Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lacy Foltz. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lacy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the best thing you’ve ever seen (or done yourself) to show a client that you appreciate them?
First, let me say how important it is to realize as a professional in any business that clients have a multitude of options when it comes to where they can go for the services you provide. Clients often don’t remember all the things you said to them, but they will ALWAYS remember the way you made them feel.
The mortgage industry is no anomaly when it comes to this. If you hop online and google “home loans in my area”, about 956,000 results pop up (yes, I just did it to see) so there’s certainly no shortage of options if you browse the internet. This is exactly why from the very first conversation I exchange with a client, I realize that they could be having this discussion with any other competitor in my market. But they aren’t. They’re talking to me right now, so what am I going to do to give the best first impression and gain their trust? That is the question that I keep in the forefront of my mind each time I interact with a client, whether it be the 1st time or the 50th time we’re speaking. I am also conscious to SMILE when I talk to people, especially over the phone. Inflection in your voice can be a difference maker in how people feel about their conversation with you when they hang up the phone!
Our team and I take special care to ensure our clients feel appreciated throughout our time working together. Shortly after they go under contract on a home, we send them a congratulations box with a handwritten card providing essential items they’ll use when packing. We also have a custom-made cutting board created that arrives shortly after they move into their new home accompanied by another handwritten card. Even years beyond closing a transaction, our team has an incredibly detailed system to help us recognize important milestones in our clients lives and to have reasons to stay in contact with them. Handwritten cards and personal touches are an integral part of my business. I’ve worked in various roles during my 13 years in finances and no matter what job I had (ask any of my past or current co-workers!), taking a couple of minutes to send a personalized, handwritten card has been a non-negotiable and has helped me build and retain my business more than I could have imagined.
Many years ago, when I first got into mortgage lending, I remember a client I had established a great relationship with, call to tell me how much she appreciated the patience I had displayed and the things I helped her accomplish. She told me that she and her husband were having a conversation about something, and he said, “well you better call Lacy and see what she thinks” (I worked as a Loan Officer/Branch Manager at a Credit Union at the time). She said “Lacy, I just wanted you to know that when my husband and I talk about needing to call the Credit Union, we never say “we need to call Envista, we say we need to call Lacy; because to us, YOU are the Credit Union”. While it might be nice to tell a story of some heroic thing I did, I didn’t. I didn’t do anything out of the ordinary. I listened, empathized, and offered solutions to solve their problem. But for them and so many clients, they simply need someone they can trust to give them sound advice and offer to help them. I’ll never forget the feeling I had walking out of the office that day. I thought to myself wow, how lucky am I to have this platform to establish relationships with people and help them with these big life decisions that they could care less who I work for or even what products I sell, because they trust and respect ME. While of course it is important to work for a company you believe in that offers products and solutions to meet your client’s needs, in every business it truly boils down to the people themselves and how they make their clients feel.
Handwritten cards and personalized touches aside, I just strive to be as personable and enjoyable to work with as possible. I’ll never allow a client to feel like they’re working with a stuffy lender that tells them if they just check off some boxes to qualify to buy a home or not, I strive to make them feel like they’re calling a good friend of theirs to discuss their finances and future goals and seek advice on how to get there.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
13 years ago, I began my career in banking, completely naive to what this was going to turn into. I started as a teller at a bank in my hometown which turned into me discovering the potential there was to make this a lifelong career. To keep that part of my story short, I’ve spent my years working as a Teller, Personal Banker, Assistant Branch Manager, Branch Manager, Consumer Loan Underwriter, Vice President of Business Banking, and of course, my ultimate passion as a Mortgage Loan Officer. I’m grateful for the path I’ve had because it has granted me the opportunity to become educated and experienced in so many facets of banking that I am able to utilize in the guidance I provide clients.
I faced some personal challenges very early on in my adulthood (though now entering my 30’s, it’s hard to look back and say I was hardly an adult at 18!). The challenges I experienced shaped the mindset I committed to having. I became determined to live my life to the fullest, without regret, and to be disciplined to take the steps to just get a fraction better every day. It’s only been in the last 5 years or so that I’ve truly recognized how in control I am of my life and the future I can have. I am a firm believer that “if you do good, good will come to you”. Each morning I set my intentions for the day through meditation, journaling, manifestation/visualization, listening to audiobooks or podcasts, writing my to-do lists, and exercising. I make it a conscious point to not go to bed without recounting at least 3 things I’m grateful for that day and telling my husband how much I love him.
