Full Transcript is Below:
– Alas, a brand new segment. As we freshen up NFM TV, we are gonna have this segment. It’s gonna pop at any moment. I guess in part, it depends on how many people you have in your world that you wanna put in front of me that you think are stepping out. And what stepping out means is people in your organizations who are doing new things, trying new things, especially as it relates to social media, and I’m really psyched to bring forward my buddy, Mike Colagrossi. He’s a branch manager for NFM out of the Kenmore, Washington area. Mike is just a super guy. been in the business since 2004, has been a partner in his own business before, and is not afraid to step out. Mike, how you doing?
– I’m doing good. How are you, Greg?
– I’m doing great. How does it feel to be the first to show up on “Stepping Out?”
– I’m stoked. You guys give me a lot of confidence here at NFM, you know, and you hit the nail on the head, you know? Trying to do things that I’ve never done before, and yeah, definitely stepping out of my comfort zone being in the business for this long, and trying all these new things.
– Well, you caught my eye, and so I wanna share with everybody what I saw on LinkedIn because I follow you. So without further ado, let’s take a peak.
– When you’re looking at lenders, one, you wanna look at people that have been in the business. How long have they been in the business? How many transactions have they done? You know, are they licensed? You can look up their licensing information online. We always supply our customer testimonials, client reviews. I mean, there’s a multitude of online tools that clients can go to, and see how quality of the lender is. You know, that’s the biggest thing is people will focus in on rate, right? They just get what’s the rates at Well, are you comfortable in having the opportunity to potentially lose your earnest money? Who you work with does matter. Fees will obviously come into standard play. You’re gonna see people with underwriting fees, processing fees, interest rates are gonna move, but at the end of the day, it’s who do you trust to get the loan done, get it done on time? Because 65% of the borrowers that close on a mortgage are unsatisfied with the lending process.
– Wow, that is a high number.
– 65%.
– Yeah, so we use that stat when we’re talking to our clients and letting ’em know, like, listen, this is really the reality of the situation and how people feel when they come outta the process. We want to put you into the 35% that are happy.
– So Mike, this is educational, it’s polished, you look great. Tell us about it. How did this come to be and how does one put that together?
– So, you know, I actually it all started when you and Scott and you came to me last year and you guys were talking about the influencer division, and that big move that we were making online, and I was watching you and going online and looking at Scott’s stuff and just I was really impressed by how everything was going on. There was a lot of stuff that I took from it, and I wanted to kind of make it my own, and how could I go get online, be a little more public facing, but do it my way. So what I did was reached out to a bunch of my real estate partners who I saw online that were creating content, have shows. This real estate team that I work with specifically has a monthly podcast that they do. I’ve been hounding them. I said, “I wanna be on your podcast. I’m your mortgage guy. Let’s create some content.” So they actually had this, procured the studio, they had the show set up, I had to show up, bring the knowledge that they were looking for. We had a baseline for some of the conversations. The show was recorded in about an hour and a half, maybe two hours. From there, they had their editing team consolidate it down into a YouTube video which you can view online, which is super slick. And then also chopped it up into specific Instagram reel segments similar to the one that you saw right there on LinkedIn. So we got about six of those that we could then disseminate through different platforms, recycle them as necessary. So they’re a little bit more clean and polished.
– And the views, you’ve had 2,200 unique views of this video and climbing. What does that do for you in terms of your confidence?
– You’re right, I was a ball of nerves going into this thing. I mean, I played sports and do a lot of stuff that I’m usually pretty good at handling my nerves, and I was nervous. I’m not like you, I’m not used to being on the camera, being in a studio and going and doing that stuff. So it was a little bit, you had some anxiety around it. But once it got settled in, started going really well. I mean, the views, if you’ve added them up over LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, I mean, probably 15, 20,000 total if you added them all up. You know, well over 2,000 on LinkedIn specifically. So for me, it’s great. I actually had something where I was shopping at Nordstrom’s a little bit after the show, and I posted it on LinkedIn and some guy came up to me and is like, “Hey, Mike Colagrossi.” I was like, okay. And he’s like, “I knew you from college, and I’m on your LinkedIn page and I saw your video.” He was like, “It’s awesome. Keep it up.” So that was actually super cool because I was like, well, people are actually looking at this stuff and paying attention, and I just had this random guy come up and, you know, just say I was doing a good job. So, you know, sometimes it’s the people that don’t know you who compliment you. Unfortunately, it means a little bit more than maybe somebody that’s really close to you because it means like the public’s paying attention. So that was cool.
– And feedback you’ve gotten from your realtors that are not related to that video. They’ve watched it too. Have any of them asked you, how do I do this? Like, where did you get started?
– That’s a very good point. I mean, I would probably say some of the realtors that I worked with were outside of this group were maybe a little jealous because they were like, well, how do I, you know, I want a show like that. I wanna like, do that. And it is something, you know, any realtor or mortgage professional can do. You know, there’s a lot of these firms out there that have these independent studios that can assist it. You know, it sounds like, you know, the people that you have access to the studio back there on the east coast could probably use our facilities. But it’s been great. You know, for me, a lot of it online stuff hasn’t been focused necessarily around generating leads per se, and having people contact me for pre-approvals. But it’s been more geared towards me elevating my prominence within the realtor community so that when I am engaging them whether it be for introductions, or invites, or people I’m not working with, I just have a little bit more awareness around who I am and what we can do for ’em here at NFM.
– Before I let you run, you historically have been a producer of around a hundred million for you and your branch over the years. If someone added up all your production and divided it by the years, you’d be somewhere around there. Are you turning the corner? I asked that question because everybody is not what they were, and everyone has a different feel for what that corner looks like and hasn’t arrived yet. What about for you up in the PAC Northwest?
– You know, we’ve seen an uptick. I mean, it’s definitely a different business for us. You know, being a hundred percent purchase right now pretty much. But we looked at it as a good thing because if we can sustain volume, be profitable, grow our branch, we’ve added two loan officers in the last 30 days. When the tide turns, we are gonna be in a much better position and we’re gonna be coming out guns blazing. So we’re actually really excited for what’s coming here for the second half of the year up here in Washington.
– Hey, great job, great job. Way to step out of your comfort zone. This particular interview immediately goes into the NFM TV Hall of Fame because you were the first ever to be featured on “Stepping Out.” Mike Colagrossi, branch manager from Kenmore, Washington. Thanks for helping us kick this off. Look forward to following more of this in the future.
– Let’s do it, Greg. Thank you.
– All right. Take it easy. You’ve been watching “Stepping Out.” I’m Greg Sher. We’ll see you next time.