How to Build a Thriving Business with Classes & Events

Summary

Mortgage Marketing Radio: How to Build a Thriving Business with Classes & Events

Host: Geoff Zimpfer
Guest: Jared Larkin, "Mile High Title Guy"
Release Date: March 20, 2025

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In this insightful episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio, host Geoff Zimpfer delves into the transformative power of educational classes and events in building a successful mortgage business. Joining him is Jared Larkin, widely recognized as the "Mile High Title Guy" from Chicago Title in the Denver area. Jared shares his journey from struggling with traditional sales methods to mastering the art of hosting classes and events, ultimately closing over 100 title deals per month.

1. Introduction to Jared Larkin's Journey (00:00 - 07:11)

Geoff introduces Jared Larkin, highlighting his success in leveraging educational events to attract clients and build influence in a competitive market. Jared recounts his early days in the title insurance business, expressing the initial challenges he faced:

"I almost quit in my first two years, but a single shift in strategy changed everything." [17:50]

Jared explains how traditional methods like cold calling and pop-bys yielded limited results, pushing him to seek alternative approaches.

2. Discovering the Power of Classes and Events (07:11 - 09:56)

Jared credits a sales training course, "90 Day Sales" by Bruce Lund, for introducing him to the concept of showcase events. This revelation led him to focus on hosting educational classes tailored for real estate professionals.

"Classes are my bread and butter. No doubt." [03:14]

He emphasizes the importance of providing value, stating:

"My number one objective is that ... if you're going to my class, I want it to be fun or worthwhile or educational. Without a doubt, it was worth my time." [07:38]

3. Building Momentum Through Consistency and Innovation (09:56 - 16:41)

Jared discusses the gradual buildup of his event strategy, noting that consistency and willingness to experiment were key to his success. He diversified his class offerings to cater to various interests within the real estate community, ranging from AI in real estate to social events like dodgeball tournaments.

"I just have to keep doing them and slowly it will snowball." [07:38]

He outlines his use of Eventbrite as a primary tool for event registration, highlighting its effectiveness in reaching real estate agents:

"Roughly 80% of the time they get the Eventbrite email and they show up." [12:40]

4. Effective Marketing Strategies: Eventbrite and Social Media (16:41 - 26:46)

Jared elaborates on his multifaceted marketing approach, which includes:

• Eventbrite: For managing registrations and reaching a wide audience.
• Facebook Events: Leveraging his extensive network of 3,000 realtor friends to invite large groups efficiently.
• Targeted Facebook and Instagram Ads: Investing strategically in ads to maintain brand visibility and consistently reach real estate agents.

"Meta ads are the ... way these ads work, if you set them up properly, you can reach roughly 100 to 200 people with an ad for about a dollar." [15:09]

He shares his evolving ad budget strategy, initially starting with minimal expenditure and gradually increasing investment as his events scaled.

5. Conversion Tactics: From Attendees to Clients (26:46 - 34:55)

Conversion from event attendance to client engagement is pivotal in Jared's strategy. He employs a straightforward method:

1. Value Delivery: Providing substantial value during classes to build trust.
2. Lead Magnets: Distributing one-page fiscal handouts with additional resources, requiring attendees to provide their contact information.
3. Follow-Up: Utilizing tools like Gmass for mass personalized emails and persistent outreach through calls and texts.

"Anything, it's all data and marketing. If you can get the data right, you can tap into those real estate agents." [12:40]

This approach ensures that Jared can identify and prioritize high-potential leads effectively.

6. Scaling Operations and Managing Workload (34:55 - 43:21)

With an ambitious goal of hosting 100 classes and events annually, Jared discusses the challenges of scaling while maintaining a work-life balance. He recounts his daily routine, balancing family commitments with intense business development activities.

"It's a lot. I'm going 200% ... I just want to grow." [26:00]

Jared acknowledges the potential need for delegation as his operations expand, contemplating hiring virtual assistants to manage increasing demands.

7. Hosting Panel Events and Strategic Partnerships (43:21 - 46:14)

Panel events represent a significant aspect of Jared's strategy, allowing him to collaborate with top-producing real estate agents and other industry professionals. These events not only provide diverse perspectives but also enhance his credibility and network reach.

"Run these things, set them up, bring in top producers ... they just sell themselves." [09:56]

He emphasizes the importance of choosing relevant topics that resonate with agents, such as real estate investing and divorce-related real estate matters, to ensure high attendance and engagement.

8. Audience Q&A and Key Takeaways (46:14 - End)

During the Q&A segment, Jared offers practical advice on engaging potential partners and using direct messaging without being intrusive. He underscores the importance of persistence and testing different approaches to find what works best.

Key Takeaways:

• Consistency is Crucial: Regularly hosting events helps build momentum and brand recognition.
• Diversify Event Offerings: Cater to various interests within your target audience to maximize engagement.
• Leverage Technology: Utilize platforms like Eventbrite and social media for efficient event management and marketing.
• Provide Value: Ensure every event delivers substantial value to attendees, fostering trust and authority.
• Effective Follow-Up: Implement a robust follow-up system to convert attendees into clients.
• Build Strategic Partnerships: Collaborate with top professionals to enhance event credibility and expand your network.

"You can't lose what you don't have." [44:55]

Jared concludes by reinforcing the importance of proactive engagement and continuous effort in building lasting relationships within the industry.

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Final Thoughts:

This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for Mortgage Loan Originators aiming to elevate their business through strategic classes and events. Jared Larkin's experiences highlight the effectiveness of providing consistent value, leveraging digital tools, and building meaningful partnerships. His journey from nearly quitting to becoming a top title rep underscores the potential of innovative marketing strategies in transforming mortgage businesses.

For mortgage professionals looking to replicate Jared's success, the episode offers actionable insights and proven techniques to attract, engage, and convert real estate agents into loyal clients.

