Welcome to the mortgage game. I truly, truly believe that building a mortgage business, a successful one, is like playing a game. There's winners, there's losers, there's certain things you try. Some of us are playing checkers, while others are playing chess. I've had the ability to coach and mentor hundreds of mortgage brokers.
I myself built a very nice business, so now I want to distill all that information, all the things I've learned from that, and bring it directly to you in a simple -to -understand way. I hope you enjoy. All right. Welcome to the Mortgage Game Podcast. West Coast Wiley coming at you live from a parking lot. Yes, indeed. A parking lot. My kids go in. They play so much soccer. So much soccer. I can't watch every practice. So I usually sit out half of it and then go in for the other half.
But when I'm, I'm not just sitting here and doing nothing. I'm sitting here doing podcasts or following up with people on Instagram or emailing people back, or I'm just following up, people back, or I'm just following up, staying connected, staying in touch, staying, keeping the tentacles out there. Or I could sit there and watch practice for an hour and a half, or I can come here and do productive things and then go in, right. And watch the game at the end. So that's what I'm doing.
Okay. Okay. Talk about a couple of things here. And these are things that are just. Man, I'm just always, my brain's always, always, always firing off around all these things. And I'm seeing them happen live time around me, in front of me. I'm seeing people, I'm seeing people not do it. And there's two massive, massive mistakes I see people make all the time. I see brokers make all the time, more specifically. Before we get into that, this podcast is brought to you by Americano.
Oh, they want a couple shout outs today. It's going to be a couple of those just warning you. So mistake number one, I have like a list of 50 mistakes, but these are two big mistakes. Mistake number one. So I'll talk to a broker and we'll be like, okay, let's identify your VIP referral partners. Let's see who those are. And, oh, I got these three people. They send me a lot of deals. Okay, cool. And are there other people that, stragglers, they've sent you stuff.
you know they're doing other business you're not getting introduced to all their clients just some once in a while you don't really know what's going on you've maybe had a phone call maybe lunch maybe coffee with them uh you see them around maybe a little bit but like those type how many of those um we've got four or five okay so they could potentially be vips yeah 100 okay so what should what do you want to talk about today uh i want to talk
about i want to build a system to go and get other realtors. Okay. Well, there is no system for that. There's a process you could follow over and over again. And then six to 12 months later, you'll potentially have some really good realtors giving you a shot. Is that what you mean? Because people think you sent a text out to a realtor and you're like, yeah, why didn't they? No one responded. This doesn't work. It's like you sent one text, go send a thousand and then come back and talk to me.
But let's get back to the point. So do you think, so then I always pose this question, do you think your time is better suited trying to connect with people who don't know you and get them to trust you with one of their clients or their
database? Or do you think your time is better suited building the relationship with those eight realtors, the three you currently already have locked down, so to speak, and the other four or five who already know you and have already maybe even sent you a lead or two or a deal? Where do you think your time is best spent? Yeah. Okay. And so a lot of us, we're out there. We're trying to go meet new people. And this isn't just referral partners.
You're putting all this energy to try to get strangers to work with you, strangers to partner with you, which is awesome because you do have to do that. At some point in your career, you have to do that. The longer you get in your career, if you actually build a business, You don't have to do that. Maybe one off here and there, but you really don't. You'll just start having a lot of people refer you business if you set up your business right. Okay, but early on, you have to do this.
And so it's shocking to me how many brokers don't look around their current world and go, I'm just going to tighten all this up. And then if you don't like what that looks like, if you don't like the answers you're getting, if you don't like the business you're getting, then you go out. But before you go and start knocking on strangers' doors via phone call, DM, whatever, focus on the people around you. This is your clients.
This is your current referral partners, the people you've met somewhere. that you met at a conference, that you met on a real estate team, that you, right? So it's so bizarre to me. to me. This is just because all of our brains work differently. My brain always, always, always goes to who do I know around me? Who have I already had? I've got a fingerprint on them somewhere. I'm going to go do that. So a lot of you are out there scrambling. going, I don't have business.
It's always going to be that way. There's always going to be 90 % of you going, I don't have business. And what? Okay. Have you called your database? Right? Have you emailed them every week? Have you called your database? I'm not even talking referral partners. I'm talking clients. I'm trying to get strangers off the street to work with you on their mortgage. You're putting energy in over there, which cool. Yes. I love that you're doing that. But before you do that, prioritize your energy.
