own success, that's important because remember that hard work that we have to put in, the little train that could, you know, I think I can, I think I can. So you absolutely can. So one of the first steps that we want to take advantage of in any sales business is the CRM, or as I like to describe it, the journaling of the interaction. of what's happening, how we can continue to build on that.
So once you have the CRM you're comfortable with and you're taking advantage of, it still plugs into step number two. So step number one, of course, was the CRM. Step number two is the follow -up. Now, I love the follow -up and the CRM plays into that because you can either buy automation and I'll explain how I've done my follow -up. You put in a task into the CRM. to follow up with clients.
You know, when I talk to agents out there and people in any sales business and they say, oh, you know, I reached out to my client and we had a really good initial conversation, but, you know, I followed it up and they never called me back. And I think to myself, oh, that's interesting. And one of the very first questions I have is, oh, tell me, how many times did you follow up? Well, I followed it up, you know, a whole two times. And I think to myself, wow.
Two times, that's what you consider following up. I don't know. You know, it's funny. 80 % of sales require five follow -up calls after the initial meeting. This is a number that is shocking to me. 94 % of sale reps give up after one follow -up. You know, I just don't think that's acceptable. Here's a secret, pulling back that curtain. In terms of when you're talking to clients in your initial conversation, or even if it's not even about a transaction, you're just talking to them.
Get their permission. If you obtain permission, because you don't have the right to do boo with anyone unless you have their permission. So if you're talking to them, I'll give you a little sort of example. Ran to someone, talked about my business because us entrepreneurs, we love talking about our business. I'll say something to the effect of, hey, Samantha, it was great chatting with you. You know, I would love your permission to keep in touch with you. And guess what? Samantha?
We'll say, oh, yes, absolutely. You have my permission. Bingo. They've given you permission. Until they tell you to beat it, you're now allowed to follow up and keep in touch with them. Not only about trying to sell them on something, but you may just want to share information during that conversation you had. Back to the CRM, you're journaling. Oh, Samantha really enjoyed traveling. And she wanted to see these three countries. Guess what? When you're following up.
You can say, hey, by the way, Samantha, we were talking about Bali. I've been to Bali and this is a hotel I stayed at and it was super amazing. Have a look at it. Boom. You know, that continues then to establish trust. It shows that you actually genuinely care. Remember, the key to a lot of this, keep on referring this, is heart -centered. You have to want to help and serve people, you know, genuinely.
You can't just, oh, I'm going to give them this travel tip because, you know, just for because. It has to be because you had a good conversation, you connected, you felt like you connected with them, and then sharing different things outside of what you actually do. Because remember, someone will only buy from you. I shouldn't say only, but majority of the time will only buy from you if they like you and if they trust you.
It doesn't matter if you're propping up this thing that you're selling, whether it's vacuums, knives, mortgages, insurance, they have to connect with you. So that's a really important piece not to forget when you're going through that. So once they give you that permission, bingo, bango, Bob's your uncle, you can actually continue to follow up until they tell you to beat it. Now, I'll give you an example of my own personal story.
I follow up until, you know, it doesn't seem at all possible, but these I'm talking about, I don't want to exaggerate. I'll follow up, you know, up to 20 times before I decide, okay, maybe this is not that one I'm going to spend the time with. But then what I do, and I've done this now with my executive associate, Melanie will follow up. So then that way it frees up my time, right? I can't continue to follow up, but then she'll follow up by email and someone else other than you.
following up a lot of the time we'll get them engaged you know a lot of people think oh you know i don't want to lose control of my client i'm not going to get someone else to follow up i got to tell you guys perception matters if you've made the attempt to follow up and someone else is supporting you like an executive associate clients will pay attention to that you know it's human behavior oh mike was calling me but now you know melody's
calling on mike's behalf maybe i should get back so let me tell you about a story i had a client Had one of the best conversations I've had in a while with them. Felt, yeah, this is going to be a client that I think I had success with. You know, we connected well and we talked about a lot of different things and I followed up.
So my follow -up process, if I have an initial conversation with a client, depending on sort of what stage they're at, we'll follow up a week later, then a week after that, a week after that. So we continue to build that process. I was nine follow -ups in. And this is probably about four or five years ago. So I was still doing a lot of my own before Melanie came on board in her role. And I was at number nine.