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Notable Quotes:

• Jared Larkin on perseverance:

  "I almost quit in my first two years, but a single shift in strategy changed everything." [17:50]

• On the importance of events:

  "Classes are my bread and butter. No doubt." [03:14]

• Marketing effectiveness:

  "Roughly 80% of the time they get the Eventbrite email and they show up." [12:40]

• Advertising strategy:

  "Meta ads are the ... way these ads work, if you set them up properly, you can reach roughly 100 to 200 people with an ad for about a dollar." [15:09]

• On converting leads:

  "If you can get the data right, you can tap into those real estate agents." [12:40]

• On persistence:

  "You can't lose what you don't have." [44:55]

Transcript

[Jeff Zimfer]

Have you ever felt like breaking into a competitive market was an uphill battle? Whether you're in real estate, lending or title services, getting attention, building trust and staying relevant can feel overwhelming. But what if there was a way to stand out not just as another service provider or vendor, but as the go to authority in your space. You're listening to Mortgage Marketing Radio, the podcast dedicated to helping mortgage professionals elevate their business with smarter marketing strategies. I'm your host, Jeff Zimfer and today we're diving into a powerful strategy that's transforming care years in real estate. Leveraging educational events to attract clients, build influence and drive business growth. To help us unpack this, we're joined today by Jared Larkin, also known as the Mile High title guy from Chicago title in the Denver area. Jared has built his brand by mastering the art of hosting classes, running engaging events, and using digital marketing to attract top real estate agents to his business. In this episode, you're going to learn how Jared turned cold calls into packed classrooms using a simple but overlooked marketing platform. We're going to talk about the number one mistake most professionals make when trying to host events and how to fix it. And the unexpected power of Facebook and Instagram DMS and how Jared uses this to create long term business relationships. And here's something you might not expect. Jared almost quit in his first two years, but a single shift in strategy changed everything. We'll break it all down. So if you're ready to grow your influence, get in front of the right people and turn educational events into a marketing powerhouse. Stick around. This episode of Mortgage Marketing Radio is for you. Okay, before we get started today, I wanted to let you know what this conversation is you're going to hear today is a recording from a weekly coaching and mastermind call we do in our community over at my agent classes. Once a month on average, I bring in a special guest to come in and train, teach us something in our community. A subject matter expert. Whether that's a social media, whether that's marketing, sales psychology mindset. And in this case, it is my special guest, Jared Larkin, the Mile High title guy. Jared has built his incredibly successful title business leveraging agent classes and Jared is closing over 100 title deals per month. And in this episode, what you're going to do is listen in to Jared being a special guest on the the coaching and community call we do just for our private members in the my agent classes community. So if you're at all intrigued with what you hear on this conversation and if you're intrigued with the idea of leveraging classes to get in front of realtors to scale your growth in business and become the go to mortgage professional in your market. Hey, check the link in the show notes where you can learn more about my agent classes and go over to mortgagemarketing pro. With that said, let's get into this week's show.

[Host/Moderator]

Everybody, let's give a word. Welcome to Jared Larkin, Mile high title guy out of Denver, Colorado.

[Jared Larkin]

Thanks for having me stoked to be here. Yeah, I got a title about eight years ago and I knew I had to do something. Am I going to cold call? Am I going to, I don't know, do the popeyes? Am I going to do whatever? I mean, I tried everything, but classes are my bread and butter. No doubt.

[Host/Moderator]

How did you come upon that decision? What? You know, how did you land there?

[Jared Larkin]

I fell into title insurance about eight years ago and I knew nobody. Right. And title insurance business is a very high volume business. I always say if you want to be successful in title insurance here in the Colorado market, you need to be closing at least 100 transactions per month. It's a lot of deals. I've got anywhere from clients to send me one deal a year to five to ten deals a month and everything in between. And you got to get in front of people. I tried cold calling, I tried pop buys, I tried everything under the sun, networking. I never was exposed to any sort of sales training until I got into this role. I took a sales training course called 90 Day Sales by a guy named Bruce Lund. And that's what opened up my eyes to what he called showcase events. And I said, that's what I'm going to do and I'm going to be a guy at the end of the day. I sell title insurance for Chicago Title, but I'm going to help real estate professionals with their marketing.

[Host/Moderator]

All right, what do you want to share about how that went? You know, the old social media, how it started, how it's going. Give us the brief, like how it started and how it's going now.

[Jared Larkin]

All right, let's go. Got A Title Insurance 2017. I always knew I had to do something. Title insurance, right, guys? As much as I believe Chicago Title is an incredible title company and we do a fantastic job and we're the oldest, largest title company in North America. What it really comes down to is most real estate professionals see the title insurance industry as a commoditized industry. We're so darn regulated. Pricing is about the same. We have to provide great service. You can't Screw up, right? And the truth is it's no different from the lending space, right? Is, is if someone's happy with abc, xyz, whoever, right? Title company, why should they talk to me? The truth is they shouldn't. Like I have to bring something of value to convince them to have a conversation with me, right? And start to build that partners. And starting out, it was just, it was just a grind also too, starting out back in 2017, at least here, I think in the Denver market. Title insurance reps here in this Denver market were never really seen as a position of teaching classes and, and really like leaning into the marketing space. So I kind of had to carve out that niche and create that category. So a lot of people just didn't take me seriously. They're like, no, you're the bagel boy. Like show up, bring your bagels and then leave. You know, And I mean we've all, we've probably all been there and done that stuff. And to me, that just wasn't my, my choice of where I wanted to be. And I knew I want to get in front of people and do classes, so. Background. Both my parents growing up commercial real estate agents. Commercial real estate brokerage. I'm from upstate New York and I kind of grew up around that business. I was always working for my parents, front desk, answering the phone, putting up signs, creating their flyers. At the end of the day, I've always been pushed in the real estate direction, but my passion is marketing. So I picked up a video camera early on and was just making videos, skateboarding, skiing, stuff like that. That's what led down that road into marketing, which led into me realizing I could use these skill sets and people could pay me. So that led into a little boutique company, little marketing company, doing video, social media, stuff like that. And I'm like, I'm going to go in title insurance industry and just lean into that and help real estate agents. And to answer your question, starting out I did these classes and nobody showed up to them, right? And maybe, maybe people showed up, but I didn't figure out how to convert the meeting, okay. And man, I just, just failed forward through it. I knew there were two options. For me, it was either I'm going to make it in this business and I'm just going to continue to fail forward and try things, or I guess I won't make it and I'll get fired and I'll do something else.

