Building a Championship Team in the Mortgage Industry

Hey, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Lending Leadership, the mortgage pros. I'm Tom Mills, one of your cohosts here with my cohost, Robert Fillyaw, Dave Holland. Fellas, how we doing today?

Good, man. How are you?

Doing great. Doing awesome.

I wanted to kick this one off. I know, we we brainstormed yesterday on what we're gonna hit on, and, I had an idea on the heels of my Philadelphia Eagles winning the Super Bowl Here we go. Dominant fashion after a phenomenal year. You know, I was thinking, like, you know, what you look at, like, how hard it is to win the big one in any sport. Right? Super Bowl or World Series or NBA championship. It really doesn't matter. It's really hard. You know? You see the Chiefs, like, they tried to go for a three peat, you know, unsuccessfully.

But, you know, you look at that type of dominance, that type of a a winning culture. So we wanna bring that into the mortgage business a little bit and talk about, like, how do you build a championship team in the mortgage industry? So we're talking about top originators building a championship team to go out there and win. Thought it was a great topic. Let's have some fun with it, guys.

Let's go. I love this topic, you know, because I think a lot of times in our industry, the, you know, the the originator gets a lot of the accolades, a lot of the glory, so to speak. But, I mean, really, they're they're nothing without a a solid team behind them. You know, I say all the time, you're only as good as your backroom. Right? And that's just one small example of it. So I I love the, the the idea of this and to to get into it and talk through it a little bit.

And in the backroom, you're only as strong as your weakest link. And we've talked about before on the show, you can do everything perfectly. Kill it, two week close, two and a half week close, everything goes smooth, and then something gets a little little hiccup at closing that may not even be the closer's fault, but it falls on us at the end of the day.

Yeah. I think it's I think it's about the winning culture, right, and how people are are bought in. You know? For everybody that tell you, you gotta have a great quarterback to win the Super Bowl, somebody will tell you defense wins championships. Right? And they're both right. You know? But a winning culture, that's the type of team that when someone's down, someone steps up, that next man up mentality, play through injury, you know, through sickness. You know? There there's a goal, and everybody is willing to do what it takes to to get to that goal. And and and it's you see it come together. You see when when teams go on a run like that.

You see it in our business too. You know? So I think it's how do you build that winning culture? How do you get, you know, how do you get your team bought in towards that vision, towards that goal, whatever that goal is? Because that's the championship. Whatever your goal is, you know, that's that's what you're going after to win.

Well, it's it's it's all of that. Right? It's it's the culture. It's about having the backroom. It's about having, you know, the the playbook to to go. It's about having the coaching to to to develop. It's about everyone working together and collaborating as a team. Like, it's it's all of it. Like, you can have the best one of the best quarterbacks, but run really bad plays, Billy Napier at Florida, making some bonehead play calls from time to time.

And you're not you're gonna lose games. Right? So you gotta have all of the pieces, which I think is is really a good opportunity if for us to dig in today and and help maybe, talk about what we've done in the past and give people kind of maybe even a road map on Mhmm. Where to go and how to do it. Yeah.

I think that's great. I think, you know, I guess every every team starts with the the the draft free agency. Right? How do you how do you build your team through through the draft and and free agency? You know? So, really, you gotta have, like, a a general manager hat, not quite the coaching hat because you're trying to put your team together, you know, and fill gaps that are there. That's how everybody builds a team. Right?

So if if you're a loan officer just starting off, what's the first position I know what I'm gonna answer. The first position that you wanna have, Phil. Just just a loan officer doing two or three transactions a month, just starting off.

That's a great question. So you're you're building a team, and what's the first position? And and probably even more important, why? Like, what what's that first person and why? So, Dave, you said you know what it would be. What what's yours?

I mean, it's it's a processor. You you you need a processor that's good and that you can depend on that you have rapport. Right? And with a processor, like any position that we're gonna talk about here. I think it's a mix of both skill, you know, and because you can have all the skill in the world, and we've all had that rotten, you know, processor. You gotta have a good attitude because the mortgage business is tough. It's specifically tough on processors. That may be the toughest position at any mortgage company. %.

