Loan Officer Impact | A podcast of tools, tips, and strategies to help loan officers grow their business and gain more freedom.

LOI 0027 Mike McFarland

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0027 Mike McFarland

00:00 / 28:32

Mike McFarland is on with Kevin and Ryan this week. Joining us from the Houston, Texas area, Mike McFarland is a level 10 loan officer bringing his knowledge and experience to our show today. Mike discusses his methods and how he meticulously walks the Daily Success Plan (DSP) path and runs a strict and well-managed calendar. Additional back-office help is essential, but things are still challenging. How does Mike get things done?

How do we do it?

There are several steps to getting things done and working off a packed calendar. First, you must honor the time blocks. Be intentional about your time. If you’ve structured your day in advance, you must try your hardest to follow it. With that discipline in place, the four of us had our list of 30 agents, and we just went at it with Thor’s Hammer. We saw results from this almost immediately, generating about eight appointments per week! Once those appointments were scheduled, it was just a matter of getting out there to meet these new agents, cultivating relationships, and then flipping those agents to the Focused 40 and calling them to generate referrals.

Consistency is king

Breaking through the mental blocks of having to cold call is vital when booking those first appointments. At some point, you’ll have to flip from the cold call to the relationship call – so going from cold to warm is where you want to be. Then it just gets easier to repeat the cycle and keep that consistency. Once you’ve built an excellent referral base and generated business, you must work on the agent. Now you can focus on the relationship and break the realtor habit of sending all their business to the other guy, right? Work on becoming that guy the Realtor is sending all their business to.

Authenticity is paramount

“You gotta know who you’re looking for – you gotta know what profile you’re looking for.” Using the correct language to connect to future referral partners is essential. Getting the proper script can be difficult, but if your script is something you can connect with personally, no matter where the conversation goes, you will feel good about it. If I can get a meeting using the script, I can generally feel good that the meeting will also be good.

Tune in for the full podcast. It’s packed with extremely valuable content that will help any loan officer improve on their process, build out the next strategy or put you in touch with the right people to help you become more successful – no matter where you work.

Thanks for tuning into Loan Officer Impact with Kevin Broughton. Week after week, Kevin interviews some of the Mortgage Industry’s top Loan Officers, Influencers, and Masterminds. Remember to like and subscribe to the podcast. You can find Loan Officer Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Audible.

If you’d like to schedule a 15 min intro/strategy call with Kevin, go to http://www.GrowingwithKevin.com to book some time. To check out our growing Loan Officer Impact Podcasts library, visit http://loanofficerimpact.com.

LOI 0026 Kevin Broughton and Ryan Surratt

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0026 Kevin Broughton and Ryan Surratt

00:00 / 7:14

Today, Ryan and Kevin discuss three things loan officers can do to add more loans to their pipeline. This week is different from previous podcasts. This session was supposed to be a brainstorming session to discuss topics to bring loan officers value in future episodes. However, the ideas flowed, and Kevin and Ryan decided to hit the record button. Don’t be fooled – it’s a shorter episode this week, but it’s jammed packed with tips on adding even more loans to your pipeline by doing these three things.

Reaching out to your past closed loan database

We are in the money business – there are still a lot of opportunities out there. The numbers show that consumer debt is climbing, interest rates are still high, and HELOCs have increased. What can we offer our past database TODAY that could add another loan to your pipeline? Are you marketing yourself as a financial consultant – offering advice and programs to your database?

The right referral sources

We’re all familiar with the idea of growing our referral source database, but are you being strategic with which referral sources you’re using? This tip leans on the first. Craft your message to your closed loan database and work with the corresponding referral source to increase your opportunity. Kevin shares some examples of delivering value through your referral sources.

Cultivating relationships

Are your referral sources doing more business? Are they remaining competitive in this market? We’re guessing not. How are we going out and building relationships? We discussed the topic of planting seeds back in January and February. Planting seeds to grow your referral base and, ultimately, forge more relationships. Ryan and Kevin discuss the many methods and strategies to get in front of new referral sources and build more connections that can earn you business, month after month.

