Hey, I am Jackson Middleton aka The Kilted Broker or @kiltedbroker
This section of the Highland Mortgage Partners website is designed to share my opinions in general on business. I have always been an entrepreneur and I am passionate about small business, customer service and contributing to the local community. I believe that social media is changing the way we communicate and it is impacting how we consume information. Traditional marketing is becoming less effective at reaching new clients and businesses need to become more social and transparent if they have any chance at future success. One of my goals is to write about my experiences in business and social media to hopefully connect with other small business professionals. Hopefully this will create dialogue that will be profitable for everyone involved.
As I truly believe that people should do business with people they like, I am putting myself out there for evaluation. If you like what you see, please feel free to contact me anytime, I would love to get together for a coffee and if we hit it off, hopefully we can do business together!
Industry Bio: I am the owner of Highland Mortgage Partners an independent brokerage in Regina, SK affiliated with the Axiom Mortgage Partners network. I got my start as a mortgage broker in early 2007 after working as a property developer. I began my career with a national brokerage, however went independent in Jan 2010. I have my AMP designation and currently sit on the CAAMP Saskatchewan Broker Council.
Amazing Personal Touch
Just to be clear – the intended primary audience for this post is younger mortgage professionals in Canada
As mortgage brokers, our entire livelihood depends on communication. To be successful, we must keep open lines of communication with clients during and after the mortgage transaction. Although this doesn’t sound very difficult, it is a sobering fact that according to CAAMPs 2011 Fall Report - 79% of consumers stayed with their existing lender at renewal. This means that as a whole, the broker channel is pretty lousy at making a lasting impression with clients (now granted a mortgage is not something you need everyday – but still, we should be a little hotter than that don’t you think?). So you ask yourself…
and rightfully so, you have an ever growing database, why not market to it? why not stay top of mind and hope to renew better than the industry average? But the problem is, it is pretty tough to keep in touch with everyone individually, I mean, that would take A LOT of time? At this point most brokers decide to automate (I did). Here are a couple questions to think about and a story from my experience if you happen to be rethinking your client touch methods. (more…)
It’s no secret that I absolutely hate the way most mortgage brokers advertise their services. ”WE HAVE THE LOWEST RATES EVER” or “YOUR MORTGAGE PREAPPROVED IN 10 MINUTES OR IT’S FREE” To those brokers I would say, “first of all – stop yelling at people, and secondly, all brokers offer discounted rates compared to banks posted rates, do you really think that you can provide quality service to your clients in 10 minutes… Really? Just stop and think about that for a minute.”
At Highland Mortgage we believe that when you deal with us, your experience should be so much more than rates and fastest possible turnaround time. The constant advertising of these things creates assumptions about the way all brokerages operate so I figured I would outline how the industry actually works and how we are different.
Generally speaking, you will get offered a lower rate from a broker than from a bank, but broker to broker, there will be very little difference in rates offered. Although it appears as though a lot of brokerages are saying that they have lower rates compared to the broker down the street, they aren’t, they are really comparing their discounted rates to the banks posted rates. A brokers responsibility is to deal with several lending institutions to be able to “shop for the best product” – I think the lack of clarity here causes people to start looking for the best rates between brokerages which really makes the job of a broker seem less effective. My advice, there is very little difference between the rates and products being offered between different mortgage brokerages, find a broker you like and stick with them. (more…)
I support local business when ever possible. The following is my experience with a local restaurant in Regina SK. called the Hickory Grill. It wasn’t good, actually it was terrible. Hopefully by writing this I can point out a few things and potentially help other small businesses from making similar mistakes.
The first time my wife and I visited the Hickory Grill was shortly after it opened. We were the only ones in the restaurant, we waited at least 10 minutes to be seated and another 20 minutes for our server to take our drink order. Between being told that the diner menu wasn’t available yet (3:45pm) and our server not getting around to the drink order because vacuuming was more important, after about an hour we walked out and enjoyed a fabulous meal at The Keg. Our second attempt was quite a few months later, I arranged for a babysitter and took my wife on a date, dinner and a movie. We thought we would give Hickory another shot seeing as though we didn’t even get to try the food the first time around. Unfortunately this experience was almost as bad, the food was mediocre at best AND poor service had us rushing out to make our show on time. We swore to never go back. (more…)
Tweeting Mortgage Rates Kills Unicorns, this is a #Fact – Scott Stratten of @unmarketing said so. If there is one guy in Canada who knows social media, it is Scott (over 104K dedicated followers) so you can’t really argue with him.
Social Media is about engaging people ~ not marketing
Social Media is not about getting referrals, its about being referable ~ If you are referable, the referrals will follow
People only care about what you have to say when you care about what they have to say
Think in terms of providing value to your followers ~ without selling anything (more…)
I make no bones about it, the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins has shaped the way I do a lot of things at Highland Mortgage Partners. Basically this book deals with why some companies make the leap from Good to Great and why others don’t. One of the principles taught in the book is called the “Bus Principle” – If you are looking to build a company, think of it like a bus and follow these 4 steps:
1. Get the wrong people off the bus
2. Get the right people on the bus – Look for qualities rather than skills – find the best possible people
3. Figure out where everyone is going to sit – if you have the best people, allow them to work in an area they are passionate about
4. Figure out where you are going to drive the bus
What is better than being on the cover of the Rolling stone? Well… as a Mortgage Professional, being on the cover of the CMP Magazine! (although its just my name, its still really cool). (more…)
I am proud to be involved with a movement called The Mortgage Revolution. Basically it is described as “an idea… a grass roots movement by, and for mortgage professionals who truly care about our industry and are not willing to accept anything less than the utmost professionalism and integrity.” Led by Michael Cameron from Axiom Mortgage Partners, this movement is challenging the very foundation of the mortgage broker channel and is ready to instigate change for the better. I attended the first event in Calgary and I am excited to see where this goes. Be sure to follow Mikes Blog and Register Your Support. (more…)
In a conversation about broker channel integrity and how we present to our clients, I was recently asked “What makes a mortgage broker professional?” That is a great question. I think sometimes we get caught up in the daily activities of brokering and don’t always take the time to handle each client as professionally as we should. So here it goes, here is my list of 10 things a mortgage broker should do to create a professional client experience! (more…)