[Host/Moderator]

Okay, thank you for that. Can you just, you know, briefly bring us back into that scenario when you kind of first started teaching classes, right, These showcase events you talked about. What do you think was the thing that started to create momentum for you, started to get people to show up your classes. Was it just the consistency over and over, or what do you think it was?

[Jared Larkin]

I think it was consistency and then not being afraid to try new things. All right, so my first classes, the. The idea was I'm gonna. I'm gon teach classes on video, the importance of video and how to help real estate agents with their video and stuff like that. So it's just. It was a slow trickle. It was also figuring out how do I market these classes and how do I get people to show up to them and how do I build that database of people or hack into that database of people, like the MLS and just put it in front of people. So what started out as video led to me also realizing I can partner with other professionals, whether, say, you know, Ryan Hillard on this call and have him teach something or if it's some other professional in the space that has something of value for real estate agents. And what I realized was, let's lean on different people who have different relationships and let's come together and then let's, you know, cross pollinate our different networks and then continue to grow. So it was a slow move, but. But I realized you just. You just got to keep doing them and slowly it will snowball. I'll say this. This has always been my number one theme and. And goal is anything I do. If I'm teaching a class, if I'm hosting a class, hosting an event. My number one objective is that if Ryan, Jeff, Mike, Glenda, Janelle, whoever show up to my class or event, I want them to walk out that door and say, hey, that was either fun or worthwhile or educational. Without a doubt, it was worth my time. And if Jared hosts another class or event, I would definitely consider coming back to another thing.

[Host/Moderator]

Okay, so I'm going to fast forward. Let me just close something out of my screen right here. And I'm going to go to your eventbrite page and the diversity of classes. I'm going to share this briefly. We're going to talk about now fast forward where you are today in terms of classes. Okay, so let's take a look at your eventbrite page. I believe this is it, if I'm correct. Right?

[Jared Larkin]

That's it. Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. So you got a few on here past classes 229. I'm not sure how far back that goes. Upcoming 10 classes. So you've Got some. Let's just look at some of these classes. Residential Real Estate Trends to Maximize Home. What is that? Purchasing.

[Jared Larkin]

That's a panel event. That's a panel event. So. So I do a variety of things. Every once in a while, I'll do a big panel event. Guys, that's. Oh, my goodness. If you're not doing these, it's a huge opportunity because you get it. You get to run these things. You get to set them up. You could bring in top producers in your market, Right. You can reach out to them and flatter them and ask them to be on your panel. And then these things, man, they just sell themselves. Right. I think last time I checked, We've got about 175 people signed up for this. So these. These are a great way to grow your brand really fast, right?

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah.

[Jared Larkin]

If you're running it and emceeing it. So I try to do one of these at least once a quarter because it's a great way to get your name out there.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, 100%. And to leverage those relationships as well, like you said. So, you know, you've got Google, you've got Divorce and Real Estate Beyond Traditional Renters. Investing in Sober Living, Canva Mastery, you know, some of the same types of content classes that we have. What do we got here? AI 10 Commandments of Winning a Bidding War. I like that. That's cool. Title. March Madness Hangout. What is that? Just hang out and drink at the bar and Grill.

[Jared Larkin]

Correct? Yep. We do fun stuff, too, right? Hang out, have a drink. We post up. We do that every year. Come on out. So we kind of got a flavor for everything. Because it was funny. I sat down with a top producer. I mean, she does over 100 million a year. And we were grabbing lunch and a light bulb just went off when I was having a conversation with her, because she's like, all right, what classes and events you come up coming up? Because I was. I was approaching her with the idea of, hey, I wanted her to join a mastermind group with me. And she's like, screw that. I don't want to be part of your mastermind. What else got. I was like, well, I'm doing a dodgeball event next month. And she's like, well, I'll be there for that. That sounds great. And the. And the light bulb went off in my head. The point is, is like every real estate professional, whether they're brand new, they're a top producer, everyone's into different things, all right? And you're going to pull in different People to different stuff. And I'm not afraid to just like roll the dice and experiment and try something, whether it's dodgeball, March Madness, ski train, up to the mountains, class on, AI, fill in the blank. Because different people like different things.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. And if you go to, you know, there'll be links in the follow up email to all Jared's stuff, his YouTube, his webpage, which is killer. Everything is, is done at a high level. I think from a personal branding, first impression standpoint. I want to get a little bit tactical, if that's okay. And guys, remember, you can start putting your questions in the chat because, you know, one of the biggest challenges, you kind of alluded to it, nobody showed up early, early on for your classes. Everyone who's been here for a minute has, has probably suffered a similar fate. What would you say some of your most successful strategies have been for getting butts in seats?