LOI 0025 Sarah Cox

Posted on April 26, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0025 Sarah Cox

00:00 / 25:46

Sarah Cox, senior Loan Officer from the Dallas – Fort Worth Texas market, joins us this week on Loan Officer Impact. Sarah spent time reflecting on when she got back into Loan Origination full-time. A close friend of Sarah’s told her about Mortgage Marketing Animals. Even though Sarah had never received coaching, engaging with MMA (Mortgage Marketing Animals) has been life-changing.

Sticking to the plan

“Whatever is on the inside of you comes out.” Sarah discusses how she navigates her day, fills herself up to be the best, and does her best for herself, her clients, and her co-workers. Consistency and adherence to what she learned from her mentors and coaches have been a game-changer. Sarah drives home the idea that you can’t be halfway in – you must be all the way in to succeed and compete in this space.

Operational Excellence

Being part of Operations and ensuring that things are happening on the backend is something that Sarah enjoys doing. She has a team behind her that does much of the heavy lifting, allowing Sarah to focus on the relationship. In addition to overseeing the operations of her team, Sarah talks about working with and growing her referral base with something called “Strategic gifting.”

Core Values

As an essential topic for Sarah and everyone involved in her business, Core Values play a pivotal role in her relationships with her partners and agents. Transparency and accountability are so important in the day-to-day operations. Setting expectations and managing to a result has helped Sarah succeed in a relatively short time. Many of these core values are things that Sarah has gained from working with her mentors and coaches and, of course, working with the MMA Team.

If you’d like to schedule a 15 min intro/strategy call with Kevin, go to http://www.GrowingwithKevin.com to book some time. If you’d like to check out our growing Loan Officer Impact Podcasts library, visit http://loanofficerimpact.com.

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LOI 0024 Andy Dautrich

Posted on April 19, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0024 Andy Dautrich

00:00 / 30:20

Andy Dautrich joins Kevin and Ryan on Loan Officer Impact this week to discuss adaptation, strategy, and technology.

Andy is incredibly focused on growing and refining his business. A heavy ingredient to Andy’s ‘secret sauce’ is Mortgage Coach. If you’re in the industry, and we assume you are, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this, then you know Mortgage Coach can be a potent tool when forging relationships with your clients. Mortgage Coach and Sales Boomerang recently merged to become Trust Engine – but we’ll save that for another episode.

Delivering Value

Making sure to take notes during the initial conversation or ‘interview’ with a client, Andy goes back to his software, plugs in some numbers, and can generate scenarios based on the information he collected during the interview. Andy claims he has access to software that only a few companies have, so this process may seem slightly different because the process, the numbers, and the strategy would be completely customized to his clients.

Opportunity via Technology

Andy discusses the benefits of having a unique, in-house technology stack but warns that many great loan officers are becoming too reliant on the technology alone. You still want to reach out to your prequals and check-in, and you still want to stay in front of the referrals that aren’t yet under contract. With the right blend of technology and communication strategy, Andy walks us through his process of implementing a great communication strategy that relies on technology, can be a powerful tool, and in most cases, generate more and more referral simply because Andy can completely customize his borrower experiences.

Educating Realtors and Building a Stronger Referral Database

Another advantage of Andy’s technology approach is that he can put the Realtor in front of the same information that the Realtor’s buyers receive. Even if that Realtor is not a referral partner, they are starting to see this new technology in action. Not only is this game-changing for the Realtor, but it also allows Andy and his team the opportunity to forge new relationships with Realtors.

Tagged Andy Dautrich, Centennial Lending Group, CLG | Leave a comment

LOI 0023 Rachel B. Lee

Posted on April 12, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0023 Rachel B. Lee

00:00 / 34:57

The hosts of Loan Officer Impact, Kevin Broughton and Ryan Surratt, interview social media expert Rachel B. Lee on using social media to build a personal brand as a loan originator. The hosts acknowledge the challenging market conditions for loan officers in the mortgage industry but note that there are still opportunities for those who are strategic about their efforts. Rachel emphasizes the importance of building a personal brand on social media, which has become increasingly important in the era of COVID-19. She provides tips and strategies for loan officers to use social media to establish themselves as community experts and generate more business.

