This Loan Officer Went From Zero to $50M in 12 Months From Scratch

Summary

Podcast Summary: Mortgage Marketing Radio – “This Loan Officer Went From Zero to $50M in 12 Months From Scratch”

Date: March 26, 2025
Host: Geoff Zimpfer
Guest: PJ Crescenzo

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Overview

In this episode, host Geoff Zimpfer interviews top producer PJ Crescenzo about his remarkable journey relocating to a brand-new market—knowing virtually no one—and building a $50 million mortgage business in just 12 months. PJ offers deeply practical and mindset-driven strategies for loan officers, covering networking, relationship building, tactical daily activities, time management, building agent partnerships, and leveraging social media. The discussion is both tactical and inspiring, steeped in real-world experiences and PJ’s grounded, service-first approach.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Move: Starting Over in a New City

• PJ moved from Charleston, SC, to Winter Garden, FL, knowing only one person—a leap loaded with risk and “start-over costs.”
  • [02:06] “I was visiting with my wife, we threw a low ball offer on a house… and they countered back… and I said, all right, babe, we’re moving to Orlando.”
• The move involved leaving a commission job, with a pregnant wife, and a new mortgage—failure was not an option.

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2. Strategic Market Selection

• PJ chose Central Florida for its strong market fundamentals: affordability, inventory, and growth prospects.
  • [02:14] “If I’m going to bet on myself and go to a new market, this is a good place strategically to do it. I just didn’t know anything other than macroeconomic facts.”

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3. Mindset: The Pillar of Growth

• Operating with a “failure is not an option” mindset pushed PJ to take relentless action.
  • [03:08] “It put me in a position where failure wasn’t an option, which is really a great mindset to operate with whether you’re winning or not winning.”

On Mindset and Identity

• “80% mindset, 20% mortgage.” PJ emphasizes clarity of personal values (faith, family, fitness, finance) and surrounding yourself with supporters and mentors.
  • [17:33] “If you’re a loan officer, you don’t have the right environment around you... all you’re going to be looking at is tigers and lions. But if you have the right environment, you can look into the place of peace.”

On Serving, Not Selling

• [20:43] “I think underneath what you just said, Chick Fil A, sending a hundred books, showing up and doing lunch and learns—what I hear there is servant, not salesperson.”

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4. The System: Daily, Weekly, and Monthly Activities

The Networking Formula

• 2 events per week, 3 one-on-ones per week—relentlessly, every week.
  • [06:53] “I’m going to be at two networking events a week, and I’m going to do three one-on-ones a week, every single week.”

Choosing Events

• Use Eventbrite to find any professional or community event—not just real estate-specific.
• Million-dollar networking tip:
  • Go to the host: “Who’s worth knowing here tonight?”
    • If there’s synergy, ask, “Would you mind making an introduction?”
    • With the power players: “I’d love to learn more about your story.”
      • [08:07] “[This] changed my life…you bypass the 300 people there for a free drink and get introduced to the three power players.”

Quality over Quantity in Relationship-Building

• Meetings aren’t only with realtors, but any professional who may refer you deals or introduce you to others—attorneys, business owners, financial advisors, even jet brokers (who introduced PJ to three realtors!).
  • [11:29] “Let me just try to be friends with real estate agents. And if we don’t hit it off… I’m just like, okay, cool, move on. It’s a number.”

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5. Lead Generation, Conversion, and Nurture Framework

The Simple 3-Part Job

• [00:00] & [35:19]

  • 1. Generate – via education, visibility, and availability
  • 2. Convert – by focusing on “needs and wants analysis,” not hard selling
  • 3. Nurture – with ongoing follow-up, plans, and value

• “Every time they see you and you’re available, you need to educate…If you just do that, you could sit at Dunkin Donuts and educate everybody…”

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6. Lunch & Learns and One-to-Many Strategies

Structure of PJ’s Lunch & Learns (“Four P’s”)

• People: Vision, values, and alignment
• Process: How the client experience works
• Product: Offerings tailored to what real estate agents care about most (“the meat and potatoes”)
• Profit: Helping agents close deals and ensure transactions close on time
  • [31:04] “My goal is to help you sell more real estate…the way I’m going to support your business is by helping you sell more products.”

Diligence and Trial & Error

• “I refused to walk out of a room without a lead. I’m going to extract every bit of value I can.”

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7. Handling Email and Time Management

Delegation for Focus

• Have your LOA (Loan Officer Assistant) manage your email and only present you what matters.
  • [16:24] “If you’re a loan officer and all day you’re reacting and responding to emails… you can’t address problems with the same clarity.”

Time Management Deep Dive

• Learned from resources like “Buy Back Your Time” (Dan Martell), focusing relentlessly on high-yield activities.

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8. Realtor & Referral Partner Strategy

“ABC Prospecting” Framework

• A: Loyal, regular referring partners

• B: Know you, but don’t currently refer

• C: Don’t know you yet

• The key: Always work to move Cs to Bs, Bs to As, and As to VIPs.

  • [25:10] “Build yourself 25 VIPs, you’ll do $50 million a year.”

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9. Systems & Process Blueprint

PJ’s 10-Step Workflow (For Every Lead)

• 1. Discovery Call (needs and wants analysis)
• 2. Prepare Mortgage Plan
• 3. Action Call (payment, cash to close, timeline)
• 4. Pre-processing (re-review, prep)
• 5-10. Traditional Loan Milestones (processing, submission, approval, CTC, closing)
• Let CRM automation manage follow-ups and pipeline.

Team Structure

• Two loan partners: one for discovery to action call, another from contract to close.

Daily Huddles

• Short meetings with team members daily for alignment and pipeline management.

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10. Social Media & Instagram for Lead Gen

• Instagram focus: consistency and quality, minimum one reel per week.
• Hired support to manage and reply to all DMs/comments, treating it like a “farm” of relationships and leads.
  • [40:57] “I’ve closed several [deals from Instagram DMs]… an $800,000 purchase that I closed in February just reached out and said, hey, I want to buy a house, and I don’t know where to start.”

