Follow-Up With a Winner: Dave King WR Starkey Mortgage, Denver, CO |
 |
2008 total loan volume:$30,228,000 In Touch Today: How have the recent events in the mortgage market affected your business? Dave King: I’ve gone “back to basics,” and I’m okay with that. I love it in fact. The events in the industry exposed the people who should not have been in the industry in the first place. In the long term, I think it is really going to help those of us who have been in what I call the “wholesome mortgage business” all this time. In Touch Today: Has it affected your loan volume at all? Dave King: The last few months have been a boom time for us, with all the refinancing going on. The last couple of years were difficult at times but, all in all, it has been good. I love the new regulations, testing, licensing and bonding that the State of Colorado now requires. It has helped eliminate a lot of the bad players and let the cream rise to the top. In Touch Today: Have you been approaching marketing or other methods of business generation differently given the current state of affairs? Dave: Not really. I still market heavily to my past clients and even more heavily to my referral sources. That approach has always worked for me, and it still does. I send postcards from In Touch Today, and I think stuff like that is still the best and most powerful advertising out there. Even if someone just looks at my postcard for five seconds before they throw it away, I’m buying brain cells – and that is important. In Touch Today: What do you do to keep in touch with your past clients and referral sources? Dave: I send direct mail to my past clients at least once a month; probably 14 or 15 times a year altogether. I have also started using an email campaign, although I have tried not to be too persistent with that because I feel like some people may consider it a little too much or too invasive. I email all my referral sources at least twice a week and, in addition to that, I try to speak with my best referral sources at least once a week. In Touch Today: Dave, what advice would you give other loan officers who may be struggling to keep and find new clients? Dave: There are three things that will attract and keep clients over the years. The first is your personal relationship skills, the second is your actual lending skills and the third is having absolute integrity. I think it is in that order. I think you can have all the relationship skills in the world and you can bring business in the door, but if you don’t have the other two, you are always going to struggle to find new business. These three key things together keep the phone ringing and keep people coming back as well as telling all their friends about you. In Touch Today: What personally keeps your spirits up in a difficult market? Why do you stay in the business? Dave: I will read or listen to things that are uplifting, especially things that remind me of the old adage “from adversity comes strength.” If I had a personal favorite, it would probably be the book “Strangest Secret in the World,” by Earl Nightingale. It is at least 50 years old by now but a timeless classic. It also helps to know that tough times don’t last but tough people do. I don’t think there is anybody in this business who has not had trouble at some point over the last few years with keeping their spirits up. Every day is a new challenge. In Touch Today: Do you have a daily affirmation or inspirational quote that you would like to share? Dave: My favorite one is one that I created myself with my coach. It is a “personal life vision statement.” My personal life vision is a community where extraordinary faith and absolute integrity encourage mutually benevolent relationships. That pretty much says it all for me. I have that posted in about five different places so I can’t miss it every day. In Touch Today: What programs are you currently offering that seem to be working well for you? Dave: Good, old fashioned, wholesome mortgages. These days, almost 100% of my business is just straight Fannie, Freddie, FHA and VA loans. They are what I have been doing for primarily my whole 25-year career. I think probably the most amazing shift has been in FHA mortgages. I would say, over the last two years, at least half of my business has been FHA loans. In Touch Today: Is there anything else you would like to add that might help other loan officers create the type of success you’ve created in their own business? Dave: They should visit my website at www.davekingmortgage.com/lolife.html and check out the articles I have written over the years. They’ll find some very useful information in them. |
|
