Get noticed or get left behind: Tips from a mortgage pro

Justin Ulrich
Very cool. Yeah, it’s such a funny thing, too. Like, especially, like for folks our age, it’s like, that’s what you heard, like on the TV growing up. You’d see these older dating shows and stuff. It’s just so funny. But anyways, yeah, I really appreciate you taking the time to. But, yeah, thanks for joining us. We’ll go ahead and if you want to just kick things off, let us know a little bit about your background and maybe what your role is over at Supreme Lending.

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah, I would love to. Thank you so much for having me. This is so fun for me because I love to talk about marketing and technology and, yeah, I’ve been at Supreme Lending, I think, going on almost seven years now in the mortgage business for over 20. And I have probably over the last six or seven years really implemented marketing and technology in my business to help kind of build my brand in the San Diego market and really throughout California. 

And so right now with Supreme, I’m a producing branch manager, which is pretty cool. So my goal is to kind of build and grow a team around me that are like minded, that want to implement technology and marketing in their business and just try to do things and make it fun and different. Right? Especially in the market that we’re in right now. It can get kind of stressful and yeah. And so I just try to do things different and have fun every single day.

Justin Ulrich
I mean, that’s what life’s all about. If you’re not having fun at work, you’re not doing it right, you know, trying to make it fun for yourself and for those around you. That’s what I try to do. That’s why I work in the tech space. So it’s a lot of fun. It usually lends itself to just being yourself and having a good time every day at work. 

So, yeah, just quick question. Now, you’ve won like a ton of awards, and I wasn’t just saying that earlier. There is a long list on your profile of all the awards that you’ve won, a lot of them for being a top producer. So it’s safe to say that you’re doing something right from a local marketing level. So I’m curious if you could, for our guests, let us know, what do you think maybe the top one or two things are that move the needle for brands, for branches, for LOs, just from a local marketing perspective?

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah. And I think most. Yeah, I mean, most of them also came around the same time, right, in probably the last four or five years. And one of the things that I did differently is I worked with a coach that was able to teach me how to build my brand and grow within my market because I was always a really good loan officer, but I never understood how to get the message out to people that I was a good loan officer. 

And that’s one of the pieces of advice that I give is, you know, you could be at your desk, you could be at a networking event, you could be at an open house, you could close 100 loans a month, but if no one knows what you’re doing and you’re not visible and you’re not building your brand in your market, you’re not going to have that longevity in your career. So that was one of the biggest reasons. 

I think the other thing is I just really focused on it. You know, I was open to opportunity. I did podcasts like this, I did a lot of video, I reached out to different magazines and things that, you know, were prominent in our industry to get my name out there. And I think once you do that, you start to build momentum and then other people kind of want to know like, hey, who’s this girl about and what’s she doing? And then I just kind of manifested those opportunities, which I know, I don’t know if that sounds a little weird or not, but that’s just honestly, that’s how I, how I think.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, no, that’s. I mean, it makes a lot of sense. I do like that you got a career coach, or at least a coach in this kind of realm of helping you to learn what to do to get your name out there. There’s so many people who have been there and they’ve done it really, really well. 

So it’s advisable to anyone listening. If you don’t have a coach or a mentor or someone where you can look up to to say, hey, this person has been there. They’ve done that. It’s a well worn path. You know, what are the things that I can do to make some shifts to start moving in the right direction and they can give you that guidance.

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah. And that’s really why I’m a branch manager, is because, for me, coaching and training and helping is just in my nature, and what I took from the coach that I worked with, I want to be able to give that to loan officers that are either kind of coming up in the industry or struggling right now, because it’s just no fun to do it by yourself. Right. And so I wanted to kind of take what I was taught and pass that on to people and kind of have that be my legacy. 

And that’s why the nickname of Tech Tracie, it’s just because it’s what I talk about. It’s what people know me for. It’s what I have fun with. I try to do as many videos as possible and be on social media, and there’s a lot of people that are hesitant on that, and I want to just help them with their confidence and understand that it’s okay if you’re not perfect. It’s okay if you don’t say the right thing. It’s okay if you don’t look the way you want to. 

You’re in business, right? You’re building and growing something to leave a legacy, maybe to your family or to have financial wealth. So you have to put yourself out there. And that’s the message I try to give people that I talk to in this business.