I agree with that. Shout out to the processors. Yeah.

Yeah. Love much love to the processors. But, yeah, you you need you need a good processor to start off with, someone that you have trust and rapport with, someone that calls your customers, is good with your customers, may be good with your realtor partners, knows how you like to conduct your business. I I'd probably say that's that's the first person.

Yeah. The processor, like, moves the ball down the field, puts you puts you in position to to to score on time, you know, before the clock runs out, essentially.

Mhmm. Your processor's kinda like your running back. Right? Like, the person that you're gonna count on to to help, they can give you those big explosive plays, but, also, they're gonna, you know, they're gonna be down in distance. They're gonna be the one you go to when when it's up against the wall, and you need that you you need that that play to come through to get your client to the closing table. Your process is who you're gonna lean on.

And I think you're right, Dave. I I was actually gonna say, like, talk I was just thinking, like, the type of loan partner, you know, that you wanna start with first, but I think you're right because it's all capacity based. Right? So, you know, you'll never grow your sales side if you're sucked into the processing side. So you need a good processor to where you can do your sales functions and activities, getting up to the point that you've reached your capacity and your volume and your activity and your leads is beyond what you can handle, then you need you need the staff in the into the front end. Right? So I think you're I think you're right. Then on with the processor would be that that first hire. So what do you look for? Like, couple, like, key characteristics of, like, what makes a great processor.

Tenacity. Right? You you you want someone who's tenacious that won't give up. Right? That doesn't get frustrated easy with the difficult borrower, you know, either difficult scenario or just difficult borrower. You want someone who's always gonna look to get the yes out of there. And you want

I think I think from a processor standpoint, personally, I think attitude is is probably even more important than than skill or knowledge. I mean, because I here's the thing. Right? Like, this is a customer service position. You are as an originator, we're gonna now trust you with communication with my clients and my referral partners. You have to have the right attitude. You have to be that team player. You have to find a way to get it done. I can teach you guidelines.

I can teach you how to navigate the system, how we do like, I can teach all that. A basic, you know, knowledge and understanding is important, but for me, attitude is is probably the biggest piece in finding that that successful teammate.

And a processor interacts with everyone along the whole

entire line.

Many people. Customer, realtor, closing company, our openers, underwriting closing, post closing, us. They're involved in they're involved in everything.

Yeah. One of the best processors I know is one of the least experienced, like, industry wise from years experience in the industry. So

Mhmm.

When when you think about that that, you know, it kinda speaks to what you're saying.

And and and the the opposite is we've hired processors. Right? I've worked with processors who've had years of experience and can quote you every guide there is, but they don't have that same let's find a way to make it work mentality. They they don't wanna pick up the phone. They don't, like it's not the same level of service, and it's not it typically does not work out.

The service is big too. It's gotta be an extension of you. Right? You know, their how their communication is, the you know, on down to the the the the you know, what's their email look like? You know? I know we we've, you know, done a lot of assessments in the hiring process and give them a a bunch of conditions thrown together in a list and ask them to communicate in an in an email to the customer. What I also you know, I've always learned whatever you know, I think one of my biggest, learning lessons through my career is, you know, how to hire right in any role because, you know, we've talked about DISC, and, really, you can get a good understanding of that person, of their personality. You know? Are they a conformer? Do they are are they gonna operate you know, follow standard operating protocol, or are they wanting to say, hey. I have a better way. You know? Are are they, you know, are they one that speaks freely, or are they one that bottles things up? Are they you know, there's a lot of things you can kinda tell that gives you the personality of the person you want, kinda give you a little bit of an expectation of that person, what they're gonna be like from a, you know, communication standpoint, where their eyes sit, their their, you know, bubbly personality, or are they gonna be a very dry and kinda to the point? Not that you have to be either, really. You know? You just have to provide service communication.

