Mortgage expert Marc Demetriou learned his lessons for success from his grandfather, and has plenty to share with other originators
Marc Demetriou isn’t just a top producer, he is also a member of Mortgage Professional America’s Hot List for 2018, a branch manager at Residential Home Funding, mortgage expert, speaker, and author of “Lessons from my Grandfather: Wisdom for Success in Business and Life,” in which he shares how everyone can be successful and is entitled to lead their best life.
Demetriou speaks to mortgage professionals as well as to accountants, attorneys, realtors, insurance agents, and other professionals in various industries about ways to be more successful in business, how to grow their networks, who to target for business, and how be a self-motivated lead generator.
“I enjoy giving back and if I can give them insight to be successful in business and life then it will help them to live their very best life. The more people you help the more rewarding your life will be.” Demetriou said.
All of the non-mortgage professionals in his audiences are also potential clients and/or referral sources. This is just one of the many examples of something that Demetriou is doing that other originators, even the successful ones, are not; continuing to grow a contact database, which is so important for success in any business as well as for assisting others with strategic connections.
“It’s essential that all your closed loans, prospects, and potential referral sources are all in a database,” he said. “It’s huge, and most people aren’t doing it. Every person I meet and every prospect that contacts me goes into my database to receive my monthly email message. Not sales-y stuff, but something informative. It also helps to keep my name top of mind when a mortgage opportunity arises. There is so much competition out there, so this helps to make sure you are remembered.”
Any business you have today isn't guaranteed for tomorrow, so stay focused on going narrow and deep as well as continually adding to your database and building new relationships. You don’t need to have 10,000 relationships, but the networks of your current partners are continually expanding, and by extension, yours should be as well. So meet with your referral partners often and discuss ways that you can connect each other.
“Even when business is slower, like it is now, you’re planting seeds for the future,” Demetriou said. “I love when it’s slow because it gives me more time to meet with past clients, existing referral partners, and to create new alliances. I try set up or attend at least six to eight meetings a week, whether it is for breakfast, lunch dinner or even a networking event. So when it’s slow, it’s okay. So you’ve got to think that way.”
And don’t forget – it’s about asking how you can help your partners. You might not be able to bring them clients, but think and ask, how can you connect them to your network? Who will be the best people to bring them business?
“It’s all about bringing value. So when you build relationships one day at a time and one person at a time, it’s the value you’re bringing to each person. I have been in this business for 13 years and have thousands of people that think of me as a value provider and also a resource for their clients. This is the mindset. It’s not brain surgery,” Demetriou said.
Demetriou counsels originators on having a two-year plan until they ultimately start seeing the fruits of their labor. “Ask people in your life that you know very well for realtors and advisors that they can connect you with to help grow your business and that you can bring value to,” he said. “That’s how you build your base. And you keep doing that, no matter how many years in the business, and you can’t lose. You’ve have to continue to grow.”
Demetriou may be the ultimate “sales and marketing rainmaker,” but he recently added a mortgage planner to his team to free up time and increase his production. “I’m going to be out speaking and educating so much more along with attending events, hosting cocktail parties, and holding wine tasting events. I have a great operational system with great staff in the office but I was still in the office a little too much. Hiring the licensed mortgage planner will allow me more time to work on my business instead of in it. This is how the real growth comes.”
Demetriou’s goal is to break $100 million in personal production for 2019.
Related stories:
Have you tapped into all of your referral sources?
Branding 101