Justin Ulrich
100%. And you do actually do a really good job on social. When I was prepping for this episode, going through your feeds, like, you have some really funny stuff. The one with you waiting for the interest rates to drop with all the dogs, like, on the beach. I actually laughed out loud at that. The thing is, like it’s so bad, it’s good. Like, when you have these edits, you know what I mean? 

That’s the thing is, like, nobody realizes that device that you have, like, in your pocket. You can do so much with it, and it comes off as being real. It comes off as being authentic. People don’t want to see the highly produced stuff, you know? And it’s like, when you’re able to go on there and you create your videos every day, or maybe you’re talking about a certain topic or whatever it might be you’re growing in public. 

You know, the more you do it, the better you get at it. Get started. Start making videos now. In a month, two months, three months from now, you’re gonna be making way better videos and really seeing the impact to the investment that you’ve made, you know, in yourself.

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah, I mean, absolutely. It helps to have a 16-year-old niece because she taught me how to take my head and put it next to the dogs, which is funny. She’s like, what are you doing, Aunt Tracie? I’m like, I don’t know. It’s funny. I have this vision, right? They were, like, sitting there waiting for a treat at the boardwalk, at the beach, and I’m like, I’m literally waiting for rates to go down every single day. So I thought it was kind of funny. 

But, yeah, video is definitely important. And I have to tell you, you know, talking about mortgages is great, but it gets boring. And so some of the best videos get the most views and the most interaction are community videos. So, you know, the one that I did going to Konos, which is a great breakfast spot in San Diego, or when I’m highlighting a business, or, like, last Valentine’s Day, I got with a waxer, and I was like, no one likes a hairy valentine, right? And we talked about waxing and just things like that where people are like, a little like, what is she doing? 

But that’s what gets attention. It’s what makes you human. And I love to try to be funny and have a personality, and that’s just kind of how I am during the day. So people need to get to know me and like me. And, you know, it helps build that connection, especially through social.

Justin Ulrich
100%. Yeah, we talk a lot about how people don’t buy from businesses, they buy from people, right? And in the loan industry, it’s like the buying cycle is so long and the nurture cycle is so long because you may only buy a house once every couple years. 

And so you have to, like, as an officer, like, what can you do to stay top of mind? You can provide, like, valuable content on social. You can go around like, you’re talking about highlighting others in your community, and not only are you giving, like, content that you’re out and about, and they like to see that. People like to see that, but you’re also gaining access to their audiences when you highlight them and you tag them. 

So you’re growing your sphere and you’re able to bring new folks in. It’s actually a really solid strategy to highlight other local businesses.

Tracie Schmidt
Absolutely. And I mean, that’s the thing is, you know, Mother’s Day is coming up, or just different, different times of the year where you could go to a local business and say, hey, if I help promote you on social media, you know, would you be willing to give $10 off to your candy shop or to your flower shop? 

And, and just anybody that you know that owns a business, you can do that with and get creative and teach them. Right. Because then you become the expert in your community. When someone walks into their store and talks about, oh, my goodness, we’re having a baby and I need to get out of my apartment, they’re going to remember me because I helped them build and grow their business. And it’s just one, it’s giving back, and then secondly, it’s growing your platform out in the community, which is super important.

Justin Ulrich
Absolutely. Yeah. Be the mayor. That’s something that, that we talk about a lot. It’s like if you’re going around, everyone in the community knows you because you’re stopping in and you’re highlighting them. You’re, you’re dropping off sweets, you’re shaking hands and kissing babies. You know, it’s just, it’s something that you do to really get your face out there. So then when it comes time to buy, you’re the one that they think about.

Tracie Schmidt
It’s also really important for if people are looking to get onto video and get into social, you have to think of your value proposition or what’s in it for the person that’s listening or watching. So that’s what I try to be really cognizant of from, you know, I’ve created a virtual home buying seminar for people, or I co-authored a book, Making Mortgages Easy, that I give away free copies of home buying guides. 

You know, things that people can get that are tangible. So you’re not kind of just spending their time, if they’re watching you, they have something that they can get and learn more about buying a home when they’re ready. And so that’s been one of the things that I have to tell people also. It’s like, you can’t just do a video once a month and just hope that you get business. You have to be proactive. You have to have a value proposition. You have to know your target audience. And those are the things that I try to coach and teach people when I work with them.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, for sure. Do you have any specific, like, resources or tools that you might want to share of things that you’ve had success with in the past?

