Jessica Armbruster on Building a Mortgage Business Through Community

BRIDGET: Welcome to CCM Talks. I am Bridget Linton, and I am so thrilled to be joined here with our VP of Sales, Jessica Armbruster. Jessica, how are you doing today?  

JESSICA: I’m doing great. Thank you so much for having me.  

BRIDGET: Thank you for being here with us. I mean, the name in itself, CrossCountry Mortgage. Clearly, we have a presence all over the country, but we’re headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, which is where you’ve been able to build your business. So talk about the market. 

JESSICA: Yeah. The Cleveland market is so special to me because of the people I truly enjoy working here. There’s a sense of loyalty and grit that you just don’t find anywhere else. And you can really see that in every transaction. So I love working with the Cleveland people, for sure.  

BRIDGET: And you’re so inspiring because you’re so big on community service. So how does that impact your business?  

JESSICA: So community service directly impacts my business because I don’t think you can truly run a successful business without giving back to your community. So, there’s something about, like, when you’re out and you’re giving back to the community. You never know who you’re going to meet and how you’re going to be able to help them. I also like giving back with my partners and my peers. It’s a way that we can team build together and doing something that we truly love. 

BRIDGET: And I see it. When I’m at headquarters, you can just like feel at CCM we do work together as a team and then to be able to give back to the community. They’re not our teammates, but they are our city and our community and it’s so amazing. You know we talked about CrossCountry Mortgage, we are all across the country. So what advice would you give to the LOs that aren’t in Cleveland, but they want to make those local connections in their home market?  

JESSICA: Yeah, I think it’s truly about having them be involved. So getting to know the people in your community and going to the chamber events, going to the rotary events, building those relationships. People want to work with people that they know, like and trust. So if you’re new in the industry, you got to build that. You got to have people understand you and get to know you on a personal level. And you can’t do that without going to the festivals and the ceremonies and being involved. So I would give them that advice to do whatever they can. 

BRIDGET: And your advice is get out there, meet people, but it’s so weird in the world we live in today, so much is online. So how do you be authentically yourself online and not found too salesy?  

JESSICA: Yeah, that’s a great question. I think it’s really just being an educator. When you’re educating online about programs or mortgages and you become that person, that educator and experience in your field, you just organically become that person that they want to go to for advice. So I think that’s a great way to do that without sounding salesy.  

BRIDGET: I love it. It’s very, very good advice. I don’t know how you do it all. I mean, you’re so successful in your work. You stay involved in the community. How do you keep that balance between your personal life and production?  

JESSICA: I think it’s 100% about delegating and staying in time management. I have three kids and they are very involved and I don’t want to miss anything. So, you know, keeping the customer feeling special when they call you, even if I’m at a basketball game. It’s that feeling of I’m going to get back to them, letting them know I’ll call them in an hour. So then I’m present at the basketball game and I’m not missing what I’m truly there for, but also letting the customer know that they’re being taken care of or the realtor partner is being taken care of as well. 

BRIDGET: I mean, that is a very amazing skill to have to make everyone feel important, even if you can’t be there physically at that moment. So that’s great advice. I’m going to take that one. And something me in you share in common, we’re big Browns fans.  

JESSICA: Yes. 

BRIDGET: They break our hearts all the time, but we will always cheer for them and love them dearly. What parallels do you see between the mortgage world and football?  

JESSICA: That’s a great question, too. I think you have to be like super competitive. You know, if you’re in the mortgage business, you have to be competitive and you’re an athlete, you have to be competitive. You have to have that hustle and that grind to win. And that’s what that’s what we both want to do. 

BRIDGET: You know, as competitive as Cleveland is, you would think we’d win a little bit more games. But at least in the mortgage industry we keep winning, which is the most important. So obviously the market is not always super strong. So when the market does slow down, how do you personally keep your pipeline strong? 

JESSICA: I think it’s about having a really strong partnership. So when the market shifts, you grow with your partners and you shift with your partners. So whether that’s working leads differently or sponsoring different events. Then if you’re working together, then you’re going to find a way to do business.  

BRIDGET: It always comes back to teamwork. I think that is the theme. You work together, you build those relationships, you build the partnerships and you can be successful.  

JESSICA: Absolutely.  

BRIDGET: Well, thank you so much for chatting. I know I’ve learned a lot from you here today, so we appreciate it. Thank you for all you do for CCM, for our community. This is one that we want to look up to. And if you would like more information on having a career at CrossCountry Mortgage, make sure you visit CCM.com.