And I thought to myself, man, you know, I thought I had this client and things were well. Follow up number 10. Here we go. Let's see what happens. He picked up. Well, hey, there he is. How are you? You know, I've been able to get a hold of you. How have you been keeping? And the first thing that he says, hey, Mike, thanks so much for continuing to follow up. I've been swamped with work. I've been meaning to call you. Every time you call, I go, oh yeah, I got to call Mike back.
And we had a really good conversation, laughed it off. And lo and behold, not only did I help him with a purchase, we refinanced his home to make that purchase. And then he then in turn referred two of his friends. So out of that 10 follow -up process, I was able to help and serve him with two transactions. And I was able to help and serve his two friends who in turn, guess what they did? They refer clients. And that's the way the system works to build a referral based business.
So this idea when I hear someone say, Mike, you know, I followed up two times or even three times. I don't know. I don't buy that. Maybe you hesitate because don't forget, you have to get permission because I can understand if I met you and I'm talking to you and you never got permission or never even made the comment about, hey, I'm going to keep in touch with you. What's your business card or any of that? Or maybe you took my contact.
And then you're just trying to get a hold of me to sell me something. I'm very likely not going to like that, not going to feel comfortable with it. So I might say no, or I may not call back ever. So that's why getting permission from the very beginning is key to the follow -up process. So when you're helping and serving someone, it's not the transaction itself that's the most important. It's how you're dealing and making someone feel before. So meaning when you're meeting them, during.
helping and serving, going through all the details, and then after. So, you know, so many people I've talked to, clients, our friends that have used brokers in the past, and I know they've used a broker because it's with, let's say, one of our monoline lenders. One of the questions I ask, oh, you know, what happened with your other broker? Why didn't you go back to them? 99 .9 % of the time, I've never heard from Joe or Samantha or the broker at all.
Big win for me because I'm helping and serving them. Big loss for the other broker. Maybe they didn't have a process in place. Maybe they're only focused on the transaction. And so they didn't spend the time following up. So I want to give you my example of my follow -up. 95 % of my business is referral -based. Joe Smith refers over Hillary. Hey, Hillary, how are you? Thank you so much for reaching out. We have a conversation. Tell me a little bit about how I can help and serve you.
I know so -and -so is kind enough to put in touch, which means a lot. I'll be sure to thank them. And then, of course. I have a follow -up with the referral source, meaning just a thank you. And then I'll look after them on the other side with just a little thank you card, things like that. But nonetheless. So helping the transaction, we go through the details, the conversation.
And the conversation, guys, you need to know when you're having this conversation with them, it's not about finding out all their personal stuff. Because they're calling you for an immediate need. They're calling you to counsel them, to give them advice, and to help them understand this wild, wonky world of mortgage financing.
Focus on that, you know, focus on that conversation because I can tell you and I can promise you if you focus on that conversation and you're going to help them with this immediate need as you go through back to the follow up and I'll explain all this to you guys. Once you start helping them there, then other things open up. You start hearing more about them. You start to hear their pain points, maybe why they're feeling a certain way about one thing or the other.
Maybe they've had a bad experience in the past. You know, so I had a client, for example, recently said she went through some fraudulent activity with someone and she was very, you know, wanted to make sure the process made sense and she was concerned that, you know, who's this Melanie person following up? Well, who's this Sean person? And I had to explain my, this is my team. You can trust them. I trust them with my life.
And so that was one of her rocks, those bags of rocks I talk about sometimes. She was caring, rightfully so. You have to make sure that they're fully comfortable with who you are. So once I'm talking to that client, I send them out an email. In that email, I, of course, have my team. Sean will follow up within a week as a friendly reminder if we don't see things.
And of course, when I tell my clients and friends or whoever I'm talking to, with your permission, I'll send you an email with Next Steps. Yes, Mike, absolutely. You have my permission. Boom. Permission granted. And that's permission for a lifetime. until they tell you, stop following up with me, leave me alone. And so Sean will follow up a week later as a friendly reminder. And typically within that week, clients always send in the requested items needed.
And then Melanie will set up either a Calendly call invite or a Calendly Zoom invite. Zoom is preferred for me because a lot of clients can't make it in. I still, especially for first -time homebuyers folks, you should be meeting first -time homebuyers in person because they're nervous, they don't know. They want to feel comfortable about what they're doing and getting themselves into. So I would highly, highly, highly recommend meet with first -time homebuyers, at least minimum via Zoom.