I think, you know, one thing that we we've touched on just briefly, but I I wanna just hammer home for those of you listening is, you know, the whole reason as an originator that you build a team is to be able to scale and to add capacity. Everything that we do in this business is capacity based. Right? So when we talk about that process or being the first teammate that you have, that's to get all of those types of things off of you to give you time back, which hopefully you can devote to marketing and building more relationships that grows your business. Plus, frankly, if typically now I'm not making blanket statements, but typically, the person, the personality that makes a really good salesperson is opposite of some of the traits and personalities that make a really good processor. You're not as detail oriented. You don't you know, it's not dotting the i's and crossing the t's. You're more big picture. So not only is this person taking stuff off of you that to give you more capacity, but it's probably likely stuff that you don't want to do, you don't enjoy doing anyway.

Alright? So keep that in mind, guys. The reason you're building a team is to give you capacity to then turn around and market more and grow your business. So I think that's an important reason.

You don't wanna hire a bunch of yous. Right? Yeah. We don't need any more Daves, Roberts, or Toms. You need someone that has a complimentary personality, your yang to the yang, if you were. So that that's very important. In the DISC profile and what's the other one? Cultural index, those Yep. Those kinda shine those through, and we know how to read them accurately.

Mhmm.

Yeah. Those those are great tools to make sure you you draft the right players to your team. When the the NFL draft's gonna be coming up in April, and they're In

Pittsburgh, by the way, I might add.

In Pittsburgh. We we need this we need to figure something out for that, by the way. So, I mean, there there the money and the hours spent on analyzing the players to draft and, you know, the combines and all of that. The disc and the culture index, those are your tools to be able to make sure you're drafting the right players. If you're not familiar with what they are, hit us up, and we can we can show you. We can train them. That's probably a good next topic somewhere down the road also, guys.

Yeah. If you're out there interviewing a loan partner right now and wanna get an idea of what you could know about that person, you know, we can we can help you out with that. Sure. I love that stuff.

You you you get that first teammate hired, you know, maybe the off topic a little bit, but second teammate, what what's the second hire you would make building your team? I know what mine would be.

So percent the loan partner. I can't imagine any of us would say anything different here. There's there's no

Once you get to that level. Right? And and and, hey, in fairness to some of our listeners, not everyone's gonna get to that level, and not everyone's gonna wanna have a loan partner, but that is definitely the the next the next step for sure. Yeah.

We found that level to be, you know, someone dedicated somewhere when you're running around, like, like, seven units, pushing up towards, like, a hundred units a year. Uh-huh. You know? You may feel like it's less if you don't have processing that that's handling things and they're pushing back. You know? So that number can look skewed. You know? Some may not agree with that. Look. You know? I think you gotta look at how the how that how you're how involved you are with that. But I think that's kind of that number and and where that comes, where that person's needed.

From there, I don't know that I don't believe that it's it's from there. Now you start to look at your team. It's like, where do you have gaps? You need to fill the line? Do you need spots on defense? You know, are you not going on offense enough so you need more marketing support? Are you not solving your problems fast enough? So you need a, you know, you need a little need a little middle linebacker that can run your defense, you know, whatever the case may be. I don't know that there's a a necessarily third hire that I would say is always the case.

I I agree. I don't think there's a definitive you know, if you're building a team, this would be the third hire. It's gonna vary from team to team. Right? Because it it may be a VA that you plug in. It may be a business development rep. It may it may be whoever. Right? I think I think the key to know that, though, right, in the the next segment, which we haven't Oh, we gonna we gonna we gonna keep

using the football analogy? We're gonna segue into something else?

No, man. We just hey. The Eagles just won a Super Bowl. I I I got a parade in in two days. I'm I'm I mean, Dave's

all butthurt because Pittsburgh got knocked out, you know, really early. But whatever. The draft's in Pittsburgh, Dave. That's your consolation project.

There you go.