How COVID-19 Changed the Business

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of social media and other online platforms for businesses due to the inability to make in-person connections. The loan officers, lawyers, and investment bankers, also known as consultants, now work from home and rely on powerful platforms such as Google to search for information. People are now less receptive to cold calls, and 90% of a person’s decision is made before they talk to a salesperson because they rely on online searches. Rachel notes that the behavior change that started a decade ago has become necessary in business. People are also more active on social media while working from home, making it a powerful platform for connection and conversation. The author emphasizes that there is only one thing, human-to-human relationships, and social media provides a platform for such relationships. The focus is on creating human relations in an online forum since the ability to make such connections in person is limited. Finally, the author notes that there are specific strategies, dos, and don’ts, to maximize the use of social media for those in sales positions who want to increase their ability to make human connections. Some individuals have a strategic social media platform, while others do not.

Tips on How to Build Your Brand

Rachel B Lee, the founder of Standout Authority, shares tips on how to build a personal brand on social media in a podcast interview. She notes that the first thing to do when building a social media presence is to think about your brand, which is how others see you and how you see yourself. Lee advises people to consider their skills, superpowers, audience, differentiation, and passion. She says that you need to understand what you want people to know about you to be able to put yourself on social media because it will feel inauthentic. To build a personal brand value proposition, she suggests taking the four elements (skills, audience, differentiation, and passion) to help construct a one or two-line sentence to assist you in that process. She uses the formula: “I help x, x who is your audience, x do y, what is it that you help them do, what’s your product or service so they can achieve z, what is the outcome, the benefit, the so what.” Lee also highlights that building a personal brand is not just about social media but also about how you appear in everyday life. Therefore, creating an image and a narrative that showcases who you are, not just the person people see on social media, is essential.

Overall, Lee emphasizes the importance of authenticity when building a personal brand and notes that success is greatly improved if it is wrapped around something other than accentuating your skills, understanding who your audience is, what your differentiator is, and what you’re passionate about.

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LOI 0022 Kevin Broughton and Ryan Surratt

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0022 Kevin Broughton and Ryan Surratt

00:00 / 19:34

This week on Loan Officer Impact, Ryan Surratt and Kevin Broughton discuss the concept of Strategic Discipline, which they believe is crucial for loan officers to succeed in any market. They argue that lack of discipline is why loan officers fail. Strategic discipline involves implementing strategic and disciplined practices within one’s daily workflow, even when facing challenging situations. Successful loan officers practice Strategic Discipline every hour of every day, regardless of external factors.

What is Mandatory for a Successful Business?

According to Kevin, Strategic Discipline is a mandatory component of a successful business. He defines it as the ability to be strategic and disciplined in one’s approach to work, even when faced with distractions or competing priorities. The hosts stress the importance of being strategic and disciplined from the start of the day, and they urge loan officers to prioritize their daily tasks and stay focused on achieving their goals. They emphasize that loan officers who consistently practice Strategic Discipline thrive in the challenging market while those lacking it struggle to succeed.

Attract & Retain Referral Partners

According to Kevin, loan officers who practice Strategic Discipline must be able to attract and retain referral partners. They must be disciplined and strategic in approaching every task, especially when attracting new clients. Kevin explains that his team mandates accountability, which requires him to schedule his days in advance and set goals for himself every week. He spends multiple hours prospecting daily and follows the advice of a business guru named Peter Drucker, who said that a loan officer’s job is to create, keep, or grow a client. Kevin takes this advice to heart and is always looking for ways to provide value to his clients, whether by helping them acquire wealth or investment property. The key to Strategic Discipline is to stay focused on one’s goals and be disciplined in implementing the necessary actions to achieve them.

Creating, Keeping, and Growing Clients

The three aspects of a job in the mortgage business – creating a client, keeping a client, and growing a client. To create a client, one must find someone from the general public who needs a mortgage or attract a referral partner who can refer people needing mortgages. To keep a client, one needs to provide value and stay in touch with them, and to grow a client; one must show them avenues to have a better life through using the company’s products. The speaker emphasizes the importance of strategic discipline in carrying out these tasks amidst distractions and noise in the world.

LOI 0021 Kimberly Johnson

Posted on March 22, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0021 Kimberly Johnson

00:00 / 22:00

We have an incredible guest this week, Kimberly Johnson. Kimberly is the definition of “Leadership Evolved.” Speaking with us today from Abilene, Texas, Kimberly recently took a Branch Manager role. Her day-to-day activities are focused, structured, and overall, Kimberly has a plan. Today we talk about mentors, High-leverage activities, and how to build a team of rock stars.