[Jared Larkin]

Eventbrite.com Without a doubt, eventbrite.com Guys, if you're sleeping on it, get on there. It's completely free to do. I think you can send like up to 250 emails a day for free. The secret sauce to eventbrite.com in my opinion is it all comes down to data and marketing. Anything, it's all data and marketing. And if you can get the data right, if you can tap into all the real estate agents, anyone doing X number of deals and their contact information, emails, right, we upload that. No, Eventbrite, we run emails to them. I don't know how Eventbrite does it, but they're very, very good at getting cold emails to agents I've never talked to into their primary inbox. And agents click on them and look at them. Because every time I do a class or event, I always ask the room, hey, how did you find out about this class or event? Okay, I want to know what's working and what's not working. And I'll tell you what, like roughly 8, usually 80% of the time they get the Eventbrite email and they show up. So yeah, Eventbrite all day long. If you want to take it to the next level, quick, little easy thing, right? Realtors, at least here in this market, they're on Facebook, right? You can create a Facebook event. If you do the eventbritethrough event, you can actually click a button, it turns it into a Facebook event and then boom, now you got a Facebook event. One thing I do, this is very time consuming, but I found it to be worth my time because I do so many of These is you can. On Facebook, you can actually categorize every single one of your Facebook friends on there. And every time I add someone as a Facebook friend, they're either a realtor or a lender, they go into a category. And if you do that, what's nice is when you put out events and create events on Facebook, you can instantly invite up to 500 people at a time to that Facebook event. So all I do is I tap into my 3,000 realtor friends on Facebook and just like, 500 invite. 500 invite. And it just hit them out to them. And that's been successful too. Okay. If I want to turn it up even one more notch, I'm going to be running targeted Facebook and Instagram ads. And the way we do this a number of different ways, but the more advanced answer here is we create what's called custom audiences, and we upload phone numbers and email addresses of real estate agents in the market, and we run targeted ads to just those people, and we just hammer them with ads about the event. So those are probably the top three things. Do you.

[Host/Moderator]

Can you share a little bit about what you're. You know, it's a hard answer to give because it's very contextual, but I'm thinking about your ad budget or spend for. Are you doing it for event or any comments around that.

[Jared Larkin]

You know, for the longest time, it's been a dollar a day. I'm a big spender these days. It's $3 a day. I just launched an ad because I've got, what, 10 classes events just for the month of March here. I was like, I'm gonna throw a little ad up. I'm gonna go hard here and do $3 a day. So metrics here, guys, meta ads are the. I don't know anything cheaper in marketing, the way these ads work, if you set them up properly, you. For about a dollar, you can reach roughly 100 to 200 people with an ad. And. Right. And we're not targeting random people. It's just a finite group of people. Right. For this example, it would just be real estate agents. Right? So if you've got a list of whatever, right, say 3, 4, 5, 6,000 agents, in theory, say it was 5,000 agents. Right? We can roll through that list pretty darn fast for not very much money and put whatever we want in front of them. Okay. I've been running these ads roughly about, I don't know, six and a half years or so. And I can promise you guys that they work because I do it Here in this market. And what happens is, yes, you'll get people to show up to your stuff, but I would encourage you to run ads indefinitely at the very least, at a dollar per day. Usually we switch the ads up once per month and just build your brand and your identity and just put yourself whatever you want, your message in front of real estate agents every single day. That way, one, you could try to do this from a prospecting perspective and try to get meetings. That's an option. But also at the very least, like they're just going to know who you are before they even meet you. And it just, it's just easier to convert them and build that relationship faster.

[Host/Moderator]

Are you typically running event related ads or like personal branding or both?

[Jared Larkin]

Everything, yeah, everything. I think. Yeah, I've got a few, I got like probably six or seven going right now.

[Host/Moderator]

Okay.

[Jared Larkin]

So if you have an event. Yeah, if it's big enough.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, yep. Okay, that's big enough. But you also do like the top of funnel stuff where you'll maybe put money behind reels or something like that to reach more people.

[Jared Larkin]

Absolutely, yep. Reels. I'll run anything from value add stuff. I'll give tons of stuff away. I'll drive people to my Instagram to get them to follow my Instagram account and that's been successful. I'll drive them to a landing page to get them on my email list. That way I can get them on one more channel. So I'll do. Yeah, all of that.

[Host/Moderator]

Okay. All right. Do you, what, to what degree do you like, engage? And maybe you do so less so today versus early on. So yeah, as you're listening to Jared, unpack this. Remember to put in the context of where you're at in your journey. Right. With events and classes. Because I'm going to assume, Jared, early on there was a lot of hand to hand combat type stuff, right? Calls, DMs, outreaches, all that.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got to work harder, right. As you're building it, obviously. And then it starts to snowball and yeah, guys, I mean it was a grind. I mean, I'll be honest with you, I almost quit. I was 18, 24 months into the business, doing anything and everything. And just I wasn't seeing the results or getting, you know, getting paid the money that I wanted to from how hard I was working. And then it slowly started to snowball. So it was a lot more outreach. I mean, I'm still, I've still got kind of a targeted list of who I'd like to Go after and reach out to them. I'm a big fan of sliding into the DMs. Right. And I'm not aggressive about it. Right. It's usually a slow play. It's, it's building that relationship and liking and commenting and all that and then kind of building that relationship. But I will book if I want to go after someone, I'll do a ton through the social channels. That also kind of fits my avatar. Right. If I, my avatar would be real estate agents that do a lot of listings because here in Colorado typically the seller pays for and pushes the title insurance company and they are open minded to expanding their marketing, expanding what they could do on social media or in the video space and they're possibly coachable and I can book a meeting with them.

[Host/Moderator]

Okay, let's see here. Promo process. Guys, this is your chance. Whoever's got a question for Jared, tee it up. Now you've obviously then built I assume. Well, I mean you as a title rep can, can access the entire database of real estate agents in the entire state, right?

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

Which is a nice advantage. I was going to ask you, do you, do you also, are you building your own kind of opted in database of agents who have come to your events and things like that?

[Jared Larkin]

Yes. Yeah. So eventbrite. Right. I can download all those lists, I keep them all and I have those at my disposal. I've also write, I can, I can get a list of any agent just about in any market in the United States. If not me, I've got a guy who can do it for me. So yeah, I, I can tap into that and that's, that's the critical data that we need here.

[Host/Moderator]

All right.

[Jared Larkin]

It's going to help us fast forward.

[Host/Moderator]

That process you mentioned earlier. You got really good at converting the meeting, so to speak. So you know, let's just say you get button seats from a class, whatever number that is. Could you just briefly walk through how you identify post class who you do want to talk to and what that process is?

