Sparkle and Shine: Rachael Tresch’s Secrets to Stand Out in Mortgage Marketing

Hello, friends. Welcome to Lending Leadership Today. I'm Rinn. And I'm Rach. We are so excited to talk to you guys today. We have a very special interview coming your way. We took some time, as you guys know, to interview some of the hosts of Lending Leadership so you get a chance to understand more about our background. And there's one final interview that we have not completed yet, and that is the lovely Rachael Tresch.

So I am going to be leading today with some questions, and we're gonna dive into Rachael's background and all those good nuggets that she'll have to share with you, about what has brought her to where she is today, helping our loan officers with their marketing and brand strategies. How's it going today, Rach? Hey.

I don't like being in the hot seat. Normally, I the roles are reversed, and I'm asking the questions. But this is good. This is good to stretch ourselves. I'm constantly telling people, put yourselves in a position where you're a little bit nervous, take yourself out of your comfort zone. So I guess I gotta practice what I preach here, and here we go.

Oh, I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. I I think it is fun having you in the reverse role because we do always have you as, like, our master host or interviewer of, all the exciting thought leaders and experts in the industry. So let's kick it off. I'm gonna try to throw you a layup or some some warm up shots here.

Okay. Good.

Alright. You have had a dynamic career. I know this because I know your skill sets and your background. If you could sum up your journey in one sentence, what would that sentence be? Gosh.

Go with the flow? Crazy? Take life as it comes? Yeah. I've I've it's funny. If you were to look at my resume, you would think, wow. These things don't connect at all, but but they do. And I feel like when life just throws you a curve ball, you have 2 options. You either just sit and wallow and cry about it. Right? Like, I don't I don't want change. I don't like change.

Or you just go with it and say, hey. Alright. Time time to put on a new hat. Time to try something different. And, yeah, I think just just going with the flow and having faith and trust and and knowing at the end of the day that if you don't like something, you can always change it. You can always make a different ending for yourself. And, I've been really lucky and blessed that I've had some really cool things that I've done in in my career so far. Yeah.

I think that's know what I wanna be when I grow up. I mean, I think I'm I'm writing that story. I think everyone is as we go. Right?

I don't think a lot of people know, Rachael. So, you know, it's, whether it's said or how it's talked about, it's still important, and I think it resonates with many of us as we're figuring out our journeys. And also using past experiences to build on the new experience that we're having. We gain so much solid experience in roles that are very different than the ones that we adapt to. So, there's always storytelling there and and important things to share. You know, you have had a pretty solid background that has extended well out of just, you know, mortgages and marketing specific to mortgages. You've done, you know, PR, voice acting, singing. You've done coaching in these spaces and recruiting in the mortgage space.

How did each of these roles prepare you for the next step in your journey and where you are today? Yeah. You know, that's really funny. I think and I started to

say this. I think when you look back at your career and you think, oh, wow. How did these things connect to one another? But I've had this experience where I can look back and see, wow. One thing really begot the next. It's like the snowball that just kept getting bigger and bigger. And, so I started in the PR space and then, you know, got married, had my kids. And when my kids were babies, I I wanted to be home with them. So I always loved the idea of giving voice lessons and and coaching, kids with acting, and it's something that kind of, actually, all of the things that I have done really fell out of the sky where I didn't put much thought into them.

It's just an opportunity happened, and I was like, cool. Let's walk through this door and and play in this space, see how that goes. And with with kids and it's funny because coaching kids and now coaching adults and professionals, it's very similar. You know, I was coaching kids in the acting and singing space for a long time. My company is called Sing Voice Studio. And the whole idea with that, Corinne, was, like, it wasn't to coach kids to be on Broadway. It was just to coach kids to be the best versions of themselves possible, and it's very similar with adults too. So just I don't want adults or our our loan officers to be me or to be somebody else.

I want them to be the best versions of themselves. So kind of giving people permission to kind of dream a little bit bigger and and test things in a very controlled space is really big at any stage that you're in, whether you're a child who's gonna be auditioning for a play, or you're a loan officer that's trying something different, and you're you're a little bit nervous, and you need that validation of somebody that is gonna tell you and give you their honest feedback. You know, I I have to give people the honest truth sometimes to be like, I love that you tried that, but let's try something a little different. Because my whole thing is, hey, you look good, I look good. I would never wanna put you in a position that is making you, look ridiculous or to have maybe your peers, again, if you're a child or if you're a professional, to have your peers be like, wow. That really flopped. That looked stupid. You know? And I think that is at the core of of for any human being.

We don't wanna look dumb. We don't we don't wanna look like I don't know. Put ourselves out there and then have a have a flop on our face and, hey, we've all done that before. But my my whole goal is, and I tell this to our loan officers now, is is to help you sparkle and shine. And I feel like that's kind of my my life's goal to help people and and bring out that that side of them that maybe they they didn't know that they had. That that Glinda the Goodwitch moment, you know, you've had the power all along, and and sometimes you just need that validation of somebody else who who has a vested interest, but is outside of the picture, outside of the story to be like, no. That was really good. And you don't even know you did this, but that was really cool.