There you go. Once you build the team, though, right, what has to happen before you ever start playing the game? And this could be baseball, football, basketball, soccer, hockey. You gotta have some coaching. You gotta have some development of that team. You gotta you gotta really get them engaged and to know their positions and know the playbook and ready to go. So, you know, the three of us are are heavily, heavy proponents of leadership and coaching mentorship. That's how the three of us met. You know, the the best coaches in the world bring out the best in their players.

Even I love this. I say this all the time. Tom Brady's the goat quarterback. I'll argue anyone who wants to argue about it. Right? There's no there's no question. He had a quarterback coach. Right? And and, you know, the good coach doesn't just call the play. They develop the team.

Right? So then the team can kinda take it and run. And, ultimately, for a lot of people, if you're building a team that you're now you're building a business, and this is where we're trying to get to as to where that business can run to where you can go to Argentina for ten days. Right? Fourteen days. How many days days Dave was just gone and your team runs. Tell us tell us what happened, Dave. You wanna wait how many how many days were you gone?

I was gone I was away for ten days.

Ten days. No phone. No email. I mean,

you you told me the story the other second a little bit. Right?

But I I wasn't

I I didn't make any I think I talked to him once.

Yeah. I talked to him none. You were you were hands off. And you told me a story when you got back that just kinda blew my mind about your pipeline. Yeah.

I didn't talk I talked to Tom once. I didn't talk to any of my team members on the phone. Maybe a couple emails here and there is off my team email and talk to any customers, maybe some loose text with some realtor partners. I think when I left in mid January, I had 15 loans in my pipeline. And when I came back, I had 27 or 28.

Damn right.

Now my team just took care of it. Now listen. In fairness, my team is very experienced. They're very good. They're very well drilled. They've gone through coaching themselves.

You have a championship team. You have built I have a great ship team.

And when I was leaving, I wasn't anxious. I was a little anxious, but I remember I used to go on vacation. If you know, I went to Africa once, Ireland, France for my honeymoon. I was anxious for two weeks leading up to it. Right? Because there's only one person who was taking care of my business.

The these are the steps. Right? Like, these are this this is this is the road map to building the team that allowed Dave to do that. I've I've had similar experiences. You know? So you you identify the the hires. You know? What what team members do we need? You start you start with with the coaching. Right? Most of you out there have not don't have the experience likely of putting a loan partner in place of, you know, having identifying the right process or hiring the right loan partner. We see I see loan offers all the all the time, right, that they will go from not letting anything go. The the the range goes from not letting anything go even though they have a loan partner, not leaning into it to they think the loan partners, they're basically indentured servant, having them picking up dry cleaning and, like like, crazy stuff on call all the time.

And it's because they don't know how to manage it. They don't know how to coach it. So

they they they've never been coached.

Yep.

And the other thing I've seen, and we've all seen it, it's funny. They hire they try to hire themselves

Yes.

Which which which is always a disaster because it's the same result they the same poor results that they had before. You wanna hire someone that is basically almost a polar opposite of you that that fills in the gaps that you don't have.

The other thing that I'll say is you're building the team and you're starting to let go of some of the stuff, guys, and I've made this mistake a a number of times in my career, is this is not like flipping a light switch. Right? It's not instant on. You have to you have to delegate things over time. Pick pick one or two things to let that you're gonna let go of because it's it it's just as much training and and retraining yourself to let go of these things as it is training them to take it. Pick two or three things that you're gonna work on them taking off of your plate and start working on those. Once they have those, pick another two or three. Right? I've hired loan officers in the past who have not had the the loan partner support. And, you know, the the analogy I've used is they're kinda like bicycling down the street, never been in a car before.

And then I pull them off the street and put them on a Ferrari, and they wreck it, like, a hundred yards down the road. Right? They weren't ready for the Ferrari.