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah. So if I'm teaching the class right, if we're teaching classes, the goal is to get to the one on one to then try to build that relationship and ideally work with that person and earn their business. And if I'm teaching in class, the way I do things is I know that I'm going to deliver value, value, value, value, give it all away. But then I always need to have something else, some other nuggets of value that I can give away. But you have to sit down with me one on one, essentially to get that right? So value, value, value. During any class, give it all away. But then typically there's always gonna be more stuff. One thing that I've done that has completely increased my conversion rate when I started doing this a couple of years ago is every class that I teach, I have a one page fiscal handout. Okay. And on that handout it's a sheet, right? And what it is is maybe three to five things, three to five lead magnets, right. That I'm just going to give away as additional things to anyone in that room, right? So if I'm teaching a class on whatever AI, right, I'll be like, hey, and then like if you want my tutorial on how to do this or hack on this or download this, like, basically the way I set it up is if you are in that class and you are serious about learning that information, it would be foolish of you not to check anything on this handout. You would be missing out. Okay? So typically everyone checks everything. Givers give or so. And at the very bottom, this is the important part, at the very bottom of that handout, they plug in their name, their email, their info, right? They write it all out and then I just straight up ask, right? Hey, would you like to book a one on one meeting with me? Yes or no? Okay. And that right there is huge because you'd be surprised how many people circle. Yes, you'll always get some nos, that's fine. But that is now your fast track into knowing exactly who right off the bat wants to meet with you. Okay, so then what I do is I take all these handouts at the end of class, I go back, I will vet them, I'll look up how much production they're doing, right? I'll prioritize who I want to get in front of first and then I will just start to reach out to them. And it's just so much easier, right? It's like, hey, I saw that you circled yes, that you want to meet with me. When do you want to meet? Right? And you just, you have exactly laser targeted who wants to meet with you right off, right off that.

[Host/Moderator]

How are you delivering the lead magnets that they choose?

[Jared Larkin]

Email. Yeah. So email, that's where I start, right? And what I'll typically do is, is really lately, just because I've been doing so many of these things, I used to send them one by one. Now what I do is I use gmass. So I'm a big fan of Gmail. I've got my email through that I Pay for gmass and what it is, it's just a quick way of sending curated personalized emails to a mass list of people. So I'll just take their name email, push out these templated emails that I've already created and then typically if I'm going to follow up with them, I'll just call them, text them. Right. Hit them on all the different channels until I get a response.

[Host/Moderator]

Very interesting. Very interesting. Yeah, there's. I'm just thinking about like kind of our process, what we do and some similarities, some crossover, maybe a couple of ideas as well. For sure. Improvement.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah. Do you have any, do you have any suggestions on what I, what I could be doing better? I'm always looking to improve too.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, I mean, so you mentioned Eventbrite. I used to use Eventbrite back in the day as well. For us we use High Level as the platform.

[Jared Larkin]

Okay.

[Host/Moderator]

For all the marketing and email and landing pages because you, there's so much else you can do. And for. I've, I've looked high and hard for an integration of Eventbrite and, and High and High Level. I don't know that one exists. Probably getting the API stuff over there. But either way you're reaching people. You know, whether it's. Whether it's Eventbrite or, or it's another platform. It's about reaching the real estate agents.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

I'm curious though at. So that's interesting, the physical handout and then people are. It's, it's really, it's kind of interesting because I used to do that back in the day as well at moving. It's like you hand out this thing what we do. Hey, what was your one big takeaway? You know what other areas of your business.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

Do you. Would you like help with or whatever to identify those talking points? Right. Yeah. And then you just fill out their info like you said, hey, you want the lead magnet, you got to give me your info.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah. Physical handout. Because I've tried being fancy with a QR code or like passing around a tablet and all it does is it just creates confusion. And I'm like, you know what, we're going old school, which is not me. I'm like the handout works. You put in front of them. You're not going to miss out on any potential lead. It's right there.

[Host/Moderator]

What do you do for. How do you handle registrations or check ins? Because we try and use a QR code too.

[Jared Larkin]

I don't, I don't, I.

[Host/Moderator]

You don't do check Ins.

[Jared Larkin]

I don't do check ins. Nope. That my handout is my check in. Because you're going to fill it out. If you're serious. Yep. My handout's my check in. Typically, I. If I'm doing a class typically or event, I'm expecting a 50 turnout, right. So if I want 30 people in the room, I need. I need to get 60 RSVPs.

[Host/Moderator]

Yep. Hey, by the way, heads up, people. See what he just said? 50%, no show rate.

[Jared Larkin]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And half the battle is just getting people to sign up is easy. Half the battle is getting people to show up. Right? So step one is getting in the rsvp, step two is the follow up. And how do you increase that conversion of people showing up to your stuff?

[Host/Moderator]

Right. And you're going to obviously continue to do it, build momentum over time. So you said your goal this year is to do, if I'm correct, 100 classes.

[Jared Larkin]

100 classes and events. Yep. Did 92 last year. So I figured why not break a hundred? That sounds like a nice round number.

[Host/Moderator]

So, like, that's a lot. How are you managing all that as well as you gotta frigging, you know, do all the other stuff you do?

[Jared Larkin]

It's a lot. It's a lot. I'm going 200%. I really am, because I'm out and about.

[Host/Moderator]

I'm right.

[Jared Larkin]

I got a young family. I got three kids. I got twin girls who are one. My son's four. Right? Family time in the morning, and then I hit it. And then from 9am to about 4.30pm, I'm either in meetings or I'm doing classes, right? Or I'm on the phone and then I'm home, I'm with family, right? Bedtime, clean up, and then I'm working. I'm back at it, right? I'm catching up from the day. I'm catching up on emails, I'm catching up on texts. I'm planning out what's coming up next. So it's a lot. It's an ambitious goal. I might be. I might be hitting that point where I'm like, all right, it's time to hire in someone else. Is it a va? What does that look like? Because, yeah, I just want to grow.

[Host/Moderator]

What percentage of the classes are you teaching yourself?