Do that more. Do that bigger. Step out and do something that not everybody does.

So, so true. So many concepts that you covered here, Rach. And I feel like you do such a great job consulting 1 on 1 with our loan officers and getting them into that sparkle and shine confidence moment. The next question I have is really tied up to much of what you just said, so I'm excited to hear the answers. I'm sure many of our listeners are as well. What is a specific tangible lesson, moment, or story, something that you can share in regard to coaching performers and how it applies just as well to mentoring loan officers. So again, something tangible. It can be a lesson, a story, a tip, that you've, come across, that you've learned and mastered with a performer who might be getting on stage or a kid that you're working with, that's that's trying out for that big part that can just very directly apply to salespeople quite frankly, but more specifically our loan officers.

Yeah.

That is a great question, and it's really funny because, yes, it ties into that Glenda moment of you've had the power all along, but I didn't realize this until a couple of years ago. I in voice acting and with coaching kids, I would always I would always coach people 1 on 1, but I had an opportunity to help, cast High School Musical. They were doing auditions, and they asked me to help with it. And it's so funny. I noticed something that I thought I knew, but I didn't realize until I saw it in firsthand that when you're given a script or you're given an audition or for professionals who are like, okay. I'm gonna do x y z. I'm gonna do a video. These kids, they all did things the exact same way.

When, you know, imagine you're given a piece of a script, a monologue to read, they all read it the same way with the same cadence and hitting the same words and have the sing song you way and play things very, very safe. Even in their singing, they would they would play things really safe. I see a lot of loan officers and professionals do that too. They wanna check off a box and say they've done something, but they play things really safe. Now in this audition, it was the kids who did something different. Maybe they it's the things that I always say that are that are not written into a script, those moments where you take a pause or you have a face or maybe you hit something a little differently. You know? Like, you have a little bit of flair and funk, or you put yourself out there in a way that maybe they weren't the best singer or the best actor, but they they tried something that made you stop and go, That was memorable. And I think that is so true for professionals.

Like, don't just check the box to say you did something. Step out of your comfort zone. Do something a little different. Don't just if you're gonna be, I don't know, sponsoring event, don't just do the typical thing that everybody does, and here's my same old chachki giveaways. Put a little bit of thought into something where you're gonna stand out, and I'm telling you, it's the disruptor. It's the differentiator that it it just makes people go, oh, yeah. That was different. That was cool.

And those are the kids that we decided would be getting the main parts and our loan officers. I'm sure everybody can can think of any professional that just does things a little bit differently. Those are the ones you remember.

Yeah. Rachael, that is great. That is a great insight that I hope everybody is writing down right now. That moment where you think of that creative idea or you think of something different that is a hobby of yours, is an interest of yours, maybe it's a topic that you can speak really well to or it's just a belief that you have, something about nature or a trip you took that you want to incorporate into your daily messaging or your events. Don't hesitate because it seems like it's too out of the box or someone's not gonna relate to it or it's not gonna make sense to everybody. Don't hesitate, don't stop, Go forward with that idea. Try to play with it. Develop it.

I really like what you had to say there, Rach. I think that it makes, it makes a lot of sense and and I think you answered the question well because there's so much that can be learned from getting on stage and speaking, that everybody can can really strengthen their game from. And then, of course, just standing out in general. I I have another question for you, and this fits into the creative spacing and us getting creative. Right? What's an unconventional tactic or idea you've used in recruiting or marketing that ended up being highly effective?

Skip. I'm gonna give away all my secrets now, Ren. That's what I said.

Are you gonna say skip, Corinne? Nope. No. I'm sorry, guys. Teamwork. I'm giving it all away.

I'm giving it all away. Okay.

These are nuggets. Gold nuggets, my friends. Listen.

In any sales position, nobody likes cold calling. I've not met one person who was like, I'd love to cold call. In recruiting, like, you need to do that. In in loan our our loan officers, they need to be calling on realtors. Realtors, they need to be calling on clients. Nobody likes to cold call. So what I did was I I decided to make it a game for myself. And this is I pulled in my, you know, my voice over experience, and I created a whole alter ego for myself.

And I used an accent instead of having myself, Rachael, do the cold calling. I had my alter ego, Bridget. I mean, I I suppose that is rather, tried and true, the British girl named Bridget. I was like, I need a I need a British name. Okay. Bridget Jones's diary popped into my head. So her name was Bridget. And I would call, and I would change my number.

We used RingCentral at the time, so I could pick a different number. And it was Bridget calling to book calls for me. So I would have Bridget call, and as my assistant, book calls for Rachael. And it just because in the beginning, you know, everyone has that call reluctance where, like, oh, I don't wanna call and then get rejected. So I created this alter ego, and Bridgette would do the calling. And if they rejected somebody, they rejected Bridgette and not me. And maybe people knew it was I don't think they did, but it was just funny and fun, and it actually worked really, really well.