Maxim: Many Homebuyers Feel Uninformed

• Even past buyers feel lost. Keep messaging basic, clear, and welcoming.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Mindset:
  • “Failure wasn’t an option, which is really a great mindset to operate with whether you’re winning or not winning.” – PJ [03:08]
• On Networking:
  • “Go up to the host and say, who’s worth knowing? And then when you meet the power player, say: I’d love to learn more about your story.” – PJ [08:51]
• On Systematizing Email:
  • “I only check one folder in my email inbox. Still get three to 400 emails a day, but I probably look at 30.” – PJ [16:28]
• On Impact:
  • “Stop focusing on trying to be the best and focus on impacting the most lives.” – PJ quoting mentor Chris [21:04]
• On Lead Conversion:
  • “Our job is to generate, convert and nurture leads... You could sit at Dunkin Donuts and educate everybody that comes in… and you’re gonna get leads.” – PJ [35:19]
• On Servant Leadership:
  • “I think underneath what you just said… what I hear there is servant, not salesperson.” – Geoff [20:43] | “Yes.” – PJ
• On Social Media:
  • “My number one tip on Instagram is just make it look quality and put it out consistently.” – PJ [42:06]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Starting Over & Mindset: 00:00–03:57
• Strategic Market Choice: 02:14–02:54
• Networking Routine & Tactics: 06:53–09:45
• One-to-Ones and Referral Mapping: 09:25–13:45
• Time Management & Email Delegation: 14:54–16:49
• Lunch & Learns Four P’s Framework: 31:04–32:57
• ABC Prospecting & Referral Partners: 23:58–27:07
• System & Workflow: 37:30–40:35
• Social Media Strategy: 40:57–43:14
• Closing Gratitude & Wrap-Up: 43:14–end

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Final Takeaways

• Relentless, systemized action plus service-first mindset, and quality relationships–across all types of professionals–are key to scaling from zero to $50M in a new market.
• Daily, weekly, and monthly activities—especially face-to-face networking and deep one-on-ones—drive the pipeline.
• Serve before selling–and truly care. Impact is greater than accolades.
• Build systems for focus, delegate low-value tasks, and automate follow-up.
• Consistent, authentic, and simple social media presence can deliver substantial, high-quality leads.

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For more, connect with PJ Crescenzo via Instagram (link in show notes).

Transcript

[A]

Your job is to generate, convert and nurture leads. Like, that's the three framework. So the way that you generate is with education, visibility and availability. Like, people need to see you, then you need to be available. And every time they see you and you're available, you need to educate. Because if you just do that, you could sit at Dunkin Donuts and educate everybody that comes in about what's going on with the bond market. Like, you're gonna get leads. And then when the lead comes in, your job isn't to convert them and say, work with me as a mortgage broker, work with me as a lender. The job is to say, what are your needs and wants? To needs and wants analysis.

[B]

PJ Crescenzo, welcome back to the show.

[A]

Thank you so much, brother. Grateful to be here.

[B]

We're trying to talk earlier to see how long it's been since you were on the show. And I think it's like two and a half years.

[A]

Ish. So I was going to say, if I'm a betting man, which unfortunately I am a betting man, I think it's exactly three years.

[B]

So some things have changed since we last talked. You've completely relocated to a brand new area, which is, you know, what we're going to talk about here today is how did you go from 0 to 50 million in one year in a brand new area without knowing a soul?

[A]

Soul. Yeah. Well, that's an accurate statement. I knew one soul in the entire city. And we just hosted a pretty successful dinner this last Saturday at one of the clubs downtown. It's called the Citrus Club. And I'm looking around and just sharing with the group the gratitude for how quickly things can change in 15 months.

[B]

All right, so where'd you move from to?

[A]

Yeah, so I was in Charleston, South Carolina. So I'm originally from outside of Philadelphia, spent 20 years there, relocated to Charleston, which is where we connected. Previously was running a sales team with my father, Phil, and then move to Orlando, Florida, which, believe it or not, has way more to offer than Disney World and Universal, which I never could have imagined and never knew was possible. And it's a little town called Winter Garden, Florida. So the story was we came down, I was visiting with my wife, we threw a low ball offer on a house. There's a lot going on with our current branch at the time. And the offer got accepted, offered 125,000 under ask with the golf cart and the driveway and all the closing costs. Really? And they countered back with 12k with everything that was in that offer. Wow. And I said, all right, babe, we're moving to Orlando.

[B]

And so you fell in love with the area that. That much that you just like, let's get out of Charlotte area or Charleston and let's go over here.

[A]

Yeah. And there's two pieces to it. I mean, strategically, I knew I wanted to stay in the Southeast. My wife was from South Carolina, so she always wanted to go to a different area in the country, so that was on the radar. We looked at Colorado, Austin, Nashville, some of these other markets, but I knew from a production standpoint, I want to stay in the Southeast United States. Carolina is Atlanta, Georgia, Florida. I looked at Florida, I said, that's one of the hottest markets. And then I looked at central Florida and said, there's more affordability, inventory, and area for new construction and development. So I said, if I'm going to bet on myself and go to a new market, this is a good place strategically to do it. I just didn't know anything other than that than, like, the macroeconomic facts. Wow. That's.

[B]

That's. Talk about brave and courageous. Right? Wow. And now. Now let me ask you this, because I know having been a loan officer and the start over costs.

[A]

Right. Did.

[B]

Did that weigh on you at all of, like, you know, are you moving to this new area? Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. So let me bring you in on this. So at the time when I put in the offer, I originally thought I was still going to be working with my old branch. So there was some fixed income there and bonuses that were established and we had a big team and production was consistent. And then when I realized, hey, I'm going to be going out on my own, I had a $700,000 house in Charleston. We just closed on a $600,000 house in Orlando, then was going into a commission only position, not knowing a single person. And then one week after we moved, I found out my wife was pregnant with our daughter. Oh, wow. So, honestly, I'm so. Yeah, thank you. She's five months old now, so I'm so grateful because it put me in a position where failure wasn't an option, which is really a great mindset to operate with whether you're winning or not winning, but just to wake up every day like, failure is not an option. But, yeah, those first two months, it was like, okay, we got some work to do.

[B]

Yeah. Wow. So you got after it. Okay, so you've transitioned over to Winter Park, Is that what you said?

[A]

Yeah. So it's. There's two towns that are very similar. It's Winter park and Winter Garden. Winter park, there's a little bit more infrastructure, commercial, but they're both right outside of Orlando. And I'm in Winter Garden, the smaller of the two.

[B]

Isn't that where a lot of the baseball teams train?

