Marketing Your Mortgage Business with Nicole Perrone

Bridget: Welcome back to CCM Talks, I am Bridget Linton. And today I am joined by Senior Vice President of Production Nicole Perrone. Now Nicole you are no stranger to the mic. In fact, you have your own podcast, the Billion Dollar Banker Podcast. Tell me all about it.

Nicole: Awesome. Yeah, well, the podcast started, earlier this year. It’s really taken off. We’re on YouTube, we’re on all the social platforms and super excited. It’s a really diverse group of people that share their triumphs and tribulations, and the things that they’ve occurred, have occurred in their career. It’s a great space for motivation, for inspiration and to connect with other people.

So I’m loving it. It’s a, it’s a passion project. It’s been a ton of fun to do. And, I’m looking forward to season two. We’re going to start kind of ramping things up as time goes on and we have some really great guests. We just had HGTV’s Love It or Listed It, Eric Eremita on.

Bridget: No way. Oh my gosh.

Nicole: I don’t know if you ever watch that show, but it was really cool. And he’s got a great following. And it was a ton of fun to interview. So our, our, our talent pool is starting to grow, I’m excited about that.

Bridget: Well, you’re so good on the microphone and you’re so good at hosting, but you’re obviously a really good in the mortgage business too. How did you get started in this business?

Nicole: Yeah. So I was like five years old, and I always wanted to be a mortgage person. And, no. So I actually got out of college. I told you before, I went to school for radio, television, communications. So I always loved talking to people. I was very outgoing and fell into the mortgage industry because, you know, I’m really big on, like, determining what your success is, not letting anyone put a ceiling or a cap on what you’re worth.

And so I found this industry as a way to really, to really achieve whatever it is that you set forth. Like I always said, at the end of the year, that W-2 is a reflection of who you are and what you’ve done and what you’ve put in. And so I had a great mentor in the business early on.

I spent three years with him and then went to Wells Fargo. I spent 12.5 years at Wells Fargo. We’re at the end of that journey. I was running the number one team in the country at a Manhattan, The Private Mortgage Group, which in 2021, our team, we had 15 bankers, 53 people total, and we funded $2.1 billion in business.

So it was an incredible year. Loved being in Manhattan, obviously New York, New Jersey. That’s the, that’s the vibes for us. It’s where we love to focus. And now I’m here at CrossCountry. I couldn’t be happier to be here. It’s, it’s such a progressive environment. Just doing things like this is is so exciting.

And, and, you know, it’s funny because my mom’s like, after I went to college, she’s like, did we just put you through four years college so you could go to the mortgage industry? And this is like 2007. There was crisis after crisis happening. So she says now jokingly, she’s like, I’ll never, don’t ever take my advice because, it wasn’t the right advice. And so 15 years later, here we are.

Bridget: That’s incredible. And hey, you’re still using the degree. You have your own podcast, radio, television.

Nicole: See, I knew it was going to come in handy.

Bridget: Yes, it sure did. So you mentioned you’ve worked in other mortgage businesses before. What was it about CrossCountry Mortgage that made you want to join our team?

Nicole: Oh wow. I’d say like culture really counts. You know, we spend more time at work than we do with our families most of the time. Unfortunately. But, you know, in the remote world, I think it’s helped a little bit there. But the culture here is just incredible. And you need to have a progressive environment that you do business. I don’t have to tell anyone here, but, you know, the most important, I always say this, I say you’re going to be the brand or you’re going to be branded, right?

And so it’s one or the other. So you’re either going to step out of your comfort zone, get into spaces like this, embrace the the digital part of building your business in a brand, or you’re just going to kind of fall under the umbrella of another organization. And so the approach that CrossCountry has to marketing, digital marketing and the progressiveness of like the capabilities of what we can do.

You see some of the top producers here growing such an incredible business based on events, the events that they do. You know, some of the Florida producers and people that have podcasts and incredible followings driving their own business and really owning their own successes is huge, and then progressive products. I mean, we have the best products in the industry.

We are a mortgage company. It was really important to me to be with a private company. I think private companies, your employees are first, your loan officers or first, all we do is mortgages, right? There’s no other lines of business to say, like, you know what, let’s focus on merchant service or let’s focus on assets under management. It’s just mortgage.

That’s what we do. And we do an amazing job at it. And the culture here is incredible. The technology state of the art. It was like a winning formula when I went to Cleveland. And I got to meet Ron and I got to see everybody, see headquarters. I was like, there’s no way.

One of the things I do here is bring loan officers to the to the, to the team. Right? So that’s a big part of my role. And I was like, there’s just no way someone can’t be really successful here. If they’re doing good somewhere else, they could do great here.

Bridget: That was beautifully said and I could not agree more. And CrossCountry Mortgage everyone does. They really do work together as a team. And they provide all the tools and technology that you need. Why do you think marketing is so important in order to be successful in this business?

Nicole: What a great question. So it’s everything. It’s marketing is everything. And so I think Gary Vaynerchuk says it best. He says, “you’re a marketing company first and you’re everything else second.”

It really doesn’t matter what you do today, right? Like you could be a plumber. You could be an electrician. If you’re not marketing your business, nobody, nobody knows who you are. The business isn’t going to come. And, you know, as a leader, I’ve seen so many incredible mortgage bankers throughout my my career that are really like the best at what they do, but they don’t do the most amount of business. It’s interesting.

They’re like technicians of the industry. They have the best applications. They know the guidelines in and out, but they don’t do the most business. The ones that do the most business are the ones that market most consistently. And we’re in this amazing time right now where we can market so easily.