Really great point. And I think it's worth adding that when Robert says that, he doesn't mean dump your to do list that day. You know, if you're running your loan partner off a to do list, like, you're you're running it wrong. You know? We believe in the term sweat the same way every time building processes to where, you know, if this, then that. If this happens, then that processor knows that their job is to do this. So when we talk about offloading things, that may be as simple as, you know, the app came in online, go in and set it up and run credit and take a look at the loan. Is this a potentially approvable loan that the team's gonna work on that day? You know, that that's a that's a really easy first line of defense. It could be, you know, how loan submissions are going in, you know, something about the the disclosure process.

There's a million things. That's what I think you're referencing, how you're offering a couple of those of those things, you know, at a time, not task, not single task related. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely, Tom. Good point. It's not it's not, hey. I need you to call mister Smith today. It's you're going to make the initial call on all the preapproval apps that come in to data check and verify the information before we run them.

Right? So it's the activity, not the action. Yeah. Good point, Tom.

It it and now we're talking about coaching. It's I I see this a lot too, and I know you guys have as well is people get specifically coached in the mortgage business or get some sort of business coach or life coach, and they do it for six months and then they're out. They think they've learned it all. It needs to be constant reinforcement, constant coaching, constant learning, constantly. It it it doesn't end. Right? And our business changes and changes rapidly. So, you know, I've I've been coached now for six and a half years. I know Robert's a little bit longer.

I know Tom's a little bit longer too, and we we're all still coached on a regular basis.

Mhmm.

Yep. Yeah. It's it's like coaching your team and having regular consistent your your how you meet with your team, you know, daily huddles with your team on down to recapping the month and coaching back where missed opportunities were, and this loan was a miss. Let's have a post mortem assessment of that and talk about how when that issue happens again, how we're gonna handle that. I think it's scripting. It's the language that they're using with the customers. It's but it's also the goals, you know, that you set too. So it's coaching, which is coaching towards the goals and and then, you know, in a motivated way to to do that.

So you really to build a winning team, you have to have people that wanna be coachable, that want to, like, that wanna really come to work and make an impact and be great at at what they're doing and be a part of something special. Because I I think what we do is is kinda special, and when you we do it at a really high level, it it you know, it it's it's really It's magic. Really fulfilling. It's really fulfilling.

Yeah. I love the the huddle aspect that you talk about. One thing when I'm when I have loan officers starting to partner with, you know, especially new loan partners, we'll do a daily huddle in the morning, in the afternoon, a quick check-in, check out, to to correct anything, to, you know, to do that coaching. It's a little mini coaching session. Guys, when we think about this this analogy of building a team, right, like, when a coach has a brand when when a new coach comes in and they're putting in a new offensive system or a new defensive system, like, it's a hell of a lot of work in the beginning. There there's way more, but once that system's implemented and everyone knows the plays, then it's just calling a play. Like, the it's not as much work. So keep in mind as you're doing this, it it takes more in the front end to build the team.

You're going to work more. You're going as compared to just doing it yourself, it takes more. Right? But the end goal is well worth it because then you get a team that just can run the plays without you having your thumb on it every day all the time. That's where the magic is.

Well, let's get into, like, the basic blocking and tackling kind of the, you know, offensive line if you were. Right? And I I think engines. Yeah. Probably and it's it's stuff that has to happen that's behind the scenes that a lot of times, you know, the client doesn't see, our realtor partners don't see, the title company. The only time they see it is if it's done poorly. Right? So that'd be like underwriters and and and closers, that aren't necessarily client facing or realtor partner facing, but are like you know, if you have bad ops in general and processing aside, we we cover that. But if you have bad underwriting, it's it's gonna be a long, long year for you.

I love the analogy that you use of the offensive line. And I think about that quarterback. Right? Like, I I just saw a story not too long ago about the gifts that various quarterbacks had given to their offensive line lines for Christmas. Like, ex awesome stuff. Like and rightly so. They're showing love because those guys protect them. Right?

Yeah.