[A]

Yeah, yeah. And, yeah, I mean, it's. I never knew this, but there's also a lot of professional athletes, celebrities that call Orlando home throughout the year.

[B]

Interesting. Okay. All right. So you made the transition over there, and so what. What's. We want to talk about how you go from 0 to 50 million not knowing a soul. So I love the fact that you. By the way, for those listening, PJ gets nothing out of this. Like, he didn't pay to, like, you know, oh, let me pay for your time. You actually contacted me and said, dude, I think I have a pretty cool story that listeners of your podcast would benefit from, and you wanted it to be very tactical. So, first of all, kudos to you for wanting to give back to the industry. Now, let's break this. Let's break this down, because what you said to me before we hit record was, if a loan officer listening did this, you guarantee them. No personal guarantee, but you know that you'd be doing. Would you say like, 30 million?

[A]

I'd say 24 to 36 million. Yeah. So one thing that I've realized, the more time I've spent in the industry is I used to think anybody can become $100 million producer. And I think maturity and experience has made me realize not everybody can, because it's not that they don't have the capacity in them to do it. It's just the desire, the willingness to sacrifice to even want that life. Not everybody wants to do that, so therefore, they can't. But to be a $24 million producer, I truly believe that anybody can do it, because at that level of production, it's daily, weekly, and monthly activities. So that's the simplest thing is, I think, in our industry. So you got two pieces. You're in a world that's extremely noisy. Like, regardless of what you do. We live in an era of human history where there's a lot of noise. And then in the mortgage industry, you're in an industry that's even more noisy. I would also wager that our email inbox gets more flooded than any other industry that's out there. If you're a mortgage loan officer, some of it valid, some of it not, but you have to figure out how to discern everything that's coming your way. So one of the first building blocks to going from zero to a million. A million to 2 million is daily, weekly, monthly activities. And I know a lot of top producers share this, but I don't know how often producers reflect on an ongoing basis of what are my daily, weekly and monthly activities. Like I just saw that shot post he put on LinkedIn recently and he said the difference between the 1 percenters and everybody else is they still do the fundamentals. So it's not the sexiest thing. But that was part of my initial strategy was I'm going to be at two networking events a week and I'm going to do three one on ones a week, every single week. So I just went on eventbrite and started looking up events and just showed up to anything and everything. And another one of my mentors told me you have to be everywhere and anywhere. Like your goal is to just be anywhere and everywhere. Yeah.

[B]

So these events, are they real estate.

[A]

Related or what are they anything that. So somebody else told me like you can connect with people when you have triads. So if you have something in common, hey, we both share that we like the mortgage industry. We both share that we read Rules, Rules for a Night by Ethan Hawke. Yeah. So things that you can connect on. So I would go to any event that I have something I can connect on. Is it real estate? Investing is an entrepreneurship, Is it tech? Is it systems? Is it one of the biggest account I landed was at a crypto conference that was my first big real estate team that I landed in Orlando was by going to Bridger Pennington's Wall Street Rebels like crypto conference. And so it doesn't even have to be mortgage or real estate. It's just something that's related to our field and the loan officer with the most friends wins.

[B]

Okay, so let's recap what you said there. Two events per.

[A]

Two events per week per week and three ones and three one on ones.

[B]

Okay, so two events per week. Get on eventbrite. Start searching events that are happening in your local backyard. You can search by area and different things like that. And then I know there's, I do this as well because of the events that I do with, with loan officers and stuff and realtors. There's, there's a ton of events happening in your backyard every single day that you can get in front of real estate related and otherwise.

[A]

You know, it's the easiest thing to do. So you look it up, you show up, you shake somebody's hand and this was a million dollar nugget. So when my first week in Orlando. I went to a networking workshop and naturally I like to network, but I said, all right, I need every intellectual resource I can have to perform. So I went to this art of networking by a local company called VIP Co and a good friend of mine, Caleb Paul, and he told me to ask this question which changed my life. When you go to a networking event, you walk up to the host and say, who's worth knowing here tonight? And if there's synergy, you say, would you mind making an introduction? So now every event you go to, you get, you bypass the 300 people that are there for a free drink and an appetizer and you get introduced to the three power players.

[B]

Wow, that's smart. That's smart.

[A]

And then my follow up question, when I meet the power players, I say, hey, I'd love to learn more about your story. And that's my like. So those two things are my like networking juggernauts. Go up to the host and say, who's worth knowing? And then when you meet the power player, say, hey, I'd love to learn more about your story. That's awesome.

[B]

Two great questions, big takeaways there already. Okay, so that's takeaway number one, get on Eventbrite. Look for events you can just, you know, attend and network and build your sphere of influence. And then number two, three, one on ones per week. Okay, so you're brand new to the area. How do you get these one on ones?

[A]

I want to learn more about your story. I mean I.

[B]

There's a stem from the networking, so the one on one, by the way, just to be clarified. So when, when we hear that we.

[A]

Think real estate agent, it's anybody I was meeting with, any professional that could potentially refer me business. So I would also say this because there's so much value that came from this. So I'm getting into the tactical, but I want to go on a quick rant of some nuggets that I got mentally to help prepare. Right. So Dustin Shepard, Kurt Rising, Evan Miller, all guys from APM who poured into me education for my father to know how to speak mortgages, because I would have never been able to succeed if I didn't have like a very deep knowledge of how to put deals together. But then also Dustin Owen who gave me the loan officer blueprint and just following some of his content, was anybody that could potentially refer you a deal. So it opened my horizon of like, I actually just met a guy getting coffee before this who runs a pharmaceutical company, but he said, hey, we own all of These properties downtown, we might need to do some refinances on them. So it's like it's anybody who's touching real estate, it doesn't need to be a real estate professional. Are they a business owner, they. A tax professional? Are they financial advisor, they. So I would just take one on ones with anybody that's a professional. Because then say, like I'll give you an example. I met with a guy who was in aviation. Like he brokers private charters. And I said, who, what real estate agents do you know that I should reach out and introduce myself to? So that meeting actually got me three meetings with real estate agents. Really? He didn't have anything to do with real estate, but I met with him and asked, who do you know that I should reach out to?

[B]

Yeah, you're a master networker. Well, think about that too. Like somebody who's in aviation and what does he rent? Plane cell planes or something?