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah, so, I mean, a homebuyer’s guide is pretty easy to put together. You know, if you’re a mortgage loan officer with your company, they probably have one already done for you that you could brand with yourself or even co-brand it with a local real estate agent. So that’s just something super easy. 

You know, I try to get a little more technical where, you know, you’re building a funnel and, and you’re offering something of value, and then you’re capturing information because at the end of the day, you want to stay in front of those people as well. So that’s something that’s important to know how to do or, again, get coaching on. So. And that took a little while to learn if you just don’t know how to build a funnel overnight. So people are scared of that kind of technology. 

But, yeah, there’s some great things. I mean, I’ve partnered with a couple of great companies. I used a smart mobile card for my business personally, and so I was like, you know what? This thing’s kind of been a game changer. So I reached out and I got a licensing agreement with them. And so now my company is called smart mobile card, and it’s a way for people, business owners, no matter what business you’re in, to just do things differently. Right. 

To network, to share a mobile card, to collect information. You could put video, we do elevator pitches, images. So just something that’s different. Right. You don’t want to just have a paper business card that you hand to someone and they turn around and throw it in the garbage or, I mean, I have, I can’t even tell you, like, look at, there’s just stacks in my desk. Right. And I’ve never really looked at them, so, so that’s kind of fun and different and ways. Yeah. Do you have some?

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, I just thought, yeah, there’s like, I’ve got probably a bunch, we just went to an event, so I got a bunch of them from it.

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah. So that, that’s something that I, you know, now I can show the technology side of things and the difference and, you know, show a business owner, like, look, you can do things differently. Check this out. And again, you’re becoming something of value. You’re becoming an expert in an area, and that’s helped me gain business because I’m doing things differently.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, for sure. I do like that idea of having that anything like you’re talking about with the mobile business card or trying to leverage technology. And don’t be afraid of it. Like, a lot of the different apps and technology that’s out there, like, they make it pretty user friendly now. So just if you have an idea you see something cool that you want to try out, try it. Like, there’s nothing wrong with trying something to see if it might work out for you. If you’re not testing, then you’re definitely not going to find new things.

Tracie Schmidt
For sure. And I mean, AI has been. I mean, I can’t even tell you every sponsored ad on social media. AI, AI, AI. And, you know, one of the things that I’ve really learned how to utilize it for is content. And it’s amazing. I mean, what you could ask and get back and then create specific content, like different strategies and different one pagers and different things of value that you could provide to pretty much anyone. Right? 

I know loan officers really is the focus, but real estate agents, insurance companies, I mean, any profession should be utilizing social media and video in their business to build and to grow in their market. It’s just, you have to do it, in my opinion.

Justin Ulrich
100%. I wholeheartedly agree. You know, there’s stats, like, on LinkedIn, you know, only 3% of active users, you know, actually produce content. Everyone else on there is just watching and listening. So it’s kind of like a blue ocean for folks to go in and engage with folks. 

Because if you think, if you’re an LO, the folks that you want to engage with, there’s going to be a lot of your segments going to be like, professionals, and like, what network are the professionals on? LinkedIn. And you can actually target really easily on LinkedIn based on, like, different job levels or types, stuff like that. So segmenting your audience is relatively easy, too.

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah, it’s so important. I mean, I think, too, it’s, you know, right now people are struggling. The economy, it’s doing amazingly right. But the people that I know are struggling in this business right now, loan officers and realtors, and you have to know that the social media platforms don’t cost anything right now. You can run ads and pay for them, but Next Door, Alignable, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, I’m on all of those. 

So I am hopefully getting out there to as many potential people as possible, and it’s not costing me anything. So when people say they don’t want to use social media, it’s, I just, I’m like, why? You know, like, it’s free advertising for your business, especially if you’re starting up. It’s, it’s so important.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah. And if you think about how, like, how quickly everything moves today, and if you’re just reluctant and you don’t want to do it and you refuse to do it, they say, when’s last time the best time to plant a tree is like 40 years ago because you can enjoy the fruits of it now, you know, but if you don’t have a tree planted yet, you better start planning now, because if you wait three months, four months, five months, you’re gonna be in the same spot and others around you will have caught on to the things that you weren’t doing yet. 