And your ops team is the same way. So, you know, we have a long star standing rule that we don't hire jerks. So not for nothing, but if you're out there and you're being mean and aggressive to your operations team, you're messing that up. I'm telling you right now. Those people have your back. You want them to love you and go to war for you. And if you don't show them the gratitude, the love, the admiration that they deserve, they're not gonna do that. So, you know, I we've all ran into those loan officers who aren't so nice sometimes to the people in the trenches that make the the big difference.

If that's you, gut check yourself and and work on showing some gratitude and love to those people.

You know, plus, you don't want every single time, underwriter Bob picks up Robert's file, they'll say, say, I got Robert's I got one of Robert's files again. Right? You you you you want them to have your back and move through your your loans quickly, and and that makes a massive difference.

Guys, little, you know, little, confession here. I I was that originator when my career first started. I was a jerk, honestly. Like, there there we have someone that works with us now that was an underwriter for me when I was originating, and she I've gained a lot of ground. She did not like me, rightly so. I I did that was not the way that I should have been. So, you know, that's that's one thing. Those that offensive line that you have, you're only as good as your backroom.

They make a massive difference on your ability to be successful and or not.

Closing too. You know? Closing needs to do

a good job.

I mean, they're they're the unsung heroes of our business, and that's that's often the apartment that is thinly staffed. I think we have an awesome close we have great we have great ops in general. We have a great closing group as well too, and and and they care. Right? It's so some of so much of it is the right attitude, saying yes, going, you know, above and beyond. It's five zero two not running not running out the door. I mean, listen. Sometimes it get can't be helped people have lives. I I get that.

But, it's it's it's the winning attitude, you know, from from the top down. Absolutely.

So we got we got the team. Right? We've we've done our our due diligence, our analysis. We got the team. We've done some of the coaching. We got we got our our backroom ready to go to war for us. Now we're now we're at a point, right, where we're ready to scale, and that's what I love. The the ability to scale comes through. Now we need to start implementing some systems and processes and ways to be more efficient and to gain bigger and greater success.

What's some of the things you guys have seen in terms of systems processes once your team's in place to maximize efficiency and success?

You know, basic stuff we've talked before, and all this stuff doesn't sound too sexy. Time blocking, planning your week, planning your day, you know, doing something every day for sales and marketing.

Mhmm.

Just basic stuff, that, again, is not that sexy, but that pays big big dividends. Doing the mundane day in, day out, you know, every day of the week.

For me, it a total game changer, total life changer. Honestly, build my team, team phone and team email.

Oh, yeah. Mhmm.

Team team phone and team email. Right? Because when we think about this as as an originator, as a single originator, you are everything. Everything you're the conduit that everything runs through. Every phone call, every text, every email is you, you, you, you, you. Right? Well, if we're really gonna scale and we're gonna build capacity, that has to shift. And it can't it needs to not be you, you, you, you anymore. So when you put in a team phone, this is a phone number that rings to your entire team. It'll ring to you as well, but, you know, you can even stagger it to like, mine ring rings to to my loan partners first.

And then if they don't answer it in so many rings, then it rings to me. That way, they're fielding the calls, and only the stuff that is on fire or that they can't handle is being escalated to me, which now means instead of me touching a % of the things, I'm touching maybe 5% or 10% of the things. And the same with team email. Right? How many of you guys out there have been had had a day stacked with appointments, and then maybe you have a closing, maybe your kid had a practice, and you open your email, and there's a 50 emails in there that you haven't been able to respond to, or you're distracted at your kid's event answering emails because it's you and you have to get them answered. Right? Team email takes that off. Your whole team's in your inbox, managing it, making sure responses happen, engaging clients. Right? There's nothing worse than leaving a closing. You haven't you've been, you know, or coffee appointment.

You're engaged for the last forty five minutes talking to someone, and that realtor you were chasing emailed you a lead that, that client emailed you, and you didn't get back to them for an hour and a half, two hours. And now they've engaged with another lender because you weren't right there. Team email, team phone, life changing game changer for me.

Mhmm. Agreed.