[A]

Yeah, I think he, he works with plane manufacturers or private jets and then just helps book their flights for them. Like he'll broker.

[B]

Sure. Fractional ownership.

[A]

Fractional ownership, yeah.

[B]

Now think about who does that person know? Right? I mean, obviously people who are well off, who can afford that. Uh, so you're so. I love what this is. You're expanding your network. It's also non traditional. So many people want to go down the rabbit hole of realtors. We'll talk about that because that's relevant. But you're kind of playing a little bit of chess instead of checkers.

[A]

I'll take it. I never identified my game as that. But that's how you're going to classify it. I'll gladly take it.

[B]

I mean, dude, you talk to one guy who does the aviation thing and he introduces you to three realtors.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like, who would have. See most even myself. I'm not even connecting the dots on that in the, in the day to day.

[A]

Well, and here's the thing. So there's two things. One, like, I have a bunch of thoughts on cold calling. We could do a whole segment on that. I don't love cold calling. It's not. It's just something that I just don't enjoy. Yeah. It's just not me.

[B]

What's.

[A]

What works for PJ is a handshake and let me get to know you and let me dump a bunch of positive energy on you and you can do what you want with it. But in that it's. We all know who's going to send the lead. Right. So real estate agents hold the castle and the keys to all the leads. For the most part, you can do consumer direct and do some other things, but I, I need to figure out a way that I can get introduced to them in a way where it's not that I'm trying to take their keys. It's we have something in common. So that's my strategy is let me make friends with people who know real estate agents and then let me just try to be friends with real estate agents. And if, and if we don't hit it off, if there's not good energy and the spirit isn't there, I'm just like, okay, cool, move on. It's a number.

[B]

So close the loop for me on this introduction from the aviator person into the realtors.

[A]

Like, how did that happen?

[B]

Did he write to send you an email and then walk me through your content?

[A]

Yeah, I think that was a social media. So going back on that, it was a post on LinkedIn and he said, hey, I saw you were hosting a local event and I said, let's just meet for coffee. And then again, part of this is there is some when. So go back to daily, weekly, monthly activities. When you hold yourself accountable to the system, you're going to be willing to fill it with anything that works. So because he commented on my post, I said, I don't have any one on ones this week, so let me meet with this guy when I'm there because we need more volume. I said, I let me see if this guy knows any real estate agents. And that's the loop. So if you commit to, hey, I need to do three weekly one on ones with anybody that can refer me business. But every single person with an NMLS license number is calling real estate agents. So who else? Especially if you work in a metro area. Like, I walk outside and I'm like, I want to know that guy. I want to know they're all business owners. This guy used the realtor. This guy used the realtor. Right? So that, that's the strategy. Just fill it with people that are professionals in your sphere that could then open the doors for you if you can build a friendship and a bond.

[B]

You know, it's funny, man, what just popped in my head, Crazy, crazy. Memory is so 30, 30 plus maybe 35 years ago. I don't know if you know this, but I was working for Tony Robbins and we would.

[A]

No, I don't.

[B]

We would go into a city and we'd live in a city for basically two months at a time. And our job was to do exactly what you just Described it was to get a bunch of meetings and do presentations. Now some of them were set up for us by the company, but we were tasked and bonused on setting our own meetings. And I can, I can remember, just like you said, driving around town and I'm seeing names of companies on buildings, whether it was real estate, insurance or whatever financial. And I'm looking up at these big buildings, I'm like, oh, and I'm writing the company name. And then you go back and like this is like before the Internet kids, right? And you had to figure out a way to like find out who's at that company and contact them. But very similar, like just, you know, what do you call that in the military thing? Like, you know, reconnaissance. Just out there.

[A]

Recon, Just doing straight recon. Well, and, and it gets you into the place of abundance. Like the number one threat. If I have two threats to my business, one is distraction and the other one scarcity, those are the only two things that are going to stop me from being $100 million producer. Scarcity and distraction.

[B]

Yeah, Scarcity mindset and distraction of bright shiny object types.

[A]

Yeah. Of not having the right priorities. Because I could sit here today and put together and this is another rant, but I could put together 10 proposals in mortgage coach or I could just call the 10 clients and make sure they're good with the numbers and then go prospect for two hours. Like when you're in the mortgage business, you can turn any activity into a priority, but you have to be like a ninja to say, what is the thing that's going to move my business forward? That's kind of the one thing Gary Keller and, and part of, really part of my journey from 0 to 50 million last year was I spent two months reading nothing but time management books. I went down a time management deep dive. And one of the, another practical takeaways. If you're a loan officer and you have an loa, have your LOA manage your email inbox. I took it right from Dan Martel's book buy back your time. Because if you're a loan officer and all day you're reacting and responding to emails, the, the one, the feedback loop that you're operating with, you can't even, you can't address problems with the same clarity because it's such quick reactions to everything that's coming your way when somebody else is managing it for you. What we do is we have a PJ folder. So everything in my email inbox that she knows that I need to see gets moved into The PJ folder. So then once or twice a day I go through with clarity and now I'm in the mindset to respond. Before that I would reply to 4 to 500 emails in a day. Especially when we have a week like this week with all the closings going on and it'd be 6 o' clock and I'd have no idea what I got done this week or today. It would just be responses and reactions.

[B]

And are you saying that when you do pop in your email, you're just getting into the PJ folder?

[A]

Yeah, I only check one folder in my email inbox. Still get three to 400 emails a day, but I probably look at 30.

[B]

And is this loa new to you as well?

[A]

She's not. She's a massive part of the business.

[B]

She was Florida or she back in now.

[A]

She's remote. She's remote.

[B]

But she's been with you a while in terms of you've built your workflow with her and all that stuff.

[A]

Yeah. So the story. Last year we went 1 loan, 2 loans, 4 loans, 9 loans, 11 loans, 13 loans, 17 loans, 21 loans, 27 loans. That was our trajectory per month. Like that was the ramp up. So she came at about month nine, which is also feedback I got from my father, which is if you're a loan officer and you're not doing eight loans a month, you don't need an assistant. So the first target I set for myself was I need to get the eight loans a month so I can get an assistant.

[B]

All right, let's bring this back then to you. Boots on the ground in market. You're doing this networking thing. You're hopping on eventbrite. You've got your minimum standard. So far. We talked about two events and three one on ones. Take me deeper, man. I'm. I'm following you in the jungle. You're, you're taking the lead. Like I, I want to, I want to shadow pj.