It needs to go to the people who know your name. Have you call your database once a quarter? They pick up the phone one out of every three times if you're lucky. So that means if you call them four times a year, you're going to talk to them one and a quarter. Talk to them one to two times a year. That. You calling your database, checking in, and there's other better ways to check in. Listen to another episode. I walked through that, I think two or three back.
That is better, way better time spent than trying to get complete strangers to work with you. And now don't forget, when you're connecting with your database, they have friends. They have family members. You. are better off connecting, asking if they need help, and then asking for their help. Hey, I track people's mortgages. I'm here to make sure you're not paying more than you should be on your mortgage.
And so I'm just confirming the information I have is correct because sometimes the data just gets mixed up or it's not accurate because I don't know what's happening. I haven't talked to you in a while. Duh. So, hey, do you know what your mortgage is? No. Okay. I'm going to send you an email with the info and then I'll track it for you. Okay. So that's why I'm calling. Do you have any mortgage questions for me, by the way? Well, I gotcha. Blah, blah, blah. Yeah. Oh, what do we do?
No. Or no, I don't. Or yeah, we were thinking about doing that. Like these are how these calls go down. And then guess what? The end of the call. Hey, before I let you go. I'd love if you could make an introduction. Is there anyone in your world that you think would benefit from my services? I love an intro. Why wouldn't you ask that? When people ask you that, how do you feel? If you did a good job, I'm like, oh yeah, man, 100%. You just triggered. I want to help. People want to help.
More people want to help you than not. But you need to flip the switch in their brain on. They're not walking around going, How can I get Ryan a mortgage? How can I get Ryan? How can I get more clients to run? They're not doing that. But in the moment, if you call me and the experience I had with you was really good, and you ask me, you come at me with value, and then you flip it on the end and you ask for help, I'm going to be like, oh, yeah.
And right in the way, my brain just does a full 360 around it. I start scraping my brain for any mortgage or real estate conversations I've had or I know. And then for... A short amount of time after that call, I don't know how long, it could be weeks, could be days. If something comes up, you're top of mind -ish. So tell me that there's a better use of your time, right? I have feelings around where to use your time and in your business and whatnot.
And you trying to get strangers to work with you versus that, I don't understand that calculation. I don't understand how people default to that. The people who've already trusted you.
given you at least you've given them free advice on a phone call you've they've given you a sin number and pulled credit and run that you know controlled the largest debt in their lives this podcast is brought to you by americano i wish i could reach through this podcast and like grab you and shake you and then like pull you over to your database and pick up your phone and dial and given you a sin number and pulled credit and run that you know controlled the largest debt in
their lives this podcast is brought to you by wish i could reach through this podcast and like grab you and shake you and then like pull you over to your database and pick up your phone and dial and Like make the call using an AI software in your voice. Like I wish I, and just, and do 300 of those. And then you'll be like, oh yeah, Ryan, I get it now. I get it now. This is just what I'm going to do. And then referral partners.
You've got these referral partners who are sitting there who have tried you out or for whatever reason, you're not their guy or girl. Well, guess what? Guess what problem you have? Guess what happened there? I'll give you three seconds to guess. One steamboat, two steamboat, three steamboat. Your relationship's not good enough. Your relationship with the people that are sending you all the deals is really good. Don't sleep on that though. Do not sleep on that relationship.
You need to keep building a fence around those VIP, I'm using air quotes, VIP brokers. the three that are sending you a lot of deals, don't just take for granted that you're the person. You still need to keep that relationship going. However, whatever version you have of that. I have a thing that I do. I've went over it on other podcasts, but if we have time, I'll talk about it.
That works 1 ,000 ,000 % and brokers on my team are using it and it's working extremely well where they're like, Ryan, I got two applications today. I'm like, go figure. Go fucking figure. Really? Like, I'm not shocked. I'm just like, And they're like, yeah, I get it. I'm like, yeah, go do that. Go do this and then do that. Oh, it worked. Really interesting.
So you're telling me that the realtor that sent you two clients in the past 12 months and you've known them for 18 months and you know, they're doing other business because you can see it. You just know they're doing work that you calling them. connecting with them and saying, hey, I want to take you out for lunch. And then you go for lunch and you break bread in your belly to belly, see the whites of their eyes, you connect on a level, your relationship. They send you two live deals. Really?