[Jared Larkin]

That's a good question. I don't know that metric. Last year it was less. This year it's much higher. Because without a doubt, right at the end of the day, like, I need to get more business. And the only way it's going to happen is if I'm teaching the class or event, if I'm partnering with someone else who's teaching the class or event, I expect very low return on booking a one on one. I needed to be the person in the room sharing that value to get to that one on one. So I have a much stronger emphasis now with doing that. But with that said, I still find value in partnering with lenders, whatever insurance people fill in the blank because I still want to grow my network and see what they have to provide to offer. And then also too, the other reason why I do all these classes and events is at the end of the day, I mean I'm 100% business development. Right. I'm not. My team is handling everything on the title insurance side. So I should be hitting it hard. And now that I've built my business and like I said, right, you're doing 100 plus deals a month. Like it's a lot of people to maintain relationships with. And the only way I can really do that is classes and events. So it's, it's all wins all around. One, I get to see my clients friends. Right. Two, I get to meet new realtors prospects, etc. Right. And it covers both those spaces.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. And so I see a couple questions coming in. I'm gonna, I'm gonna take your guys questions in a minute and I wrote down something I want to make sure we get to. How do you quote unquote, partner with title reps if you're a lender? You and I talked about that yesterday on the call, the prep call, where you know, title reps aren't engaging or don't want to partner, don't do classes, whatever. We'll tackle that in a second. But obviously. So Ron asked a question. Can you gauge an approximate percentage of business that comes from classes?

[Jared Larkin]

No. No, I can't.

[Host/Moderator]

Well, put it this way. Yeah. What else do you do to market yourself? It seems like this is the primary.

[Jared Larkin]

This is it. This is the primary activity. Right. At this point, it's classes and events and referrals without a doubt too. Like if it helps, I think even better than that, I will host my own stuff. Right. Whether it's in a classroom or at a brewery or distillery or whatever. Right. But without a doubt the best thing I want to do is I want to get into that real estate office and I want to do a monthly class or something of value every single month. And that's the best thing you can do, especially if you can infiltrate that office and Then the business just comes. Right. I'm seeing it now from the work I put in into an office. I've been working now for about 13 months and it just flows through. So to answer your question, Ron, sorry, I don't have an exact metric, but all my business these days is classes, events, or just really referrals or just a small percent of me doing personal outreach.

[Host/Moderator]

With getting into a brokerage like that and, you know, adding the monthly class, have you ever run into a situation where there's already an incumbent title company and you need to displace them all the time? Yeah. So how does that, how does that happen, man? You out value them, Is that how it happens?

[Jared Larkin]

That's the goal? I think so. I think he's teaming up here. Yeah. We gotta add value, right? We got to add value. Yeah. That. That's my niche. That's my niche.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. I mean, how many people here have already done a class in a real estate brokerage where there's a lender inside that brokerage already? All right, I'm seeing the hands go up. Right. So it happens, folks. Now, real quick, I'm going to ask the question again about the panels. I think what Jared said earlier, Emmett, is he does a panel quarterly, the process from ideation to execution. You want to briefly unpack that.

[Jared Larkin]

Sure. Ideation, execution on the panels. Who do you want to work with? Right. You get it. You have complete control over this. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. This is, this is. Now we go after the top, top producers. Right. It's a great way to get your foot in the door. I mean, anyone who you think would want to be on a panel and share value. Right. That could be any team leader, anyone looking to grow their brokerage, their team, any of the letters companies, Exp Pak re A L lpt. Right. All those that recruit and grow. You pick your top producers, you put them on that stage, you get to be the hero to them. Right. And you get to spend time with them and you can take it as far as you want. Right. You can. You can get together with them beforehand and prep what questions are going to go over. You can, you know, have continual conversations before and after the panel event, which I think is just. There's just so much value in doing these things.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. I mean, logistics is like, we've. I remember we've talked about this periodically throughout the years we've been doing this. Janelle. I know one is a standout, has done a panel. It's. To me, it's not that much different than doing a Normal class. It starts with daytime location. Right. Topic. And then I would think the topic is going to influence who you identify as real estate agents. As long as you're following agents, you know what they're showing up as and those types of things. Like, if you're going to do like you go to his eventbrite page.

[Jared Larkin]

Right.

[Host/Moderator]

How to get your offer accepted or how to get more listings or if it's social media, you know, it's kind of like what that other folks have talked about here, Tiffany and others where, like, for example, Jared, what we've been doing is we have an Instagram class, a reels class, for example. Right. And if an ello is smart, they'll identify a realtor who's already showing up good with the thing. Instagram reels. And then they'll call that realtor and say, hey, I'm hosting a class. You're obviously doing well with reels. I'd love to have you come share your story. Right. On how you do it. And then nine out of 10 times, agents are like, yeah, I'll do that. I love to talk about me.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah. And just ideas for you. All right, Exactly. Everything you said, Jeff. I've done one on real estate investing. That's always a hot topic, by the way, if you guys wanted to go a direction, if you're completely. If you need one more idea. If I look at, you know, hundreds of classes, events I've done anything on, investing in real estate usually gets a good turnout. Divorce, randomly. Every time I do a class on divorce gets a really good turnout. Yeah. And then the marketing stuff, of course, as well. And then also too, all my stuff, none of it's CE certified. I think a lot of people get caught up in thinking, I got to get my class C certified, otherwise I'm going to show up. Now, if you have a good. I think it all comes down to if you've got a good name for the class. Right. That's number one. Right. People, you got to hook them for them to even look at it and see what's all about. And then you got to hit them with what they're going to learn and the value and all that. And then they're just going to decide whether or not they want to show up. And that's what it just comes down to.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. Very. Man, oh, man. Sounds like a book I read. Success for class. It starts with your name and your title. Yeah. So classes are hosted, I'm sure, you know, anywhere from title wrap office to real estate office to frigging total wine and more, you know, you know, you name it. Find the venue, right? Shared workspace, distilleries.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah, right, yeah, distilleries, breweries, all that. Yeah. If I can get out of the classroom. That's always the objective, right? Keep it more casual, social. Right. Get people to hang out after, have a good time. And then also, too, I'm pretty scrappy when it comes to budget, so I think also a lot of people, we get caught up on, hey, this is gonna, how much is gonna cost me, right? How much am I kind of floating here? I'm pretty, pretty strategic when it comes to picking my locations. And usually if I'm going into anything, there's a very, very small amount of money possibly lost if nobody shows up to this thing. And you, you hit up, right? I mean, sure, I know I'm preaching the choir here, but you hit up all the spots around town that have slow business on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all my classes, events. I've found that Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday are the days I hit either 10am or 2pm I do 10am because that's enough time in the morning for real estate agents hopefully to get their lives together. And also, you know, again, I'm, I'm scrappy when it comes to these. Right. They should have already eaten breakfast. So it's one less thing to, to deal with. It's not that I don't want to pay for breakfast. I just don't want to go and do and deal with all of that. 2pm is my other time frame. And the reason why is if someone has a lunch appointment, so they book a noon appointment. Right. Any lunch appointment, in my opinion, is going to run an hour and a half. So that gives them enough time to finish that up and then get to my class or event.