[A]

Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, it's funny, I would say it's 80% mindset and 20% mortgage. I'm the least mortgage mortgage professional you'll ever meet. Like I might go an entire week and never say apr, but I, but I meet guys and say it 17 times in a day. So then the number one thing is, well, there's a couple things. So first is an environment. You have to have people around you that know what you're capable of. Because I was like my wife, my mentors, my mind was not in a place that believed I was capable of doing what I could do. Like my original quota for 2024 was 20 to 25 million and we doubled it. I didn't even now I was like, man, if I could just close 25 million. And then in September, October, we did seven and $8 million months. But the people that were in my life were pouring into me and believing what was possible. So the first thing is if you're a loan officer, you don't have the right environment around you. The jungle, all you're going to be looking at is tigers and lions. But if you have the right environment, you can look at the top of Mount Kimanjara or whatever it's called and look into the place of the piece. So I had really good environment, a phenomenal wife, great mentors, great support team at Element. And then the second part of that is the commitment to growth. So every single week I wanted more loan apps, more pre approvals, more mortgage plans. I had to have something different to offer the marketplace. So this was something we came up with at the previous branch. But I had to have something that I could say that was different when I was going to events. And what we say is, I'm not going to deny a client. And the follow up on that is I know there's a compliance piece to it, but if somebody comes in and they're not qualified, I'm going to put together a custom mortgage plan for this person to access homeownership in the next 12 months. This is a game changer. It's, it's a, it's another level of customer service with the unreasonable hospitality Will Godara thread, which is if you send me somebody and you have a 520 credit score, I'm going to give you a plan, a one page document that says here's what you need to do in the next 12 months to qualify for a home. So initially it was a ton of lead traffic. And I remember I went to, did a lunch and learn. So I was also doing a lot of lunch and learns my first six months. So if I went, if I went to somebody that, and I know you're, you're massive in that space. If I met a team lead or I met somebody that was good on the agent and said, hey, I'd love to come and come by the office. I invested a lot in Chick Fil A should have had equity the first six months because it was like Chick Fil A orders going everywhere. There's just one credit card which is Chick Fil A is everywhere. And I was trying everything I bought one real estate team, 100 copies of Ninja selling that. There's like. And I'm just like, hey, I just want to give this to you. And I wrote my number and all of them and I was just trying anything and everything. But all of this was to I need more activity. Anything that could generate more activity. I was going out, but I was also doing it with a genuine reply of like, hey, I'm going to be here for a decade. I got a two year old son, my wife's pregnant, I'm not going anywhere. You can call me in six months, you can call me in a year, you can call me in 10 years, but I'm just letting you know I'm here to stay and I'm gonna do good business and if I make a commitment, I'm gonna come through on it.

[B]

And so I want to pause on that for a second because multiple times already you've used the word mindset or referred to it. And I want to, I want to double tap on that for a second because I think underneath what you just said, chick fil a sending a hundred books, like showing up and doing lunch and learns what I hear there is servant, right?

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Not salesperson. And I'm curious then because, you know, you've been around and there are, there's some jaded mindsets. Let's take the realtor for a second. What is your mindset around a realtor? When you think about working with, you know, seeking out, tell me, like what, what emotions or words come up for you?

[A]

Yeah, 100%. So the first thing, this is totally organic. I think the first thing that's a key to producing at a high level is knowing your own identity because it can very easily become people pleasing and chasing like the carrot, like wanting to please somebody to earn their business. So you. The first thing I realized is when I got really clear on who I was, it became a lot easier to service and value others. So my whole life comes down to four pillars. Faith, family, fitness and finance. That's it. That's four pillars. So when I go to meet a real estate agent, I know who I am and what I'm saying. And here's the things that are important to me. Are any of these things important to you? And if there's synergy, amazing. Let's build a relationship together. And in exchange, I'm going to service these families and to shout out to my coach Chris, who I just hired, who's another amazing mentor. I asked him, is it shallow to say I want to be the best ever. And he said it's a lot more valuable to say you want to impact more people than anyone's ever impacted. Like stop focusing on trying to be the best and focus on impacting the most lives.

[B]

Because being the best is about you.

[A]

Yes. So then to go back to the realtor comment is, hey, and there's again, this is such a long thread, but one of the things that used to fluster me the most when I got in mortgages was an after hours Realtor call. Like that's probably the most common thing with a loan officer. You work a 12, 13 hour day, you just get home and a blindside call comes in at 7:30 as a 911. How do you react and respond to this? Well, what I started, what I started to take away from this is, okay, this is a person that my job is to service them. So I had to get into the mindset of if I'm going to respond to this, I'm either going to do it positively and with gratitude or I'm going to reply the next day. Like, if I can't answer this call and do it with the service levels that I require of myself, then I'm not in the right headspace to reply to it. And that, that's how I started to discern whether or not I'm going to reply, can I do it to the level I need to do it? If not, okay, I'm gonna go the next day. It's kind of like if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all. But when I think about the real estate agent is all they want is they want communication sometimes, a lot of times they want speed and they want trust. Like, they want to know what's going on with their clients. They want to trust that you're going to do a good job and they need you to be available when they're available. So if you build those three things, if you're available and you execute quickly and you communicate effectively and you honor your commitments, there's no real estate agent in America that won't work with you as a loan officer, right?

[B]

100%. Now there's a lot in here and I'm trying to be cognizant of what to unpack because there's a lot underneath that. And I'm hearing the narrative as I'm sure you've seen this out there, like, and I get a little bit tired of this because you see it show up on social so much, you know, like, it's so Easy to throw the realtor under the bus and people bag on realtors and realtors suck and all this different stuff. And, like, they're hard to work with. And, you know, the narratives. What, what, how do you respond to those narratives? You see out there?

