Believe it or not, there was a time when we weren’t on the radio. Back then we were a two man shop working mostly on referrals and sending out over-sized post cards. Times were good then, and I’ll tell you this… It was a lot easier!
Then I decided that it was time to show a larger audience just how good we were at originating mortgage loans.
I decided to give radio advertising a chance and as they say… The rest is history.
I remember like it was yesterday…
I sent an email to several of my past clients asking them which radio station they thought I should start working with. I tallied the replies and right at the top of that list was ESPN 101. Being a HUGE sports fan this sounded like a great idea to me. Over the next few weeks I spent countless hours learning how radio advertising worked and how to buy it. Seriously… I was Googling phrases like “How to buy radio advertising” and reading all of the information that I could find.
I knew that I wanted to do something different than everyone else, and I wanted my spots to stand out. I also knew from the start that in order to make this work I would need to get on radio and do “live call-ins” so that I could tell people in my own words why they should call me about their home loan. But that’s where it got tricky… How do you just call into a sports show and talk about mortgages? How do you tie all that together? Mortgages and sports talk? Well, looking back… It really wasn’t that tricky…
You hook up with a genius like Bernie Miklasz.
When I was confident that we had put together a great proposal I signed my first radio contract. It was roughly 56k for 12 months and I won’t lie… I was a little nervous. I was putting everything I had into this and if it didn’t work I would have been devastated.
They spots started playing and people started calling me. Wow… people were calling! Then the day came for my first “live call-in”. Honestly, we were so busy that day that I had totally forgotten about it. Then about noon my phone rang and there was this incredibly sweet sounding girl Michelle Smallmon asking me if I was ready to jump on the air with Bernie. I said absolutely, but what should I say? She told me just to relax and be myself.
I have NO IDEA what I said, but about 10 seconds after I hung up, the phones LIT UP! We had over 20 calls from listeners wanting me to work them up loan options.
Right then I knew we were on to something. I always knew that I could provide people with a better mortgage experience, and now I knew how to let everyone know.
This all happened over four years ago, and we are no longer a 2 man shop. There are over 20 of us now working day in and day out helping home owners get the best mortgage available with a level of experience that NO ONE else can match.
We have grown into other markets and currently have offices in St. Louis, Chicago and Indianapolis. We work with some of the greatest radio stations in the country and still follow the same format. I have done over 1000 live call-ins and record my own 30 second spots right here at my office. I am constantly asked if I get nervous when I get on the radio.. the answer is no. I think it all has to do with how it all went down with my first call with Bernie.
The Home Loan Expert