Can't shake hands and stuff via Zoom. I still feel it's a bit impersonal, but that's just my two cents. So Melanie will set that up. We'll share our screen at DNA Lending Group. We refer to our partners because, you know, sometimes we only expect referrals in. So I always ask, do you have a realtor you like and trust? Sometimes we'll say, no, we don't. No problem. We have a trusted referral partner team and we make that referral, you know, because it's not all about what you take in.
It's what you give out. You know, there's another law, the law of receptivity. It's better to give than to receive, but you must be open to receiving. So I always love to give, you know, I've created a system where, you know, I have the ability to refer out to a lot of different people in different industries. And then I'm absolutely open to receiving. And some people struggle with receiving. They, oh, no, it's fine. It's OK. It's OK. And that's just sort of reciprocal how that happens.
So we review the numbers. They didn't have one. We refer one. If they have one, we ask for their realtor's information so we can be in touch with their realtor during the process. That makes it a lot more seamless. Because remember, you want to try whatever you can to make the transaction unreasonable. What I mean by unreasonable. Go over and beyond anything they would think, wow, that's just wild. They're doing this to help and serve us. So you want to make that process.
So introduce yourself to their realtor. Now you have someone in your database that's a realtor, even though you never referred anyone to them, but they'll see your skill set. They'll see how much you care about the clients. They'll see how involved you are, you and your team. And that allows them to say, well, you know, next time they're thinking about someone and they're thinking of a mortgage broker. oh, you know, I had this really positive experience.
They may, you know, not remember exactly what happened, but I'll tell you, remember what's in here and how you made them feel by, you know, making sure that their client, our client, as I like to describe it, was well looked after. So once that happens and that introduction is made and they find a home, I jump back into the equation. We go through all the details to talk about the products. And then... We send it off, get it approved.
We'd like to complete a file anywhere between two to three weeks before closing, if at all possible. Something I've learned over 31 years, especially first -time homebuyers, are super stressed. You know, like, oh, my God, some more, even though you've told them. You know, you've given them all the peace of mind. Yeah, you're fine. Lenders are slow. You know, they're just reviewing. They're going to do the final check. You know, it's not uncommon for them to take this long, which is typical.
You know, anybody who's in our business, you'll know what I'm saying. Like these turnaround times are just like, oh, nonetheless, they're always anxious. Like, oh, my goodness. The minute you can close that file and the last step is for them to visit with their lawyer. It's just load off. You know, Mike and his team were able to take care of this and, you know. Wow, we're three weeks out from closing. That's amazing. So that's something that I think is really important in that whole process.
And then what happens in the continued follow -up? Everything gets closed. Everything happens. I follow up personally a week after closing. And I'll say, hey, so -and -so, I want to make sure the experience was what you expected and that you're happy with things. I ask for a referral during that phone call. Hey, we would love the opportunity to help and serve anyone you care about. Please put us in touch with someone via email that you think we might be able to help and serve.
And lo and behold, surely thereafter, they're having dinner or they're celebrating their new home. They have people over, friends. Hey, this is a great home. How did you do it? Your name comes up. So that's part of that. We're creating a referral -based business. And then the true follow -up that I believe in that happens. Melanie has taken this over for me, the six -month follow -up. Six -month follow -up typically is just checking in. Hey, how's the new home?
Are you implementing the strategies that we talked about? Here are some key ideas, that reminder of what Mike chatted with you about biweekly, accelerated, increase your payments. If you've taken a variable product, keep your payment the same. If you're comfortable, pays off the mortgage faster, things of that nature. That's six months. I pick up the phone at the two -year mark, and then I pick up the phone again at the three -and -a -half -year mark.
I pick up the phone again at the six months prior to maturity. Those are all personal calls done by yours truly because I love doing it. If you don't notice the excitement I have about this stuff or the fact that I love talking, a thing that I enjoy about our business is connecting with people and chatting. And I can count thousands of times this has happened. Not so much at the two -year follow -up call. Sometimes it does. A lot of the time at the three and a half year.
Hey, Mike, I was just thinking about you. Wow, that's wild that you're calling me. You know, so -and -so are expecting a baby in six months. We likely need to refinance or we want to sell and buy. And then I talk about things like, hey, have you thought about keeping your property as a rental? Maybe that would work. You know, you've put in a lot of the soft costs into this property. Maybe keep it. We run numbers, boom, boom, boom, boom. And we walk them through that aspect.