[Host/Moderator]

How would you coach us through finding and partnering with somebody like you to put these types of classes on?

[Jared Larkin]

Oh, it's hard.

[Host/Moderator]

This is your colleagues.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah, you gotta find someone. You gotta find people that are hungry, Right? I mean, who are the people that are hungry that you see out there consistently going after it? Right. And they're not. How, how can they contribute? Right. If it's whatever, fill in the blank, financial aspect, marketing aspect, picking up the phone and just, just reaching out to their real estate network. Right. There's huge value in that. I've been, I've been working with an insurance guy here, guy named Noah Taxman with Goosehead. He. He's just a hustler. He's. He's still like relatively new into the Space. But he's the number one guy because he just works. And I love him because the value he brings to the table is he's not afraid to pick up the phone and just start calling realtors and inviting this thing. And I love it.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, those, those insurance guys are great with that. They love the. Love it.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah. So. So to answer your question, you gotta ask yourself, who's. Who's someone there that's probably already doing classes and events, right? Are they hosting them, are they teaching them? Right. And then just approach them with the concept. And then I think, I think what's important. I think what I noticed a lot when I talk to other title professionals in this space is right, refinances are not booming right now. Right. And that might be a reason why they might not be calling on lenders. And me, I see the complete opposite. Yeah, I'd love. I'd love to get all your refinances. That'd be awesome. But at the end of the day, right, we're both going after real estate agents, right? To a certain degree. And I'd rather partner with you to tap into your realtor database as well as my database and like, let's do something together. And the truth is, too, I'm going to get paid. I'm going to make more money off of a resale versus a refinance anyway. So to me, I'm going after resale ventures, business refinances. I'd love them, but that's just a cherry on top in my business.

[Host/Moderator]

Very good advice. Very good advice. Guys, what do you got for questions? I'm not covering. Help me out here. Does I see your, your comment about California? California, Jared, you may know it's kind of its own unique animal, right? I mean, with the regulations there and stuff. A lot of restrictions around that, so. But at least they can give you your people. Liz, that's nice. It's not. Again, it's not a. A gamble. They don't even. They only won't participate.

[Jared Larkin]

They.

[Host/Moderator]

They'll charge you if you want to use their conference rooms, so.

[Jared Larkin]

Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. I know someone out there. They can't even buy you a cup of coffee, I believe, right? Yeah, it's. But then go to a different state like Arizona, and it's gangster land and there's no rules and it's. It's wild. Yes. So it does depend on the market you're in. I totally agree with that. Chris Gibson. What's up, Chris? Real quick, Chris, awesome sales rep in Seattle. Reach out to Ashley Duran, she just switched companies. She's at wfg. She's a, she's a big hitter out there.

[Host/Moderator]

Reach out to her WFG man. My own stomping grounds.

[D]

One, one thing I'll say too, just to, to pipe in is that not, not all of Jared's classes are all like what, like 100 people, right? Like we've done classes with five people and like 100%. Like, I don't know what the average of yours is, but we've done it. And in front of five people, we've done classes in front of 200 people. But also like you said, like, just from being a hungry standpoint, like, I think what you do really well is you also send out like a monthly, I'm sorry, a weekly newsletter almost, right.

[Host/Moderator]

Donald Trump, they call me a criminal.

[D]

And then. Mike, can you mute that?

[Host/Moderator]

Minions online come after me to try to. Who's got the mic?

[D]

Thanks, dude.

[Host/Moderator]

There we go.

[D]

You sent out a weekly newsletter that's like, here's like a video on how to.

[Host/Moderator]

Right?

[D]

So it's like instructional and you're giving something of value then. And also like, here's something else that's coming out with like, here's the upcoming classes and, and then so you're, it's like a constant drip thing where you're just kind of everywhere.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah, I agree. I'm, I'm not afraid to have one person show up to a class or event because to me, I'm going to market to everyone and it's a touch, it's more touches. Right. And, and also too, right, you guys already know this, that one or two, five people that show up, they might be the great, the best people that you want to work with. You can have more of an intimate conversation with them and you never know who shows up. I mean, I've, I've taught a class to three people in the room and you know, one of them's a 20, 30 million dollar producer. And guess what? You could have like one hour now with this person pretty much and really get to build rapport with them. Right. We're doing these classes and events to educate, to provide value, but really to just build rapport. Right. So that's the other thing too, right? Is how can I not only present and share, but also build rapport with people in the room, get a conversation going to, then more easily convert them to that one on one and continue that conversation and build that partnership.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, yeah. So, all right guys, so far, what's your biggest takeaway from what you heard, type it in the chat right now. Biggest takeaway, one action item you're going to implement. I want to see them flow in here.

[E]

I just think partners, I, I just think I have a very, I had a very narrow scope on who could be a potential partner. Movers. Like just hearing him talk about like there's, there's somebody in your network that could be willing to partner with you and it doesn't have to be a real estate agent or a title person.