Go figure. Interesting. Right? It's one of those things. So before you start spending your energy over there with referral partners who don't have a fucking clue who you are, go look in your world of who knows your name. So you've got your VIP and then you have your not so VIP, but they could be VIP. So identify the eight and then build a plan around it. Build a plan. Use your common sense brain. How do I make my relationships better? I don't know. Put some effort in. Act like you care.
Like I said, I've got things to do that we do there, but that's not what I want this podcast to be about. You can go find that in other stuff. Maybe if we have time, I'll talk about it. It's super simple stuff, but it works very, very well. But why don't we do that? Right? So it's so intriguing to me that, so intriguing to me that, and then guess what? You have your VIP realtors, your three or four. Have you ever asked them? Because realtors, no realtors. I don't know if you know that or not.
Realtors, no other realtors. Have you ever asked the people who already trust you with their clients? Hey. Do you have like another rockstar agent like you? You know my personality. Do you know who I jive with? You know what I do. You and I, we're good. You're like, is there someone else you know? Would you mind making an intro for me? Right? Why wouldn't you ask that? That's always baffled me too. I was doing that all the time. All the freaking time. Because it worked both ways.
I would always get introductions, but I would also not get introductions to the nut bars because I'd be like, no nut bars. I don't want any nut bars, okay? You folks are a quirky breed, the realtors, and they know that. And this is how I talk to my realtor. You guys are a quirky breed, man. And so I don't want the nut bars. Can you save me that time, right? So it's going to save me time not prospecting nut bars. They're going to just cut through that noise. So that was mistake number one.
But this podcast is brought to you by Americana. See how I just change up my monotone voice to like different types of monotone voice with all these different characters. It's such a talent. Okay, so mistake number two now. So mistake number one is trying to get strangers to work with you when you haven't even exhausted your current circle. Okay, clients and referral partners and ask people. Don't forget, like if you're not asking people, once again, I want to shake you. Ask people want to help.
If they like you, they want to help you. It's that simple equation. People like you, they want to help you, but you have to flip the switch on in their brain. Why would they be walking around thinking how they can help your business? They're not wired like that. Nobody is. So flip the switch on. For a moment's time, flip the switch on. Guess what? The switch is going to get flipped off again. The breakers, it's going to break. It's going to flip. So there you go. Mistake number two.
If you just did this, what I'm telling you here, like, and you committed to doing this, you can change your business. And mistake number two, same thing. It's shocking how many people drop the ball on this. And it's basic, basic, basic, basic shit. Lack of follow -up. Yeah, following up in every situation, situation, personal and business, the follow -up. He or she who follows up wins the game, right? You meet a realtor for lunch, you follow up. Thanks for the launch.
It was so nice connecting with you. I love what you're doing with the XYZ. Anyways, I'm going to keep in touch. I'm not going to be like, We'll keep until like, I'm just giving you like lame. They're pretty lame examples. I gave you there, but like just something as basic. And then guess what? I'm going to text that person again, but I'm not going to be like, how's business? How are you doing? Do you have a good weekend? Like, don't text me that either. I hate getting those texts.
It's like, ah, and I usually don't respond. And then they just think I don't like them. It's like, no, your fucking question was lame as shit. And it's a waste of my time. So ask me something right to the point. Did you get that drip campaign set up? Did you put into, how is the new lead generation campaign we talked about? How is it working? Are you getting the conversions that you wanted to get? Don't be the person, and this is, geez, now I'm going off topic here, but it's okay.
We're going to bring it back to follow up. But don't be the person at the party that's going around just going, what do you do? Hey, what's your name? What do you do? Like, Oh my gosh. It's like jazz it up a bit. Like, Hey, is there anything exciting you're working on right now? Say that to a stranger. Oh yeah. Like all of a sudden it's about them. They're going to, I'm going to Dave, you asked me that. I'm like, Oh yeah. Build the mortgage team.
I fricking, I don't think I've ever been happier than where I am right now. And like, someone did ask me this. It was actually at a, it was at a neighborhood party. And then he actually asked that. He said, and I've only met the guy once before at the previous year's party. And he always stands out because he always asks the most interesting questions. And he's a smart dude running a very successful company. He's the CEO. He's doing phenomenal.