Now, the follow -ups, I follow up four times myself on the two -year or three and a half year. And then I'll push it over to Melanie to follow up via email another four or five times. Typically within that stretch of time, somebody will always get back to us, even if it's just an email. The other thing that's important, how does the CRM tie into the follow -up? Because I have all my notes in there, right? So when I'm following up, I'm reverting back.
Like if they said they just had a child, child's name is there. Oh, how is so -and -so? Or I've sent them down an email. And again. creates trust and credibility because you're genuinely caring about that individual. You're not caring about the transaction. You know, everybody focuses on the transaction because everybody wants to, you know, get compensated and things like that. But, you know, I know as hard as this may be, especially for new people, always make the results the last thing.
You know, back to, again, a little train that could, you know, the optimism, the hard work, the dedication. I think I can. I think I can. That refers to effort, time, activity equals your results. You know, the little train that could have got over that mountain, not because, you know, he was better than anyone else. In fact, the big locomotive said, ah, no, that's too good for me. I don't care about that.
It's about the desire, the discipline, the activities, the effort that you put behind to be able to climb that mountain, get over the top and deliver what it is that needs to be delivered. And to me, It's an unreasonable experience that clients and friends will have with you. That's what we focus on. That's what we believe is important because, you know, there's so many different things out there. There's thousands upon thousands of brokers and agents out there.
So you want to be unreasonable when it comes to what you're doing for your clients and friends. So, so far. We have CRM as step number one. We have the follow -up as the second step. The last one I'm going to talk about today, sell the benefits. So guys, you know, when we're helping and serving clients and in our business, and again, I'm just going to relate to the mortgage industry, it's really easy because we really only have two products to sell. Fixed product or a variable product.
Yes, there's different providers. You know, obviously you have HELOCs, but it all comes in one and the same in terms of what you're selling. If we're doing a really good job with our clients and friends, we're bringing up life insurance, creditor insurance to protect their family. It's part of the advice and the counsel, right? We're not just order takers.
If you are an order taker, think about how you get away from being an order taker and how you bring yourself to being an advisor, someone that counsels people, someone that provides trusted advice. When we are selling the benefits, I have one word for you guys, value.
You know, value is so important when it comes to what we do, because as it relates to mortgages, clients and friends and consumers will choose a low rate over a product that makes more sense because there is an absence of value in what you're delivering. So what do they do? They pivot on just a lower rate. So value. It's so important.
Value in who you are, value in the product that you're proposing after hearing what's important to them, showing them based on the conversations that you had with them and that they shared with you, that this would be what you would recommend if you could make a recommendation. You know, you can make suggestions, adding value. And in our world, you know, with everything that's going on with interest rates, get away. from talking about interest rates.
Because if you get trapped in talking about interest rates, wow, man, it's going to be a long haul. You have to refocus and refocusing your attention to value over price will eliminate the conversation around the rate. Yes, rates are important. Nobody wants to pay 30, 40 basis points higher than the guy next door. And nobody ever should. Now, if there's a product that has tremendous amount of value and it's 0 .05 or 0 .1 higher than this lower rate, then it's up to us to provide the value.
So I'll give you an example. If you have a client putting down 30%, 40 % and in your conversation with them, they tell you, my family and I would love to have a cottage in the next three to five years. And we're thinking about how we're going to do that. From one of our non -bank lenders, they had a really low rate variable at today's world, 4 .7%. But yet there's another product that has a variable rate at 4 .9%. It's a 20 basis points difference.
But that 4 .9 has a secure line of credit feature. How do you provide value? You go through the benefits of that product. Sell the benefits. Hey, Joe Smith. You and your wife, never say wife, always ask for names. I should have said that at the beginning. So it's Claudia. Hey, Joe, you and Claudia mentioned this was important to you. It's always good to relate because remember, there's only one thing people actually own. It's their name.
So just be mindful when you're talking to clients and friends about that. Always try to use their name. I think it's just a great touch. So, hey, you said this was important to you. You know, we're having a conversation about you wanting to buy a cottage and you didn't know how that was going to happen. Well, here. If you have a secure line of credit, and as you pay down your mortgage, that line of credit becomes more available. Because remember, they're putting down 30%, 40%.
