The Most Important Skill for the Current Market
Todd Duncan joins Geoff to make the case that relationship-based selling — not automation or consumer-direct marketing — is the essential skill for surviving a purchase market. He shares frameworks for building trust, identifying the right agent partners, and mining every closed loan for 10 additional referral opportunities. LOs pivoting from a refi-heavy book to purchase business should listen closely.
Every loan you close contains up to 10 referral mechanisms — mine them for 30-90 days and you won't need to chase leads.
Takeaways you can run this week
- Run the 'loss leads' conversation with each agent: ask how many people they talked to vs. closed (e.g., 300 talked, 30 closed = 270 unconverted). Calculate 10% recapture = 27 extra deals × avg commission. Present the dollar figure and ask: 'Would you like to discuss a strategy to go get those?'
- Ask every active agent partner two weekly questions: (1) 'Who have you talked to in the last 7 days you're not sure will buy or list?' and (2) 'Who are you showing property to this week that I haven't consulted with on buying capacity?' — aim for 2 buyer referrals per agent per week across 10 agents = 20 conversations/week.
- Map every loan in your pipeline right now for referral mechanisms: seller, buyer's bank, credit union, financial planner, insurance agent, CPA, employer, builder — contact at least 2 non-agent parties per file this week.
- Replace batch-and-blast email automation with 60-second personal video texts for milestone updates (approval, appraisal, docs out, funded) using a tool like SlyDial or a pre-recorded video that goes out per deal — one LO in Todd's group reports listing agents calling just to say 'what a great video.'
- Ditch the title 'loan officer' in your positioning language. Test calling yourself a 'mortgage strategist' or 'home loan advisor who creates custom home loan solutions' — use this language in your intro, email signature, and agent pitch.
- If you're new and have no agent relationships, target the bottom of the top 40% of producers in your market. Find the rookie-of-the-year equivalent and invest early — Todd's early bet on one rookie agent produced ~300 deals over 7 years.
Useful? Get the full Vault free — plus Marketing Worth Stealing, weekly.
GET FREE ACCESSThe playbook
- Step 1 — Connection (Humanity): Lead every prospect or agent interaction with a genuine human question; use Todd's 10-word connection question framework ('Talk Less Sell More' download).
- Step 2 — Transparency: Position yourself as a truth-teller and advice-giver, not a product-pusher. Be explicit about costs, timelines, and service promises.
- Step 3 — Capability: Prove you can deliver the promise. Use process updates, milestone videos, and team introductions to demonstrate competence in real time.
- Step 4 — Reliability: Be capable consistently across every deal. Reliability = bankability, and bankability drives referral volume.
- Result — Referability: When all four are present, referrals become easy because your advocates (agents, past clients, COIs) sell you before you walk in the door.
Worth quoting
“If you choose transactions, you can make a living. If you choose relationships, you will make a fortune.”
“High trust first, supported by high touch second, married up with high tech third. If you lead with tech, you're in trouble.”
Best for
LOs coming off a refi run who have no agent relationships built and need a concrete framework for pivoting to purchase business fast.