Okay. Hilarious. But I have to ask follow-up on this, Rach. So did anybody ever call you back and you were caught off guard and used your American accent over Bridget's British accent by mistake? Or were you always on character? You were always, the alter ego at the right time.

No. It was it was perfect because within RingCentral, the you could pick a number of different phone numbers to use, and then I would give them Rachael's phone number. So I would give them my cell phone number and book the call, you know, using using my email and phone number. It wasn't it wasn't that I was ever emailing them as Bridget or Rachael. It was just, like, you know, it got booked on my calendar. So it all worked out, and I know I guess that would be a problem if I was like, you know, hi. This is Rachael. Wait.

Where's Bridget? I mean, I guess I could always say, oh, you know, we share a a similar we share the same number so that she can book for me. But anytime that you can gamify something or have fun with it, be a little silly, I'm all for that. I think as adults, we don't play enough. You know? It's just, oh, get it done, check the box, and I I'm silly. I like to play. I like to be funny and weird, and I know we're in we we are cut from the same mold in that regard, but it was just really no. But if you're going to do this, though, you have to make sure that there's a backstory. So I made I forget where I had her live, but I had, like, a whole story.

And then if someone I was even nervous, like, if someone's like, oh, you know, they're they were British too. I, I would make sure that I I had a backstory of, oh, well, you know, my my mom lived in England and my father lived in the US, so I bounced around and we lived all over. I was gonna have a whole thing.

Oh my gosh. That is hilarious, Rachael. I I I love it. I've gotta meet Rachael more. Maybe I need to just be chit chatting with, or Bridgette Moore. I need to meet with Bridgette Moore. I think I need to chit chat with Bridgette Moore.

We'll have some tea. We'll we'll set up a tea for sure.

We'll set up a little tea in the afternoon together. Awesome. I I love it. I've got another one for you that might take us in a little bit of a different direction or maybe not. It might it might stay in the in the Bridget, territory. What's one thing people would be surprised to learn about you that hasn't come up in your professional journey thus far?

I think people would I mean, some people know this, but and we kinda talked about this a little bit, but that I'm I love to sing. I'm a singer. I do a lot of I did a lot of voice acting. I don't know if you remember this. It was a couple of Christmases ago. There was an Amazon commercial, and it had these singing boxes. You know, the Amazon smile that's an arrow.

And actually know it well from the holidays.

Yeah. A little tidbit, that arrow for Amazon, which is such great branding. The arrow is everything from a to z. The arrow starts at the a and then goes to the z, if anyone didn't know that. Well, that commercial, the singing boxes, if you listen closely at the very end well, there's 2 parts, 2 voice overs that I had in that. It was, Alexa, turn on the lights, and watch my Alexa's gonna start going crazy saying that. And then at the very end, it was like, at Amazon, we have everything from a to z. If you watch back that video, that was me.

And every time it would come on when it would come on at Christmas time, my kids would be like, mommy, you're kind of chillin'. Oh my gosh. And it was it was a really fun little moment. So I used to

do a lot of celebrity. You're a celebrity on Amazon. I love it.

And I, you know, I did, a couple of audiobooks, but I really liked doing the commercial stuff, which was really fun. That that tested me, and it was a little it was tough to have somebody on the other line say, okay. Can you try it this way? Or, oh, I want you to hit this word differently and, like, you know, you're having somebody live edit you. So I did a lot of that. But, but, yeah, I love I love singing. Right now, I pretty much just sing in church. I'm not doing much of that either. I need to get back to it, but that's my favorite place to sing.

Singing in church, being a worship leader, that's kind of my my heart space.

Well, that's really cool. And I feel like there's always opportunities for these bands at different companies too. Right? We we find all these very musical individuals, at companies that we travel through and there should always be an eternal band. Right? There's events, there's moments where we should get, you know, those voice talent and guitar and drumming talents together to put together some some key songs. So that's gotta be coming up at some point here, Rach. Right?

I hope so. I know we need a name for this, man. But, again, to create those opportunities for us adults to play and be silly and step out of our comfort zone, we all are are wearing so many different hats and and enjoy many there's many different aspects and angles to everyone. So to explore those and have fun with those and not just be the corporate person all the time, I think is really important.

I think it's important for confidence boosters and getting us outside of our regular everyday doing the same routine everyday mindset. So I like everything you've shared. I have really enjoyed this, Rach. It has been some great time that we spent together today. I hope all of you guys, if you have questions for us, please post them in the comments below. And don't forget to like, share, and follow us. And, join us next time for Lending Leadership. Thanks so much, Rach.

I love this.

Thanks, Rinn. Bye, everybody. Catch you soon. Bye, guys.