And I thought that trigger right there, he asked that the way he asked the question. And he asked, what's the most exciting thing you're working on right now, is what he said. And I was like, wow. What an intelligent question. Because everyone else was boring the fuck out of me. And he asked that. And I was like, dude, you're OK. OK, you're my people. Let's talk. And I chat with him for half hour. And then I flipped the script on him. And I started talking about what he and I'm like, oh, my God.
And what he was working on would actually what he's built would benefit all mortgage brokers. It's kind of crazy. But it was one of the coolest things I've ever talked to someone about. But I'll start with that question. So that's a sidebar, but that's okay. That was a good sidebar. I'm proud of that sidebar. I can live with that. I feel you got value there. Just please don't be those people. Send out the lame question stuff.
But the follow -up, the power of the follow -up, the power of the follow -up. If you show up to a webinar, guess what happens after the webinar? Now I've got my singing voice on. This podcast is brought to you by Americana. After the webinar, you're going to get a recording of the webinar. And I'm going to give you a video talking about one of the slides in the webinar. And then guess what happens three days later after the webinar? You're going to get another email, email number two.
And it's going to be a case study of someone who I helped with whatever the webinar was about. What their problem was, the solution I presented, and then what the outcome was. problem, solution, outcome, framework, and with a call to action to do what I need them to do, which is book a call on my calendar. And then guess what? Three days later, they're going to get another email. And it's going to be the same. It's going to be a case study showing.
And guess what? I'm also going to have in there a testimonial. I don't know why I'm singing. I don't know why I'm singing. But yeah, follow up, follow up. So that's a webinar. And then guess what? Guess what? Drum roll plays. It doesn't stop there. But I get them the three emails after the webinar about stuff about the webinar. And then I take their email and their name and I zap them over to my master list.
And it triggers them going through my master drip, which is about talking about a wider version of things. And I'm going to get them eventually. And that's I'm talking to you. This is like the mortgage. This is for a mortgage broker. This is the model. So that's the follow -up. If you follow up, the money's not made in the show. It's made in the follow -up. Money's not made on your discovery call. It's made in the follow -up,
right? Staying in touch, following up all around you, letting people know you listen to what they said. Hey, I'm just checking in. Everybody, it seems like everybody out there is fucking scatterbrained. There's a bunch of people winging life.
running around and i don't know if i'm just seeing it that way i don't know if it's evolved to that i don't know if i'm just i got like certain goggles on i'm looking around but everyone feels like everybody is scatterbrained and they're just like drinking from fire hoses left right and center from personal and business and life and health and mindset and depression and and then the good stuff and just like it's just like it's like one big costco
that's what it feels like And so you following up with people in whatever realm all around you, you're doing them a favor. You're keeping their thoughts organized around mortgages. You're literally doing them a favor. You're like a reminder that goes off on their phone. Oh, yeah, it's the mortgage guy. The mortgage girl is followed up. They're asking that question. They want to see if I need help or they're seeing where the thing is. And they're wondering if we want to.
Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally. So want to do it. Yeah. Thank you for following up. People do that to me. I'm like, oh man, I appreciate the follow up. I really do. You're like a reminder for me. I'm not like, what the hell? The nerve of you to follow up with me. What the heck? Sending me an email. I am offended. Like you piece of shit. I got a potty mouth this morning. Like, how dare you stay in touch with me? Send me a text.
And then you send me a voice memo explaining something you're doing and how you help someone else. I don't want to hear how you're helping people and you showing me. And then you send me a video. Did you seriously just send me a video where you broke down how you saved another family $17 ,000? Like the nerve of you to send that to me. Why the hell do you think I'd want to see that? Man, like really? Is that what you're thinking? Follow up. Like it's all around you.
There's breadcrumbs everywhere. But you're trying to go get these out. And then you, so a lot of you are doing these awesome things. You're putting yourself out there. You're boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. But then it's like silence. Think about it. When you are, I've got a bunch of mortgage brokers prospecting realtors right now. So I'm going to give you a couple of examples. Before I do though, this podcast, don't know if you know, it's brought to you by Americana.
they gave me a venti. Okay. I got a drink before it gets cold. Like this isn't my fault. Um, and they pay for the show. Like it's a big budget here. Um, so they're prospecting realtors and they started with phone calls and they shifted gears to DMS cause people weren't picking up the calls and that's just the story they're telling themselves, but whatever. And they sent it out. I remember we talked after and I'm like, they're like, yeah, I didn't get anyone. I said, okay.