[A]

I think there's some great plumbers, there's some good plumbers, and there's some plumbers that suck. I think there's some great restaurants, some good restaurants, and some restaurants that suck. I think it's so unfair and also a flawed narrative to just take apart the section of that profession and say that they suck. Because now. And I'll give another shout out, like. So I learned this, like, framework of prospecting from Kai McBride and I didn't even move forward on the coaching. He just shared this with me. It changed my life. ABC Prospecting. So your A, referral partners, B, referral partner, or C, referral partners. But now when I'm out into the marketplace, I'll just say, okay, this person's a C, referral partner. It's okay. They may only do two to four transactions a year. They may only work 20 hours a year on real estate. Those aren't the real estate agents I'm trying to service. But if you're a new loan officer, you need to take whatever you can get. You can't get to an A or a VIP agent unless you service C agents. And C agent isn't anything emotional. It's just based on your productivity and what you're doing in the marketplace, you're classified as a C. So my goal now when I'm prospecting is I only want to work with A agents or VIP agents because the level in which I'm putting into my craft is so intentional that I want other people that I can do business with that are treating it the same way.

[B]

Explain the difference. A versus vip.

[A]

Yeah, So I would say any real estate agent as you're building out your prospecting. So VIP is somebody that's. And again, based off your levels of production, this might change. So somebody on my team that only does two deals a month, their VIP is going to be different than me. Sure. So VIP is somebody who you're doing life with, that you're doing consistent business with and you're talking to on a weekly basis. This is a vip. This is somebody that I'm, I'm talking to my kids about. We're doing business every single week, and there's never a month. I'm not closing business with that person. That's a vip. And I'd Also put a VIP as somebody that has the potential to open up big doors. So I may have somebody on there that doesn't send me any business, but is a real estate consultant for a massive brokerage and we're good friends when he calls. And also I, I'm going to answer my VIP calls. When my phone's on do not disturb my 26 VIPs, the call goes through anybody else, the call doesn't go through. So my phone's on do not disturb and it's 6:30 and I pick up my son. I might play with them and then answer the phone. But the only calls that are coming through are the VIPs. So that's VIP. An A agent is somebody that's loyal. They're sending me a majority of their business. It might not be every month, but I want to pour into them, I want to invest into them. I want to make sure they're getting my newsletter. I mean, I want everybody to get my newsletter, but I want to make sure that I'm servicing them and they're an agent. So VIP talking to every week. A, they know you and they're sending you business. B is they know you, but they're not sending you business. So that's a B, they know you, but they're not sending you business. So as a realtor, you're trying to land. And then a C is they don't know you and they don't send you business. So every loan officer is trying to turn C's into B's and B's into A's and A's into VIPs. Like that is the framework for going out into the marketplace and taking a bunch of people you don't know season to B's, B's into A's, A's into VIP's. Build yourself 25 VIPs, you'll do 50 million a year.

[B]

What is roughly your percentage, or I should say number one source of business?

[A]

Probably 70% real estate agents. 70%.

[B]

Okay, now let's, let's back up here a little bit. Thank you for walking us through that. Because then the next question is, and this is where I know for you, lunch and learns are going to come in. But then how do you, how do you, you know, scale wide net? Is that what you did early on? Is that how you used lunch and learns is to go one to many?

[A]

Yeah, a couple things. So one to many is 100%. So real producers, phenomenal organization. Met a lot of. Yeah, a lot of people are involved with. So I Had to get creative on that. All the spots were taken for sponsorships. So I said, can I buy lunch when you do your monthly masterclass for all the agents? Like, I had to figure out a way to buy and get in the door that wasn't available. So I'm like, hey, I'll just get lunch for everybody. So that was a one to many selling webinars. I partnered with a title company, and when they did their monthly CE classes, I said, hey, I'll cover the sponsorship and let me talk. And then you have to have a really clear deliverable. If you only get 60 seconds to talk to 200 agents in Zoom. So I got a, like, my third month down here, which was massive. I got a $550,000 VA purchase off of Zoom DM from jumping on that webinar with the title company.

[B]

What you say?

[A]

Massive? Massive. I said, call? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I said, I just wanted to let everybody know something different about us is we don't send denials. If you send us a client, they're going to get one of two things. They're going to get an approval or they're going to get a plan. And this lady just had a client who was denied by USA or Veterans United Massive national institution. I said, hey, let's look at it. It was a VA manual, 610score 54 back DTI. We got it to go through. He had reserves. He had compensating factors that met residual. We put the deal together, we closed it, and it was massive. But she literally DM'd me while I was talking on the Zoom chat and said, hey, I may have somebody for you. And when you get that as a loan officer, that can mean anything. I may have somebody for you. It's like, that could either be a home run or, like, I knew some guy that, you know, got out of jail yesterday and wants to buy in a decade. It's like, okay, well, I'll still put them on my newsletter.

[B]

Interesting, Interesting. I'm gonna pull this thread a little bit more if you don't mind, on the lunch and learn. Please tell me, tell me what you did for yourself. Spe specifically, did you host your own in person virtual events?

[A]

Yeah. So, I mean, the other thing is trial and error. Like, my greatest strength is I move 100 miles an hour. My greatest weakness is I move 100 miles an hour. Right. So I'm the guy that, like, I'm a very big idea guy. So I got to be careful with my staff. Now that we have more people that I Don't come in and be like, change everything. I had it. I had a direct word from the Lord this weekend, and this is what we're gonna do now. And so I have to be careful with that. But so I tried creative financing with Crenzo on Fridays. I've hit the Keller Williams offices and different brokerages. I hosted an event at the Citrus Club. But I will say this, I'll go back to this. And element was huge in this and building. My business is every loan officer producer needs to know what are their pillars, right? So all the guys that come on the show, some people are builder business, some people are consumer direct, some people are real estate agent. But you have to identify your pillars. And one of my pillars was local organizations because I was brand new to the marketplace. So I joined the builder association. I joined the Citrus Club. I joined. I mean, those are really the two big. I joined and then real producers. But the second level to that was when you're literally fighting for survival and you're producing to pay your bills. It's I am not going to walk out of this room without a lead. Like, I am going to extract every bit of value I can. I refuse, for my family and my future daughter's sake to go to this event and not walk out with a loan application. So that, I mean, you just go in there with a different level of attitude. And I'm trying anything. I'm like, hey, I like your earrings. Hey, I like your hoodie. Hey, I like your shoes. Hey, oh, that. You drink Gatorade. I drink Gatorade. What a phenomenal brand. Like anything you could do to start conversation, right? That's your. That's your job.

[B]

Wow, interesting. Okay, so once again, I know this. I don't want to sound self serving, but I'm going to pull this title a little bit more. You said you did six months of lunch and learns.