Even if they only put down 20%, that line of credit will increase over time, saving them from having to refinance to pull out equity. If that's something they said, hey, Mike, three years from now, we might want to refinance. Do what's in their best interest. Explain what's in their best interest. Because refinancing, you know, penalty, you might have to do other costs. There's things you have to evaluate. That's where you're providing value. That's where the conversation from 4 .7 falls.
And then they're focused on their product, the value provided because of what you understood of what they wanted three to five years from now. How does this tie in to the CRM, into journaling? Because if you're having a conversation, when you're doing your two -year follow -up, You're going to look at your notes that you've done. And I always date stamp it. It's all very organized. Again, reach out anytime.
I'm happy to meet with you in person or over Zoom to show you how I've structured journaling with clients. Because again, it's all about pulling back the curtain. During that two -year follow -up, I read my notes. Oh, Joe and Claudia said they wanted to buy a cottage. At the time, they put less than 20 % down. Whatever the case is, it allows me to have another conversation about something that they said was important to them.
two years ago, three and a half years ago, or whenever that timeframe was. And by me approaching it and talking to them. And remember, when I'm making my follow -ups, it just so happened that he mentioned this. I'm going to bring it up to him, but I'm not calling to sell anything. That's the important thing to remember. Going back to step two, follow -up. You're not following up to sell. You're actually following up to follow up. How you doing? How's life treating you?
How's work going? You said your boss is an asshole. Has he gotten any better? whatever it is. But if there are notes, because you did a good job taking your notes and journaling, and there is an opportunity to say, hey, are you still thinking about this? You can have a really good, fruitful conversation. So it's important to convey a lot of this value through stories.
You know, whether you're a new person or an experienced person, you know, you would have had experiences with clients, share stories. And even if it's a sad story, if you're talking about insurance, so there's... creditor insurance, there's life insurance to protect their family. I've had several stories of families that got a home, said they were going to get insurance.
Unfortunately, six months later, something happened to the spouse and the remaining spouse that was still alive had to sell their home because they couldn't afford it. And so when you hear stories like that, it's difficult to hear them and know that maybe I could have done a little more. Maybe I could have shared this story. And you're not breaking anybody's confidentiality. You're telling them a story about a real -life example of something that feels important for them to share.
So you're adding value through storytelling. Just like I started today's episode talking about the little train that could, it's to help create this understanding of I Think I Can, a tale that was over 100 years old that was told to kids to help them understand determination, optimism. Story talks about relationships, you know, how sometimes we think we're too good for something, but we're not.
So telling stories to help people understand the big picture is one of the things that are really important. I almost forgot. I'll give you an example of the follow up. A lot of you will know Ryan Serhant, you know, super successful real estate agent in New York and does a lot of different things out on social. He had a story about his follow -up when he first started in the business. He had no shame. He had just started.
He was in a coffee shop and he ran into a couple, got their information, got their permission. He kept in touch with them and followed up for seven years, never hearing from them in that seven -year period. Just kept on following up. He's a grinder. He's a hustler. He's had drive. He wanted to be successful. Lo and behold, gentleman gives him a call. Ryan, you know, so impressed that he followed up for seven years. I'm finally ready to make a move.
And he, although when Ryan met them, he had his wife, he was now his ex -wife because they had split. They both dealt with Ryan and he ended up getting, I think it was a 60 million and a $40 million transaction from these clients he met seven years ago. And it was the client that was impressed with his ambition, his drive, his hustle to help them. And so that's just another example. of the follow -up and about storytelling and how you can make connections with people and help them.
So guys, that is episode number six. I really hope you enjoyed it. Like I said, I will be doing a series of these throughout the year, two or three per episode. Don't worry, guys. I'm going to have hosts coming on as I did last year. So that's not going to change whatsoever. I hope you found this valuable, helpful. And looking forward to a tremendous year ahead, guys. And as I sign off, I wanted to thank you, my clients, my friends, my listeners.
Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already to Old School, New World, The Life of an Entrepreneur. Remember to like it so you can continue to get notifications. And if there's anything that you need, reach out to us. We're happy to help and talk to you about anything that's related to the mortgage industry. Guys, as I sign off, I want to wish. you, your family, your friends, the very best in 2025. It is going to be an unbelievable year for all of us. Thank you so much, guys.
Talk to you again soon.