Stepping into this positive mindset and just following my intuition, has helped lead me back to the path of mortgage lending. In part of the story that I said I would shorten, I was presented with a fantastic opportunity to work in business banking, which meant leaving the mortgage lending world. I spent 3.5 years doing that, loved the team I worked with, had great clients, and had the opportunity to continue climbing the corporate latter if I stayed there. But I found myself leaving work feeling unfulfilled and missing the passion and drive I once had when I was a Loan Officer. Again, I regret nothing with my decision to take the hiatus from mortgage lending to explore this opportunity. I learned SO much, I developed more amazing relationships, and ultimately it helped me realize the role I was most passionate about.
I love telling the story of how I ended up working for Fairway. Several years ago, I stumbled upon a job posting for a Loan Officer at Fairway. I remember spending about an hour researching the company, reading employee reviews, and scouring their website watching videos on repeat of client testimonials and organizations they created to give back to others. At the time, my gut wasn’t telling me to make any changes with my employer, but from that point forward, I always kept an eye on them and joked with my husband for years since that “someday I was going to work for Fairway”. We’d go on vacation and pass a Fairway branch and I’d say “someday I’m going to work there”. One thing to know about me is that once I make a decision to do something, MY MIND IS MADE UP, there is no going back. So when I decided to leave my corporate banking job and get back to this thing I was so passionate about, I knew I wanted it to be with Fairway. I hopped online and said to myself “gosh, how crazy would it be if they happened to be hiring?”. Turns out, they had just posted 2 weeks prior that they were looking for Loan Officers. It took one meeting (again, back to that whole 1st impression thing) and sitting for about 5 minutes with my now boss, to know that this was the place I was supposed to be and when I had the opportunity to meet the rest of the team, I immediately knew that this was the team I was meant to be with. They explained their detailed system while working with a client and realtor to make it the best experience it can be, and yes handwritten cards in every transaction! Boy, that was the icing on the cake 😊 It was a no brainer. These people shared the same values and business model that I have held for so many years.
Let me say too that I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason and me joining Fairway at the exact time I did is no different. I joined December 30th, 2021. In January of 2022, we had loans in our pipeline with interest rates under 3%, by March that turned into 4%, by May that was 5% and by June it reached the 6’s. If I would have waited just 6 months or less to make this decision, I may have gotten cold feet and listened to all the chatter about how ‘difficult’ this market is and waited until things seemed a bit easier to take that leap of faith. But thank goodness I didn’t. Thank goodness I listened to my intuition telling me “Lacy, I can’t explain why but RIGHT NOW is when you need to take this opportunity and bet on yourself like you’ve never bet on yourself before” and I jumped headfirst into a 100% commission job for the first time in my life. Now I feel I have the opportunity to build my business solely off of the basics and building a foundation for years of success when many in our industry are choosing to leave. Learning to get through the “tough” times helps you appreciate the good times and cope with the ever-changing market in the future. This is when we get creative, this is when we focus on building relationships more than ever. I’ve chosen to let what is currently happening in our world excite me and use this as motivation to become better and more inventive. Times like this is what sets you apart from your competition.
I’m not sure how to describe many of the choices I have made in life other than that “intuition” word I keep mentioning. I’ve made a commitment to myself that when I make the decision to do something, I do it wholeheartedly with all the passion and courage I can muster up. And if it doesn’t work out? At least I will get to the end and look back knowing that I gave it ALL I had.
Fairway is more than just a company I work for. Fairway is an organization that represents the values and people I want in my life. On the Rome Team, we work together to find solutions. We offer support when we recognize someone needing a little help. We encourage each other to reach goals and do everything in our power to protect the reputation we’ve built in our community of providing the best possible customer experience. These people are my family. My clients feel like my friends. My realtor partners feel like my best friends. We have a plethora of products and solutions to help our clients achieve homeownership, who may not have otherwise been able to without a little help and creativity from their lender. We don’t look to see if they fit in a box and check off things on a list. We learn about their goals, strategize to better improve their financial situation, and get to know them as more than just a client. If they don’t quite qualify yet, our motto is “It’s not a no. It’s a ‘not just yet’, and here’s how we’re going to get there”. We provide sound advice, expertise, and tools to put them on the right path. More than anything, we don’t treat people like just a number. In all the roles I’ve held, nothing has compared to this. I get to help people build wealth through homeownership, many of which didn’t know they could ever do. And even better yet, I get to work alongside some of the best realtors in the industry to help them build their business and gain the same satisfaction I get by working unitedly as a team.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Listening to podcasts and audiobooks is part of my daily routine so the list of good resources feels never ending! My current favorite podcasts and books that have helped shape my mindset and business practices are below:
1) “The Mindset Mentor” podcast by Rob Dial Jr – I listen to this daily as part of my morning routine!