Trust, Communication, and Accountability

These three components are the backbone of building a successful team, and these are things that Kim looks for in everyone she works with. There is always room for improvement and tons of learning opportunities; however, having the proper focus and attention to the things that create a solid and goal-oriented team has been a proven strategy throughout Kim’s time in the mortgage industry – even before running a branch.

Daily Strategies or Themes for the Team

Every day of the week has a strategy wrapped around it. The proper process is perfect to remain consistent in your focus and accountable for all activities. Throughout the week, Kim touches on the daily objectives her team runs through to ensure that they’re communicating with the pipeline, tapping the database, running Thor’s Hammer and Focus 40, then touching their pre-approved and looking leads.

Doing these things weekly and consistently is the formula for success. Please tune in to get a more in-depth explanation of how Kim does this with her team. We’re talking 15,000 touches to her database, clients, and referral partners, per year!

Becoming the Go-To person in your Community

Community is a massive focus for Kimberly and her business. ‘People’ are the reason we do this, right? So making sure that there are plenty of activities wrapped around education, local events, charities, churches, and nonprofits, and jumping in to help other professionals in the Community grow their businesses. These are the things that “make our hearts happy.”

The best advice is to get involved in the Community. This is a great way to build your brand and become the go-to for people and professionals around you.

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LOI 0020 Brittany Hodak

Posted on March 15, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0020 Brittany Hodak

00:00 / 34:09

Award-winning entrepreneur, author, and customer experience speaker Brittany Hodak joins us on Loan Officer Impact. Brittany has delivered keynotes across the globe to organizations, including American Express and the United Nations. She has worked with some of the world’s biggest brands and entertainers, including Walmart, Disney, Katy Perry, and Dolly Parton. Brittany founded and scaled an entertainment startup to eight figures before exiting. She is the former Chief Experience Officer of Experience.com. Forbes said of her debut book, Creating Superfans, “If you have customers, you need this book. Period.”

Kevin and Ryan got to speak to Brittany about many topics that are incredibly important to Loan Officers today—notably Customer Experience and Branding. Pulling examples from her book, Brittany discusses some incredibly insightful issues we rarely touch on while also tying in some of the core concepts and principles we often discuss. Though Brittany is not a Loan Officer, she has spoken with many mortgage industry professionals.

Figure out how you’re going to be the best.

A solid brand must be backed up with follow-through. In the mortgage industry, it’s difficult to brand yourself based on the product, right? We often brand ourselves on the relationship. While writing loans is often seen as a “rinse and repeat” process, we generally go after the relationship. Having Brittany on Loan Officer Impact to discuss these topics and her book fits nicely into what we generally discuss. Along with personal branding, Brittany discusses creating super fans in the mortgage business. Go all in when building your brand.

Clarity of message.

When building a brand and creating an identity for yourself, it’s challenging to put together your message in a way that stands out from the rest of the competition and the rest of the noise. Ryan asks, “How do we separate our message from the rest of the noise out there?”

Brittany’s response to the “noise,” or “apathy,” is incredible. Please tune in to hear this part of the talk. Not only does this apply to loan officers, but really, anyone that is in sales. Brittany shares tips and methods to create an instant connection with your client base that could also apply to those building your referral network. This is the key to dropping the generic branding message and creating total clarity around who you are and what you offer.

Creating an Experience.

Another element in your design plan to build a brand is, by far, to create an experience. People don’t necessarily buy products and services as much as they do experiences. People want an experience and the ability to connect with what they spend their time and money on. Home purchasing is a wonderful opportunity to create a memorable experience for all parties involved. The clients/borrowers and referral partners alike. Creating an experience helps promote and deliver on your brand and the future relationship with those involved. Creating an experience is just as important as creating a brand, to begin with. Focus on this topic and check out Brittany’s book, “Creating Super Fans,” to build on this topic further—so many incredibly insightful tips on creating an experience.

Thank you for tuning into Loan Officer Impact with Kevin Broughton and Ryan Surratt. Week after week, Kevin interviews some of the Mortgage Industry’s top Loan Officers, Influencers, and Masterminds. Remember to like and subscribe to the podcast. You can find Loan Officer Impact on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Audible.