We can take the things that we’re doing today, like presenting at a real estate office or going to an open house or, you know, hosting a lunch. And we could turn that into something that could go out to thousands of people, to email it and put it on social. You know, having that digital business card, it’s easier than it’s ever been.

So marketing really needs to be if you’re a loan officer out there today, marketing really needs to be for you. Another part of prospecting, and it’s got to be at the very top of the list.

Bridget: And you’re so good at getting that out there and helping loan officers understand what is out there. Can you get a little bit more specific on how you guide them?

Nicole: Yeah, sure. So, you know, it’s it’s a journey. It’s it’s it’s definitely a marathon. It’s like any, any other form of prospecting or sales. There’s things we feel more comfortable with and there’s things where we’re really not that comfortable with.

And so as a leader, I always say you have to lead people where they need to go, not where they want to go. And this is one place where we need to go. So you know, I look at my team, they’re so talented and the ones that are here that they’re like, I know I’d have to do it. Like I have to embrace digital. I have to get online, I have to do video.

And so we’ve been really coaching them on ways to do that, how to do like a lifestyle photoshoot, how to get out there and record their first video, how to take the things they’re doing today and just throw a tripod up like we have over there. And just kind of record this, this as it’s going on.

So I think it starts with identifying that this is an evolution sales. And there’s every aspect of this evolution is going to be they’re going to hit these roadblocks where you’re like, man, this doesn’t feel comfortable. You think back to the first real estate office somebody walked into or the first presentation you did, or the first cold call where you call the realtor and said, hey, I’ve heard great things about you. I would love to talk about doing business.

All of those things are really hard, but the more you did it, the better you got at it. And I just think it’s one of those things. When I first started doing video, I was so uncomfortable with it. Even as someone that, like, likes to be, you know, likes to talk and likes, I was uncomfortable. When you see yourself in third person, it’s it’s different. Yeah, I see you right now. You see me. But when I have to watch this back, you start to really critique yourself and analyze yourself.

And I think you just have to be confident in who you are. Know that the world sees you how they see the camera. It’s the same way everywhere you go. That’s how people see you. So and if anything, it’s probably one of the greatest feedback loops you could get on yourself, right?

Bridget: And CrossCountry Mortgage, they embrace everybody in the company. Can you talk a little bit more about the culture at CCM?

Nicole: Yeah, I mean, I would say it’s a culture of authenticity. I really feel that, I, and I absolutely love that it’s a come as you are environment, as I like to say. And, you know, coming from a corporate world where it was like, you know, like no one would I would never be dress like, actually, it’s uncomfortable for me to dress comfortable.

Like it’s funny, the first, the first ever call I was on with CrossCountry, I had like a full suit on. I’m like on a Zoom in my, at home, and they’re like, who’s the girl with the suit, like, what is she wearing? And I was like, okay, I have to change. I can be myself. Yeah, I can be myself now. Although I did spend a lot of money on nice suits so I like want to wear them.

At the end of the day, like, now I’m like, okay, you know, I have to embrace this other side of kind of who you are. And like, it’s kind of like, like an unmasking almost. You get to be who you are, you get to say what you feel. And obviously we operate through, you know, guidelines and we have compliance and all those things are, you know, at the front. But you have the opportunity here to really, really be who you are to enjoy and love what you do, to have fun while you’re doing it.It’s just a very progressive environment.

When I see the videos you guys put out at headquarters, and just the way that you engage team members and the fun that you’re having. It’s like, to me, this is like the Google, the Facebook, of like, literally of mortgage. So this is where you want to be. Like if you want to have fun and do great and and enjoy your work life balance, this is the place to be. There’s no doubt about it.

Bridget: That is so true what you say. And when you look at the social media pages, Life at CCM and CrossCountry Mortgage, that is really what it’s all about. It’s not fake. We’re not, you know, putting on an act. It’s truly so much fun every day at headquarters. So for someone that’s on the fence right now considering joining CCM but aren’t quite sure, what would you tell them?

Nicole: I would say that that the way I look at deciding where you work, and we used to come from a world where people will get a job and they would stay there for like 20 years, right? And they would get that like that 3% raise every year. And then people were like, wait a minute, if I move, I actually can make more money.

Number one, it starts with kind of understanding the dynamic of the work world we’re in. But number two, I think it’s like an investment. Like let’s say you had $1 million and you took $1 million and you invested it with a with an investment firm, you wouldn’t just invest it and then like, just never look back at it. Right? You would every now and then you’d say, well, where is this invested? And like what are there other stocks that might be better? Like maybe these are doing good. They’re earning me pretty good interest. But maybe I should check out like another stock and see how that’s, how that’s going. That’s right. Maybe I should sit down with my advisor and go through that.

So I think it’s the same thing. I mean, the investment of your money and the investment of your time. You probably say your time is worth more than your money, right? And so I think you have to look at it like that investment in yourself and say, I have to do my homework at least a couple times a year to say things might be good where I am, but they can be great somewhere else.

And I have to give myself the, the honor of being able to explore and see. And so for, as a recruiter here, someone a leader here, I want to, I always say open the door, walk you into the house, bring you in all the rooms, let you see what it’s really about, and then it’s about you making a decision of what’s what’s best for you at that point.

So I would say, if you’re thinking about it, open the door, walk in, go through all the rooms, right? Don’t just like open and walk in and like look around and be like, okay, I’m, you know, I’m not going to look anymore. And really see what it’s about here and then make the best decision for yourself.

Bridget: Perfectly said. Well, thank you so much for all of your insight and information, it’s so helpful. And if you want to learn more about CCM careers, please visit CCM.com and we hope to see you on our next episode of CCM Talks.