2) “It’s A Good Life” podcast by Brian Buffini
3) “The Loan Officer Podcast” by Dustin Owen
4) “Loan Officer Leadership” podcast by Steve Kyles
5) “The 5am Club” by Robin Sharma – this book put me on the path of my morning routine!
6) “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod
7) “Fanatical Prospecting” by Jeb Blount
8) “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
9) “The Richest Man in Babylon” by George S. Clason
How did you build your audience on social media?
While I’m not nearly where I plan to be on social media yet, I’ve laid a great foundation for how I’m going to get there. First, I don’t care how many likes or comments I get on my content. That’s not to say I don’t get that little burst of excitement when I see that a post or video has gained some good engagement, but when I post, I don’t post hoping to get a ton of likes or comments. If that happens, great, but I post to build familiarity and trust.
Let me explain what I mean by that. In my business, it’s all about building relationships and marketing yourself. I’m not in a role where clients just come beating down my door asking for a mortgage (while that would be nice, any mortgage lender and realtor can tell you this isn’t the reality of our business. It’s 100% self-generated and referral based). In my business, establishing and maintaining relationships with realtors and clients is the core of our success. While many mortgage lenders have gained business as a result of their social media, I don’t expect business to just roll in simply because I post. I post to provide relevant, educational, and sometimes entertaining content to stay top of mind with industry professionals and clients. If a client or realtor is researching me and deciding if I’m someone they would enjoy working with, my hope is that they can visit my social media page and get a glimpse into my personality, how passionate I am about my job, how much I care for other people and view me as an expert in our industry. Social media is a phenomenal platform to provide education, tools, and resources that my referral partners find tremendously helpful in growing their business and for clients to better understand options available.
I’ve learned to not overcomplicate things. Rather than overthinking when and what I should post, when I think of a good topic or see a good article or resource I want to use for reference, I add it to an ongoing list in the notes app on my phone. Or I screenshot it and save it in my “social media” photo folder in my phone. That way, when I have time to sit down and create some content, I already have all the ideas and resources I need laid out. I set aside 30 minutes, an hour, whatever I can, to create as much content as possible to have “batched” and ready to post.
Here’s the best things I can share I’ve learned thus far and implement myself:
— Write down a manageable goal of how many times you will post per week. Personally, my goal is to post 3-5 times a week.
— Make it relatable and easy to understand.
— Keep an ongoing list of topics you want to post about.
— Help your audience get to know you as a person! In the beginning, I was nervous to share too much of my personal life and felt I needed it to be strictly professional. I very quickly realized that the people on social media I personally gravitated towards were those that shared what they were doing on a Sunday afternoon, what vacations they were taking with their family, what book they were reading, or what their favorite coffee shop was. People do business with people. This means your clients want to work with you because they like YOU, because they feel connected to you, they relate to you, and they trust they’re in the best hands working with you. If you’re all business, all the time, clients will feel like you’re a walking talking billboard that just wants to sell them something. Let them peek into who you are as a person!
Though one thing is important to acknowledge – I love the marketing aspect of my job. I enjoy creating content and posting on social media, so it doesn’t feel like a chore to me. But I realize not everyone is like that. So, if you’re one of those people – start small. Get into the habit of posting once a week. Snap a quick picture of the coffee shop you stopped by that morning, the book you’re currently reading, or share a story of how you recently helped a client. Don’t reinvent the wheel. If you find someone on social media that you enjoy following, pick up some ideas from them. Don’t post with the intention of selling something. Post with the intention of letting people get to know you and why you’re the expert at what you do!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://therometeam.com/about-us/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lacyfoltzfairway/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LacyFoltzFairway
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lacy-foltz-227428b7
Image Credits
Headshot – Lillian James Creative Picture 3 (team picture) – Lillian James Creative Picture 5 (wedding picture with umbrella) – Arturo Aguilar Photography (Mexico) Picture 8 (with palm trees in all white) – Adventure Photography (Mexico)