[A]

All right, so I'll break this apart.

[B]

So.

[A]

So lunch and learn. So there's two things I talked about at lunch and learns. First, with the broker, I would go into what I call the four P's prior to the lunch and learn. I'd say, hey, here's our 4P framework for strategic partnerships with the goal of supporting the brokerage of the real estate team. So it's people, process, product and profit. And I would go over this with the agents. So here's who we are. Here's our vision and values because you want to make sure that we connect if we're going to work together. The second is process. How do we work? What's different about our operations? Very similar to the rest of the industry. But how do you send a client to us? I just want you to understand our process for how it works. Products is where you really unpack the Q A of different like so one group might want to know about down payment assistance. One group wants to know about construction to perm loans. One group wants to know about bridge loans. One group wants to know about non QM. So I'm talking about 1099 of bank statement loans. The products is the meat and potatoes of the presentation. Because the whole goal on every single lunch and learn I do, I walk in and say my goal is to help you sell more real estate. The mission statement on my Instagram is I'm empowering the real estate community. So I started to shift my content away from just mortgage content and content that real estate agents can use to get motivated, encouraged and go sell more real estate. Because I'm your teammate, I'm your partner. Yes. The thing I do professionally is close loans. But the way I'm going to support your business is by helping you sell more products. So when I talk about mortgage products, I'm talking about it in a way that like if it's a bridge loan and you have somebody that's hesitant on selling their house because they don't think they can put in an offer until it sells, hey, we have this bridge loan product with our preferred lender. You can remove the home sale contingency. So, so that's the meat and potatoes of my profit or of product. And then I'd end with profit which the goal is for everybody to make money. So broker might want msa, broker might want us to cover some dinner monthly that we split 5050 for their agents. But the goal is when I'm talking to agents specifically and not leadership is how costly is it if your lender doesn't close alone?

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How costly if you find out two days before closing a deal isn't going to close. And that's how I kind of end with profit is our job is to make sure that that check is guaranteed.

[B]

Yeah, 100%. Yeah. I love what you said there. You're taking financial mortgage related products and you're positioning it in a way that puts it in the context of the realtor, how it helps them win. So a couple examples that we have for that is like seller concessions. Right. How to. How to actually demonstrate using finance financing. Right. To to win more deals. Winning the buyer present. What's the one? I just, I just did the cost of waiting.

[A]

That's a good one.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And I remember looking, your content's amazing. Like the, the content is. The whole goal is all of it comes down to value add. Like, how am I going to add value to this person so they can walk out better than they walked in. And your, your presentations do a great job of that.

[B]

Thank you. Do you have a sense of how many agents approximately you. You were in front, let's just say for that six month blitz you did.

[A]

With lunch and learns in total? Hundreds. Yeah, hundreds easily.

[B]

Yeah. And do you think that played a role in. In adding more deals in your pipeline?

[A]

Absolutely. Because I remember in June, it's so funny how like how quick circles become small. I remember in June I was trying to fight for the attention of one client and somebody else sent me this client and I was helping her with her credit. We took her from a 490 to a 580. Then we got her to a 620. We got it approved, eligible. She had all these leads, so that was the only way I could close. And then she ended up putting in an offer. And the listing agent was this agent I was trying to connect with 6 months ago to lunch and learn. She's like, hey. And then she heard from the client what we did. And this was the first client who ever came by my office and gave me a gift. Like she really walked in my office like, hey, I just want to give this to you and thank you for what you did. And that was. And it's so cool being in Florida that I've only been here a year because it's like, I've only been here a year. So if somebody comes into my office and gives that to me, it's not like I've been around for a while. So we're impacting people that are only 10 minutes from my house, 15 minutes from my house. It's cool. And anyway, I just remember the list agent being like, oh man, that's so cool. The buyer shared with how you helped and I was just like, I tried to tell you, but I tried to tell you.

[B]

That's fantastic. What would you say the, the key activities, if this brings us back to the top of this. The key activities that actually drive the most leads. Right. Opportunities, referrals for you. Is it the two events and three one on ones?

[A]

Yeah, I would say. And you know, it's funny that three, as I've gone deeper into the rabbit hole of studying the best of our industry, the Matt Weavers, the Sean Bosnias, it's three one on ones is nothing. These guys are doing 10 to 15 one on ones a week. So I think back, I'm like, my numbers are nothing. I think the only difference was I wasn't doing it for speed or I was touching 15 faces for 15 minutes. I'd take 90 minutes to two hours. But by the time we left, we were best friends. Suppose it was more of a quality than quantity approach, which is why the 3:1 on ones work for me. But I think this is another framework that any loan officer can use. Your job is to generate, convert and nurture leads. Like, that's the three framework. You want to go out and generate, then you want to convert, and then you want to nurture. So the way that you generate is with education, visibility and availability. Like, people need to see you, then you need to be available. And every time they see you and you're available, you need to educate. Because if you just do that, you could sit at Dunkin Donuts and educate everybody that comes in about what's going on with the bond market. Like, you're gonna get leads. And then when the lead comes in, your job isn't to convert them and say, work with me as a mortgage broker, work with me as a lender. The job is to say, well, what are your needs and wants? It's a needs and wants analysis. Do you have kids? Do you want to build wealth? Do you want to pay off debt? Do you want to scale a portfolio? Do you want to move across town? We are in the easiest position in the world when somebody actually shows interest to help guide them to closing, because we have the solutions they need. Everybody has a desire that's attached to real estate. We have the product that makes it possible. You can't go scale a portfolio without debt. And if you, and if you can, you're not listening to the Mortgage Marketing radio podcast. And you don't need any of these independent mortgage banks or brokers or wholesale lenders. Like, you're good. Yeah.

[B]

You said you have got 12 closings this week, is that correct?

[A]

12 closings this week. This will be the biggest month of my career. So we're on Track to fund 37 units in March for 2025. Wow.

[B]

Congratulations, man.

[A]

Thank you.

[B]

Really, really hard on that. Real quickly then, if you wouldn't mind, just give me an abbreviated high level version of your process and, and start with, are you taking 1003s? Like, what does that look like? And where's the handoff and all that.