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LOI 0019 Dale Vermillion

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0019 Dale Vermillion

00:00 / 26:44

We have an icon in the industry joining us today on Loan Officer Impact. Dale Vermillion has impacted more lives in the mortgage industry than we can fathom. Whether you’re a loan officer, operations manager, or team lead, Dale has potentially touched your life with his knowledge, experience, and expertise.

Dale is a terrific father, husband, and man of faith. He’s worked for many of the large depository banks, as well as IMBs all over the country. We’re so happy to be able to bring all of you this talk today.

Let’s talk about what we’re seeing on a National Level.

It’s essential to understand what’s going on out there; however, what most people “know” is what they hear in the news – and that’s probably bad news!
The fact of the matter is, this market has so many positive things happening – you have to look closely. Items that are on the up and up, and we talk about inventory, builder confidence, affordability, and more! So many benefits that are looking more and more like a Buyer’s market – but the media, the general consumer, is hyper-concerned about interest rates. You have to look at this market with the right mindset. This market is truly an opportunistic market!

The power of doubling down on your database today before the rates continue their way down

Approximately 35% of the mortgage industry is gone from what we had in 2022. While there is less competition, building your network and hitting your database has never been more critical. The two things loan officers need to focus on are “mindset and methodology.” Dale talks about these two powerful things and how they impact the performance and the result of many loan officers today.
Brian Tracy said, “Winners make a habit of manufacturing their own positive expectations in advance of the event.”
This is truly a powerful statement. Something we encourage everyone to try doing, regardless of their profession.

How to stay in the moment and remain committed to the action.

You have to go back to the old analogy of sewing and reaping – this is so important to remember and to scale this message one step further as things continue to change, expand, and contract. What does sewing and reaping mean to you? More prospecting calls? More coffee appointments with referral partners? Touch on your database. Have the right approach! Are you still sending text messages? Are you still sending emails? Have you taken new approaches to the same problem? Dale runs through a list of things you should consider when asking yourself, “and I truly committed to the action.”

The last ten minutes of the talk tie everything together; you want to tune into this interview with Dale Vermillion. We’re so grateful for such an excellent opportunity to listen to Dale share some of his experience, knowledge, and commitment. Dale’s purpose, faith, and moral compass are dialed in to help others; put others first.

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LOI 0018 Mike Cardascia & Erica Homefield

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Loan Officer Impact

Loan Officer Impact

LOI 0018 Mike Cardascia & Erica Homefield

00:00 / 16:41

Two coaching loan officers are joining us on Loan Officer Impact this week! Kevin Broughton and Ryan Surratt are interviewing Michael Cardascia and Erica Homefield on this week’s episode. You may know these two from Carl White’s Mortgage Marketing Animals (MMA) team. Mike is the director of MMA’s business expansion and is located in Palm Harbor, FL. He’s been with MMA for just over four years. Erica Homefield has been with MMA since September 2019. Together, they do the Loan Officer Success podcast. For years, Mike and Erica have been coaching loan officers and helping them find more freedom by offering practical advice and shaping strategies around successful loan officers.

Why you need a system that works with your Daily Success Plan

Mike talks about the first thing he asks new loan officers in the program, “How many referral-generating strategies or systems do you have today?”
Generally, this is a loosely answered question, but he seldom has a loan officer respond with any existing system. This is one of the most fundamental places to start applying effort that will, without a doubt, create a result. Mike explains the strategy, what a Daily Success Plan is, and, more importantly, what a system is.

Five pieces to the plan

How are you defining your plan, and how are you remaining accountable to your goal? These pieces are crucial to executing your plan and staying consistent. Perhaps more importantly, your mindset is critical to defining and implementing your plan. You must believe in yourself!

How to get to the next level in your business

Everything you need to get started is right here in this podcast. In a short, 15-minute podcast, Mike, Erica, Ryan, and Kevin reveal the secret sauce in putting yourself on the path to success – you want to catch this episode.
Mike and Erica also run their podcast called Loan Officer Success. You can find it on your favorite streaming service. If you’d like to schedule some time to talk shop with the MMA team, go to www.loscall.com to set up some time to chat.

Tagged Erica Homefield, Mike Cardascia, Mortgage Marketing Animals | Leave a comment