When I'm coaching a loan originator, it's one of the first activities I assign - visit your escrow officer and brainstorm ideas on how to promote each other.
Just last week I was with a client visiting their escrow officer. After we exchanged pleasantries I questioned how they promoted their services to agents. Our timing couldn't be more impeccable. The escrow officer was having a conundrum. Since Arizona has had a housing gold rush for the past 5 years, she hasn't had to market her services. Now that the market has gone from red-hot to icy cold, she's in dire need of help.
From this meeting we established a couple action items and more importantly, a dialogue about building better relations to help each other.
The action items were simple:
- Visit open houses and real estate offices together.
- Print collaborative marketing pieces, i.e. brochures, postcards, etc., for each other.
- Plan events together that draw groups of agents.
- Visit existing agent relationships to measure loyalty.
Right after that meeting my client and I visited a couple real estate offices. Each one we inquired about marketing opportunities. Both branches - a Prudential and ReMax granted permission for us to attend a future sales meeting with 10 minutes to present information.
When we called the escrow officer to inform her about the opportunities, she went right to work calling agents to promote my client to them.
Bottom-line: Meeting with the escrow officer was the best hour of time both parties have spent working on their marketing in the past 5 years.
Is it really that easy? It sure is. When you understand what makes real estate agents tick and what they want from you, you can magnetize them to your doorstep.