[A]

Yeah. So again, I, I'll say this because you, it goes two ways. Like one is that I am 100% a product of my environment. So I really can't give enough gratitude to all the people who have poured into me. The only thing that I've done in this journey is listen and absorb. The only thing I've done is put it into practice. So this was, this was from Loan officer podcast. This is from, from Dustin and Evan. This was from mentors. And then I put it together into a PJ workflow and then it's also from touching thousands of applications, working with my father. So we turned it into a 10 step workflow that any loan officer can use anywhere in the country. So it's discovery call. This is your needs and wants, identifying the client's goals, preparing a mortgage plan. This is the no man's land and mortgage lending that nobody knows what to call it when an application comes in. I've talked to 1000s of loan officers. Nobody knows how to identify what this workflow is called when it actually comes in, at least as well as I've seen it. So whether it's a refi, a purchase, anything the app comes in. We're preparing a mortgage plan. Your mortgage plan might be you need to buy in 12 months. Your mortgage plan might be we can save you half a percent on the rate and you can close next week. That's the preparing a mortgage plan part of the workflow. Step three is an action call. Once we've done the qualifying on the 1003, we're giving an action call for next steps in financial. What's your only two numbers? Anybody wants to know? What's my payment? What's my cash to close, refi or purchase? So we're going over cash to close, we're going over monthly payment and we're going over timeline and next steps. Is it six months or is it six days? Then we have what's called a pre processing stage. So steps one, two and three, your whole pipeline as a sales professional stays in these three steps. Something might go under contract tomorrow or it might stay in action call and stay in that status for a year. So we have a really like high level CRM built on Monday.com where we have follow updates for every single client. So if it's six months, three months a year, it automatically just get tagged as a follow up date so you know when to call again. Pre processing as contract comes in, before it goes into processing, re review income, rerun aus, get it prepped and then the rest of the milestones are like clockwork. For the rest of the industry, processing, submitted, conditionally, approved, resubmitted, clear to close, docs out. But that is 10 steps that every single loan officer can do. For my VIPs, I'm involved on the discovery call, the action call, for new leads that come in or agents I haven't worked with. I have two loan partners. One loan partner does act, does discovery call, prepare mortgage plan, action call. My other loan partner goes pre processing to close. So I have two people that are working with me on two different parts of the process. Sales, operations, new lead to contract, contract to close, and we all work together as a trio, and it's phenomenal.

[B]

How often do you meet with your team, your loa and other support people?

[A]

Yeah. So I do a daily huddle every day with, with both my loan partners, and I do a daily huddle with my ops manager and processor. So. And then we have one team meeting because now we have four loan officers, two processors of a marketing coordinator. So we do a team huddle with everybody on Tuesdays. But I'll do daily huddles with my trio every day. Wow. Very cool.

[B]

So everybody just got the blueprint in PJ's process there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Apply. Apply what you want to from that. Okay, so for sake of time, we gotta wrap up. I know you're busy. You got 12 deals to close this week. I want to close out on social media and your Instagram. You've clearly been spending a lot of time focused on Instagram. I'm looking at it right now. 10,000 followers, you mentioned. Let's. Let's get everybody a little bit excited. You closed at least one deal that you were telling me about.

[A]

Tell me about. I've closed several. So this year. So I've had multiple people DM me and just say, hey, I want to buy a house, and I don't know where to start. And it's like, that's awesome. That's the goal of why I'm putting out content. One was an $800,000 purchase that I closed in February. Just reached out and said, hey, I want to buy a house, and I don't know where to start. And the cool thing about having a process and a system is it's all the same. It's like, I'm not. I don't get the dm and I'm like, oh, my goodness, like, somebody DM me and wants business. It's like, okay, awesome. Let's do a discovery call. Because I don't know what's going on. I don't know if this guy's going to be like five years or one year or three months of the process.

[B]

Let me pause you real quick on that $800,000 purchase. Had that person bought a home previously? Do you know?

[A]

They did, yeah.

[B]

So I just think that's very interesting. When we get all, and this is just me as well, we get all caught up in like what content should I put out there, you know, and we get tired of saying the same things or we're watching other los and we're the forest through the trees thing. But think about that. An eight hundred thousand dollar person, the person had bought a house previously in their life. I don't know where to start.

[A]

Yeah, they already owned a house. That is probably the most, I would say surprising, but not surprising is how many people bought a house but they didn't get serviced the right way and they still feel like they don't know anything about mortgage lending.

[B]

There you go.

[A]

So my number one tip on Instagram is just make it look quality and put it out consistently. Like, I tear apart every time I do a post. I'm like, we can make that better, we can make that better. And, and every time, anything you do, you're either moving forward or you're going backwards. So that's the goal of my Instagram, make it consistent and make it quality. I want to put out at least one reel a week.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

I've continued to invest in higher quality content. I literally have somebody join in that I'm having a call within the next 10 minutes that's going to help me reply to every comment, every dm. It's like this is a farm with people. Like people need to be serviced and stewarded and we need to add value. So I just want to end with this, like a little bit of gratitude because the story of 0 to 50 million isn't possible with three things. Number one, faith literally could have not done it the first six months if I didn't have something to lean on and something to guide me and open doors. That had nothing to do with PJ Crescenzo. So that's number one. Number two, my wife for being crazy enough to let us move, support me, endorse me and listen to me be a cock at two up at two o' clock in the morning many times the first six months, losing my mind. She was there every step of the way. And then number three is mentors. Like if it wasn't for those three, it would have been zero to 5 million and I wouldn't have made it on the podcast.

[B]

That's awesome, man. And you're such a good soul, really. And. And you really do care. And so I think that's what's also why you're impacting people, is because you're coming at, like, people can sense and feel that. You know what I mean?

[A]

Thanks, bro. Appreciate it.

[B]

You're doing a lot of good stuff, and you're a mentor to people today. You should know. So we're gonna put a link to your Instagram. People are going to reach out to you, and. And, you know, when you get time, obviously just give them a little response and. And some grace, which I know you people some grace, but we're gonna put that in the show notes, folks, so check that out. But, pj, man, congrats on all your success. Thank you so much for making time today, man.

[A]

Yeah, thanks, brother. Thanks for all you're doing for the industry. Appreciate you, Jeff.

[B]

It's a labor of love. You know how it goes. So, listeners, you know what to do if you like this episode. Hey, leave us a review. We appreciate that. And check the show notes for connecting with pj, and we'll see you on the next one.