Like, and then what did you do? I didn't, uh, yeah, I didn't do anything. Okay, so you thought because you typed out two -sentence texts and then you copied that, then you pasted that somewhere else and then you sent it. Like, do you think they owe you something? Like, shit, you send that to me? I'm like, I'm not responding. I'm like, that's like step one of 50. I got to keep following up with them, right? I'm going to hit them with a voice memo. I'm going to hit them with a video.
I'm going to have public service now. I'm going to show stuff in my process. I'm going to show my screen in a video. I'm going to record and I'm going to be scrolling through. I'm like, hey, just want to let you know, I just pre -approved. These clients came to me thinking they were pre -approved for 500 was the cap. And when I reworked the numbers and we restructured some of their debt, I now got them to 560 and they can afford it. And so this is what I do.
You know, and these clients are happy now. They can actually. find properties in that price range. So I'm just letting you know, that's how I take care. I would take care of your clients. Anyways, have a great day and boom. And that could be a recorded video that you fire off. And that's number two, three, four, five DM text, whatever to the referral partner. So over and over and over again, follow up.
Do you think realtors who are in the same game, same commission game, they're like their businesses or our industries are very much aligned in a lot of ways, definitely in how we earn money. They're taught to follow up with people. It's hammered into their brain way more than the mortgage industry. We dropped the ball on that. And so they don't. But do they do it? Heck no. But they know how the game is played. They know what they need to do. They're just lazy. They don't want to do it.
But they know. So when you do it to them, if you just drop off, they're like, oh, yeah, another mortgage broker coming in. I already know what's going to happen. They're going to keep. And like. It doesn't take you time and energy to make these videos and to send them out like it's seconds. Right? So you're building up respect when your follow -up game is on point with referral partners and you're trying to get their business. You're trying to get your foot in the door and get into their world.
Your follow -up game is how you show them that. If your follow -up game was on point, there's no way. You don't build up the opportunity to connect with a bunch of realtors. What you do after you meet them, I don't know, depends how good you are, whatever you're pitching. We're not talking about that, but you're just trying to get a meeting. No one's going to send you a lead. And if they do, I'm a little worried. From that, they're going to want to meet you.
But saying, you're building up respect with people. They're like, yeah, wow. Hey, I'm going to keep, I'm just letting you know, I'm going to keep staying in touch with you until you tell me to piss off. And I'm doing that because I want to show you how persistent I am and what I would do with your clients as well. Right? So anyways, on to this week, this is what I learned. I learned about this other mortgage product.
It's actually something I've known about for a long time and other clients taking advantage of it. It's called the home renovation loan. And it's actually, I'm not going to say purchase plus improvement, but it allows your clients, like, do you have any clients that are like capped at like 600 and they're not seeing anything? Well, what if you looked at? for five or 525 and they could get 75 to a hundred thousand dollars of renovations and they could roll that in the mortgage.
Would that open up the amount? So I've done that. And so this is what it looks like. Like that's a video I sent. That's a voice memo I leave. Like, would that help any of your clients jump off the fence? Like just telling them about that. That's the type of follow -up you do. Okay. This podcast is getting a little long, so I'm going to shut this down shortly here, but I have other things to follow up. Like there's other areas all around you personally in business.
is just stopping in the moment, in the day, looking at your texts, scrolling up and down, looking at your DMs, who I need to connect with, who I need to connect with. And you have to do it in those, the times like I'm doing right now, where I could sit there and do nothing or I could come out and be productive. And so if I wasn't making this podcast, I find these slivers of time within my day.
If I wasn't making this podcast, you're going to hear the truck start here because I'm going to go inside. I just got to drive a little bit. If I wasn't making this podcast, I would be following up with people. I would be sending voice memos. I'd be thanking people for following me on Instagram with voice memos. I would be connecting with people, looking through. I'd be checking out emails. I'd be, hey, since our last conversation, has anything changed in your world?
Are you still doing this? Are you still doing that? Are you still seeing the results you like? Are you blah, blah, blah? Mental notes of everyone I'm talking to, all the conversations, all the synergy. everything. I'm just going to stay connected in the moment with it. So I'm going to shut this down just because I don't like these podcasts getting longer than this. That is the beauty of these is I usually get in and out a little quicker. I started to ramble on with voices and singing.
So shut this down, Ryan. That's it, kids. That's the mortgage game. Until next week. Enjoy your weekend. Peace out.