[Host/Moderator]

Right, I agree, absolutely. I mean that's why I would go through the list like he did. Appraiser, escrow, home warranty. I mean you got home warranty reps out there, right Jared?

[Jared Larkin]

We do. I, I need to find a good one attorney, financial advisor. Yeah, the list goes on. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

It's.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah. The more you bring them in the way, the, the better it's going to be. Yeah. And that's another thing too is on the panel events shoot. This next panel, I'm doing it, I'm doing it with a junk removal company, the Junk Trunk. They do junk removal and they do roll away dumpsters. And I'm doing it with a home organizer. Those are my partners on this one. And yeah. So think outside the box on stuff.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah. I love the, the takeaways you guys have in the thread here for the chat. I think the bottom line is if there was one takeaway I'm pulling of the many from Jared, it's just do the effing work. Like you know, do the events. We tell people, Jared, it's a minimum one event per month. You know, that's the friggin minimum. Now some people do more than that, obviously you're doing a lot more. Some others come in for a period of time, they'll ramp up and do a quarter. They'll do three or four events per month for a quarter. But the point being is let's, let's go back to dovetail like you know, when you first started. Because a lot of people, a lot of lenders, a lot of people in this room are in this situation of the problem is awareness. The problem is there's deals happening in your backyard. You're just not getting in front of them. And that's a process that takes time. You know, if you picture that pyramid of the funnel, top of the funnels, awareness or discovery.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

I mean guys, that's why I'm still after all these flipping years. I started in 2003. Okay. That's. Y'all know my story, right? I was doing the Classes, that's what I shifted to. I'm still preaching classes. Right. Even though social media has a play and it's part of it. But in terms of creating awareness or. Jared, I like to say running for mayor, becoming five mile famous, I would argue, Jared, you're probably amongst the most well known title reps in your area. Would you agree?

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah, I, I would. And, and for me, I, it's just not being afraid of being loud. I, I'd say probably about four, I was on Orion yesterday, probably about four years ago. I just, I just said, you know what I'm tired of hearing about so and so, you know, when people think of title insurance and I want, I want my name to be up there too. Right. And I don't mean that from an egotistical way. I just mean it from like, I want it from getting more business way.

[Host/Moderator]

You're doing a hundred deals a month, Jer. Is that right?

[Jared Larkin]

Over 100? Yeah.

[Host/Moderator]

Over 100 deals a month. Now I know, like, equate that to us for loans. Like whatever you're doing now, the only difference between now and where you want to get is how many people know who you are, how many conversations you have. Right. That add some type of value. That's it. Yeah, Go ahead, Christopher.

[E]

Yeah. Hey, Jared. So like I have a list of like future friends, people I want to get to know. I'm inviting them to classes. I comment on their, I go to their socials weekly and I comment on them. But what do you think about like the dms, like when you're starting to get into the direct messaging, do you start with more casual stuff stuff, or is starting with an invite to a class too pushy?

[Jared Larkin]

No, that's a really good question. Yeah. Say I just followed you. Right. I wanted to target you, Chris. Right. I'd probably start following you, liking your stuff, commenting on your posts. Right. If you're posting stories, I'm going to try to find points of connection where we can relate on that. Right. Try to get the conversation going from the stories into the messenger. Right. And then just slowly kind of play into that. Right. And then. Yeah. And then if I can feed that into a class or event. That's fantastic. Fantastic. That's an easy ask. And that's also too, like, sometimes I'll meet people out and about and they're not ready to have a one on one with me. Right. So in the class or the event is the perfect next step. It just happened to me two days ago. The guy's like, yeah, no, I'm Good. I'm like, cool. Like, hey, I'm doing this thing in a week from now if you want to come check it out. And he's like, yeah, check it out. So I think it's right. Value ladder marketing. It's one step below that, one on one. And it's an easier, hey, come check this thing out. Be fun or be educational and start there.

[E]

I mean, what if I haven't had like the opportunity to like, really strike up a conversation like, you know, you comment and. And all that. But. But just shooting them, hey, your next class invite, like, is that too much? I mean, they're already on my targeted ads and they're going to see my class invite on my targeted ads. But is it too much to just shoot over a personal DM versus a. Because I find the call and text, they're just so inundated, it seems to be too much. So I just felt like a DM would be less intrusive. But is it going to like get me iced out right away?

[Jared Larkin]

I think it's subjective and you don't know until you try. I very much live by the mindset of you. You. You can't lose what you don't have. Right. So you don't know till you try. Yeah, guys, thanks for hanging out with me, but everything's mile. Mile high. Title guy. Mile high. Title guy. Mile high. Title guy.com. and you'll find me.

[Host/Moderator]

Yeah, absolutely. I would just say, guys, you know, put in the work. Look at we've laid. I think 80% of what Jared does is laid out for you here in our community. The classes, the content, the landing pages, the emails. Right. The workflows that go with that. The tutorial on how to teach the class, the flyers, the canva images. Like Jared had to create that all by himself.

[Jared Larkin]

Yeah, that's. Yeah, I wish. I wish we connected sooner.

[Host/Moderator]

Right, Jared? Appreciate it, man. I'll be in touch.

[Jared Larkin]

Thanks for having me. Take care, guys. Bye.

[Host/Moderator]

All right, everybody. Take care.

[Jeff Zimfer]

Okay, that's it for today's episode. Before we wrap up, I just wanted to remind you about my agent classes. Your proven system to double your agent referrals in just 90 days. Imagine never having to cold call again. Instead building real lasting relationships with top producing agents who want to send you business with done for you presentations, marketing automation, weekly coaching. It's all designed to make growing your business easier and fun. So if you're ready to take control of your agent referrals and grow your income, visit MortgageMarketing Pro or check the link in the show notes. And while you're there, don't forget to check out the success stories from other mortgage bros who've already seen incredible results. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you on the next.