So you’re just gonna get left behind, and that gap is gonna continue to get it wider and wider. And, you know, what’s interesting, too, is, like, leads, like, I don’t know if you’ve heard about this, but look, with the recent FCC update around, like, closing the lead gen loophole, like, leads are going to be a lot harder to come by.

They’re going to be more expensive, you know, so folks are going to have to do different things to try to, like you mentioned earlier, get people’s data first party, you know, get them to fill out forms to give you their data through different marketing activities so that you’re not buying those leads from somebody else, but you’re producing them on your own.

Tracie Schmidt
Absolutely. And that’s the thing, too. I think people make the mistake of like, oh, I’m going to get all of these leads on Facebook. It’s going to take a while, right? People aren’t going to just buy a house from you the first minute they see you on Facebook. So again, it’s being consistent, it’s providing value. It’s getting them to know you and like you and trust you. It’s working with someone that, that’s done it. 

And that’s why when I worked with, you know, with my coach, she was successful. She did it. And I was lucky enough to figure out what her blueprint was and tweak it a little bit because she was a real estate agent coach. And I’m like, no, I’m a lender. I want to know what you’re doing, right. I want to know what the real estate agents need in their business so I could provide that value to them. 

And, you know, for loan officers, that’s one of the ways that I develop realtor relationships, is figure something out that they don’t know how to do and they want to learn how to do it. Become an expert and then provide that value to them, and you’ll create a relationship for life with that realtor partner or with a financial planner or with a CPA or with a divorce attorney. Everybody wants to build and grow their business, so you just have to think outside of the box to be honest.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, 100%. Do you have anyone that you, that you can think of where you’re like, man, they got, their social feeds are awesome, or, man, they’re really nailing the local marketing thing. Anyone that you try to emulate when you’re putting your marketing plan together?

Tracie Schmidt
You know what? I should, because you’re supposed to know your competition. But I also let it get in my head. And so it’s just like, I don’t watch the news, which I should, but I don’t because I don’t want to compare myself because at the end of the day, I’m me, right? 

And if I see a loan officer that has 100,000 followers and are getting all these likes and I have a thousand followers and getting three likes, that could very easily get that imposter syndrome going and you being like, man, what am I doing wrong? What do I have to change? And so I try not to do that, to be honest. And maybe, maybe I should more. But what’s your, what’s your thought on that?

Justin Ulrich
Let me. Well, I would say a couple things. I think that your baseline for comparison should always be against yourself because you know how your business has run at any given time, right, until you start doing something new. And once you start doing that new thing, now you have new data to compare to the old data that’s directly, it’s your own data. 

The other part is, for me, I do look maybe within or even outside of my industry to try to find maybe new creative ideas or things that maybe I didn’t think, think of doing. And that just kind of sparks your brain. 

And the way my brain works is I’ll see something of like, oh, I can, I could do this, that, and the other and maybe make it better here or tweak it there because a lot of, like, from marketing standpoint, a lot of marketing is just ripping off with someone else’s time, doing it better. It’s hard to find a lot of brand new ideas that are out there.

Tracie Schmidt
Very true. No, yeah, that’s so true. And I do. I mean, I definitely peek at things, and what it reminds me of is, you know, be yourself. It’s okay to post pictures of you and your family or this awesome sushi that you ate because you get caught up in business, business, business. 

And that’s one of the things that I do learn from other people, is have fun with it. I mean, I did that dog photo honestly, because I knew that people were getting kind of more interaction on things that were kind of funny. And it was something new for me, and it’s something I’ll definitely do again because it worked. So you just have to test things out, I think.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, that was the, when I was scrolling through your feed, that was the one thing that stuck out to me and got my attention for sure. The funny thing about it is the crops. The crops on the picture, like, because you’re in a phone. It’s square, so it crops off the edges of your shoulders. So it’s just like, this square plot of, like, your face, like, up in there, you know? 

It’s like, that’s what makes those things gold. It’s not overly photoshopped, you know, or, like, made to look real, but it’s. You’re looking at the right angle, too, which is all very funny to me.

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah, I, like, twisted it. I’m like, I had no idea what I was doing. I’m like, let me just take a sticker of my head and then move it to this photo. And that’s pretty much the outcome.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah, gold. Well, very cool. Well, you know, all this, like, the award winning. It comes with a lot of hard work. And as I understand it, like, when you do a lot, you do a lot. So when you get your downtime, you do like to spend it on the beach. Is there a favorite beach you like to go to?