Number one, you know, having that that, like, culture of accountability. You know, having people in the right roles, you know, constantly analyzing that, you know, stepping back, looking at the functions monthly, where where are things busting, who's falling behind, who needs a boost. Everybody doesn't have the same capacities. It doesn't mean their skill set or their or their, you know, importance, you know, isn't isn't just as great. And then I think, you know, adapting, you know, as you grow, you know, realizing that you're you're what is your role and what should that role remain? And then, you know, sometimes, you know, as you are moving people into the right place to put your business in the right place, you know, when you put people in the right position and put your business in the right place, you know, sometimes that that leads to some hard decisions, and you have to you know, sometimes it's like that team that got you here isn't the team that got you there. So I think it's just constantly analyzing that and working to get better, having your team behind that culture of accountability of everybody wanting to get better. Generally, when you, you know, when you have that, I I find that, you know, those when you have that mindset, everybody really bought in and once they get better, you deal with a lot less of that, you know, your team not being able to grow with you. You know, you have to grow together as a team.

You know? I think I'm twenty one years in the mortgage business. I'm still learning something every day. Our team still is. It's one of the beauties of this business. It's what keeps it, like, fun and entertaining and challenging. And so as a team, just gotta keep keep pulling each other up, lifting each other up, learning together, getting sharper, getting a little bit better every day. I think, you know, all that is the most key. You know? Building that winning culture.

I agree. I I mean, the culture is a big piece of it. You listen, guys. As you build your team, you gotta celebrate the wins with them. That's really important. Also, you're gonna have challenges. Listen. Keep in mind that Rome wasn't built in a day.

Right? Pick any cliche that you want. You're gonna have challenges. Things are going to break. Things are going to go off the rails of how you intended them to be. Those challenges are an opportunity to address it, coach to it, improve it, use it as a culture building exercise, get better from it, and keep people motivated. Challenges are one of the things that make us better and stronger. Don't look at them as a negative as you're building this team. You're going to mess something up.

Something is going to go awry. That's part of it. The end goal is still well worth it, and you gotta just work through it.

And one of the challenges today is just the market in general.

Mhmm.

It's the market the last two and a half years. But if you focus on the activity, focus on what you need to do day in and day out, success will come. We're in the winter right now here in the North, so, the market is is always a little challenging, but it's Yep. It's focusing, I can't stress this enough, on on the mundane, the the basic blocking and tackling, keeping your team motivated and focused on the same goal.

Well said, brother.

Awesome stuff, guys.

This was a fun episode. Good stuff. I like the analogies. Yeah. Eagle analogy prepare those analogies.

Eagles and Eagles and, football analogy aside. Yeah. It was a good one.

Tom's just happy because the Eagles won the Super Bowl.

Sometimes birds. Sometimes, you, you know, you you have the best players and you win, and and sometimes you have the best culture and you win. And sometimes you have both. And, you know, we we were that team fortunate enough to have both this year. So yeah.

It's funny when we look at the things we talked about and then, like, if we were to do a comparative analysis to the Eagles, like, all of these things come into place. Right? Like, you look at the the right player. Like, without Saquon Barkley. Right? They went out and got Saquon Barkley. You look at some of the play calls, some of the decisions, the tush push kinda stuff, like the defense. Like Yeah. Yeah. So I was nearly 40 when they won

their when they won their first one. My son is 13. He's got two Super Bowls, and one Super Bowl, it's just a normal thing for him. Yeah. I'm like, you don't know what I went through, man.

That's it. Exactly. Alright, guys. Thanks for joining us today on, lending leadership with the mortgage pros. Listen. If you have a winning strategy or story to share out there, we would love to hear it. Hit us up on social media. Drop us a line in the comments.

As always, don't forget to smash that like button. Subscribe, leave us that five star review. Keep working on building your championship team. For Dave Holland and Tom Mills, I'm Robert Fillyaw. Thanks for listening today, guys. Thanks, everyone.