This month, Real Estate magazine spoke with Mackenzie Moug, a business program manager at Rocket Mortgage®, who discussed best practices and training strategies to strengthen the professional bond between agents and their clients.
Joey Macari: Tell us how you got started with Rocket Mortgage, how it led to your current role, and what exactly your role is.
Mackenzie Moug: I started with Rocket Mortgage in 2017 as a project management intern on the training team, which eventually evolved into becoming a program manager.
Today, I am a business program manager for Rocket Pro℠ Originate—the arm of our business that works with real estate agents, insurance agents, financial advisors and other professionals who originate mortgages. I work with our trainers, our instructional designers and our partners—the originators—to identify what the training needs are, making sure that we’re always enhancing our training programs and improving our processes.
My main role is monitoring the trends and feedback to make sure we’re offering the best training possible to our partners.
JM: How can an agent drive long-term value for a brokerage’s vision, direction and outcomes?
MM: First is client satisfaction. Client satisfaction is crucial in order for a brokerage to meet their vision and their outcomes.
The client experience can determine whether clients continue to utilize your brokerage and recommend you to friends and family. Referrals are huge. Since you’re providing such an amazing client experience, your clients know that you have the potential to help their family and friends.
With a mortgage, we’re helping someone build their financial future and make some of the biggest decisions of their life. Agents are on the frontline with the client, so they’re a huge part of the value that a client sees in your brokerage.
At the end of the day, the client is the most important piece of the puzzle for any organization, which coincides with one of our ISMs—or core philosophies—which states: “Every client. Every time. No exceptions. No excuses.”
JM: What training strategies and best practices should agents be utilizing?
MM: When training others, follow-up is critical. After a training session, you want to reinforce the training that’s being delivered by sharing a bite-sized piece of content in order to foster adoption. If you’re not reinforcing the content you’re delivering, the likelihood of agents adopting the training is pretty low.
When it comes to seeking training for yourself, which is something we should all be doing, it’s important to find content that’s interesting and relevant to you and your role—continuously upskilling yourself and evolving your business.
JM: What type of training should real estate agents be looking into?
MM: When it comes to real estate agents, focusing on the sale and building relationships with clients are the most effective trainings out there.
There’s a lot of competition in the market today, so it’s critical that agents work on developing their emotional intelligence to make sure they’re communicating effectively and meeting their clients’ needs. Emotional-intelligence training includes active listening, how to properly address potential worries and how to do so in a way that’s organic and doesn’t come across as “salesy.”
JM: How do you see training evolving as we head toward the future?
MM: As things are getting back to normal from the pandemic, a lot of organizations are pursuing a hybrid work model, and I see training evolving to represent that.
With things like videos, podcasts and computer-based training, there’s a lot of opportunity to mix in-person training with different digital follow-up training to provide the most effective training we possibly can.
JM: As far as best practices are concerned, what are your best communication tips?
MM: First, know your audience. It’s very important that you’re tailoring your message based on who the receiver is. When you’re trying to communicate with a client, a broker/owner or coworker, the message should reflect who you’re actually speaking with.
You also want to make sure you’re choosing the right communication methods for the message. Asking your client for their preferred contact method upfront is an important part of knowing your audience.
Lastly, make sure you’re communicating proactively, especially if the message is one that’s a little more delicate.
JM: How can agents benefit from professional development opportunities?
MM: I believe professional development opportunities are an amazing way for agents to hone their craft. These opportunities can help them improve their services and set them apart from other agents.
With so many agents in the market, it’s important to differentiate yourself and ensure that you’re known for the level of service you provide. Satisfied clients are more likely to become repeat clients, and they’re also more likely to refer their friends and family to you. Social media marketing is also a great professional development opportunity for agents because the general population is more social media savvy than ever before. It’s important that agents tailor their social media presence in a way that attracts new and existing customers. There’s a difference between being social media savvy as a social user versus a person who is trying to use social media as a marketing tool.
JM: Why is training so important, especially given today’s market?
MM: Training is crucial in both upscaling your brokerage team members and yourself.
There’s a lot of competition out there. Companies should invest in training so their team members have the tools they need to rise above the crowd. Training can help them do that and can ensure they’re equipped to knock their work out of the park when they are working with clients.
The above article is sponsored content. For more information, visit RocketPro.com/RealEstate.
Joey Macari is a contributing editor for RISMedia.