Tracie Schmidt
Well, I live in or at Mission Beach, and so if I turn my camera, you could probably see. Let me see if this is possible. There’s the ocean.

Justin Ulrich
Oh, my word. That is very cool.

Tracie Schmidt
Now everybody knows where I live.

Justin Ulrich
Yeah. Now I need to blur out the address in the streets.

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah, it’s okay. People always know I’m all over social. Like, one of the things that most recently got me so upset is there’s a tower that’s right outside of my house. And for some reason, they moved it down the beach, and so the towers — I walk the beach every day, and the towers don’t go in order. 

So if anybody’s watching this, and you know why tower 18 is where tower 15 is, I need to know. I need my tower back. I’m begging. So I’m very open about it. You know, I’m not afraid. People are like, do you have personal accounts, business accounts? Aren’t you afraid of what people are going to know about you? And you could google anything about anyone right now if you’re in business. So I don’t stress about it.

Justin Ulrich
It is true. Everybody’s information is everywhere. Well, I did think it would be kind of nice. I didn’t realize you were that close to the beach. So maybe this picture is not as impactful, because I was thinking we’d give you a little bit of a break away from your workday to show you reading a little bit of poetry on the beach, like you like to do. But it seems like you might get time to do something like this every day.

Tracie Schmidt
That is. That’s not me. Who is that person?

Justin Ulrich
Like, AI is so tough to get someone just right, because I only have, like, one angle of someone’s face, and it’s like, when it does a swap, it can get it pretty close, but it can. It’s not quite there where it fully nails it yet.

Tracie Schmidt
I mean, it made me look younger and tan and, like, definitely a beachy haircut. So now I’m, like, thinking about. I got to go for this look. I’m glad we’re recording this.

Justin Ulrich
Awesome. Well, hey, before we jump, you know, how can folks follow you? Follow your brand, follow Supreme Lending?

Tracie Schmidt
Yeah. So if. I mean, if you just probably search for Tracie Schmidt or Tracie Schmidt Supreme Lending or the Schmidt Team, google me. That’s probably the easiest way. And so I don’t know if you have the ability to share any different links, but I’ll probably post those when I post the video on this and just for people to check out. 

You know, you don’t have to, like, work with me or for Supreme Lending to have a conversation. We’re all in this business together, so I always tell people they could schedule a call with me. It’s just successatsupreme.com and at their convenience, if they want to call and have a quick conversation and talk about how to market or do business differently, I’m there for people, so it’s my way of paying it forward.

Justin Ulrich
No, I love that. Yeah. Rising tide raises all ships. If you provide value and you help others, it’ll eventually come back to you tenfold, so. Awesome. Well, hey, I appreciate you joining us today. And, you know, it’s been a lot of fun having this conversation with you, Tracie. If you’re in the market, check out Supreme Lending. Check out Team Schmidt. Is that right?

Tracie Schmidt
Whatever. The Schmidt Team. 

Justin Ulrich
Schmidt Team.

Tracie Schmidt
People have mistaken Schmidt for another word that sounds very close to it. And so, as long as you say my last name good. It’s funny. Like, when I used to market back in the day, I would have “Holy Schmidt” would be my tagline. And that worked out pretty well, so I might have to incorporate that back in.

Justin Ulrich
That’s actually pretty funny. You know, it’s funny. You know, I don’t know if, you know, Krish Dhokia over at Kind Lending, he’s got a funny piece of marketing that he sends out with like the poo emoji on it. And it’s like you’re the — basically, you’re the crap, right? Saying you’re awesome, but, yeah, you’re the Schmidt. Yeah. Perfect. Awesome. Well, thanks again. This is a lot of fun.

Tracie Schmidt
Okay. Talk to you soon.

Justin Ulrich
All right, bye.

As always, thanks for joining us in the Local Marketing Lab. This podcast was sponsored by Evocalize. To learn more about how Evocalize can help you grow your business, visit evocalize.com. 

If you learned something from today’s episode, don’t forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook @Evocalize. That’s Evocalize and on X at Evocalize. 

And remember, keep innovating and testing new things. You’ll never know what connects with your customers best unless you try. Until next time. Thanks for listening.