Jeremy Drobeck has been in the real estate and mortgage business for nearly 20 years. He’s currently a mortgage consultant for Amerifirst where he’s forecasted to fund 240 units this year. Based on his average loan size, this is an impressive $30M. We talked with him about how he’s become successful in such a competitive industry.
“It’s all about service. When you ask our realtor partners why they send us business, it’s our level of service. It’s our communication with them,” says Drobeck. “We’re constantly staying in front of them.”
Catering to Your Customers
In our hyper-connected world, providing service is all about communicating. And not just communication for communication’s sake. It’s about finding the right channel based on your business, who you work with, and how they prefer to connect.
How many times have you missed someone’s email because you simply didn’t see it among all the offers, subscriptions, and junk?
“We have to do what our customers want,” says Drobeck. “They don’t want to be called. They don’t necessarily want to be emailed. They respond a lot better to text.”
And this makes sense. Texting is simply more convenient. It’s also considered more personal because it’s a channel normally reserved for friends and family. For borrowers, buying a home is also very personal so texting is a natural fit. For example, one customer texted 30 different pictures of documents from her phone just because it was easier to text rather than email.
On top of all that, texting enjoys a 98% open rate and a 90-second response time. By contrast, the average email open rate is a dismal 21% and a few points lower for the real estate industry.
Drobeck learned all this the hard way.
In the past, prospects and realtors would see his office number on a business card and fire off texts not realizing it wasn’t a mobile number. As a result, they missed out on business from potential customers. Not anymore. One crucial change for him was integrating their office line with texting in Whiteboard’s CRM.
Upgrading the Gas & Stepping on It
Now Whiteboard gives his entire team access to his text conversations. If Drobeck isn’t around, someone on his team can reply because they all have individual licenses, something that wasn’t always the case.
He admits that all of his previous CRMs failed because he was the only one using them. And he wasn’t very good at keeping the systems updated and getting them to work for him. Over time, however, he figured things out.
“I grew when I stopped being cheap and got a license for all the processors and assistants,” says Drobeck.
Once he added his team, they started updating records on a consistent basis and using all of the CRM’s features like automated texts and emails. This regular, automated communication now helps feed the stellar service he provides, which in turn helps him grow.
“The better service you can provide your customers, the more referrals you are going to get, and the quicker you are going to build your business,” he says.
“Whiteboard is like having another employee if used properly,” says Drobeck. “And it’s a really cheap employee compared to a live body.” In the past 12 months, Whiteboard automated over 45,000 follow-up emails for Drobeck and his team.
He has clearly found the right combination of tools his customers and partners prefer to power the level of service that has made him successful.
