The One Thing Podcast: "Focusing on Your Niche" with Bridget Clark

Joe Wilson:  Struggling to stand out in a shrinking market, it's your own fault. Bridget Clark is here to reveal why trying to chase every loan is making you invisible and how dominating one little specific niche can change everything. So Bridget, we all know. Loan volume is down. Most law firms feel they have to take every loan they could possibly get.

Why do you think that mindset is actually hurting them? 

Bridget Clark: Thanks a lot, Joe. I understand the concept or the fear when business is scarce, right? But you really have to be really an expert in one spot because if you're trying to chase everything, it just kind of dilutes your expertise and your brand. You look like you're the master of nothing, as opposed to becoming really good in one spot.

And then the other business will follow as well, because you're getting the visibility on that one niche. 

Joe Wilson: Yeah, I mean, so the advice is actually pretty simple, right? Just specialize in one niche. But like, why does narrowing down that focus help so much, especially in this era of like social media marketing? 

Bridget Clark: I think that, you know, what happens today is that There's a lot of noise and if you're all talking, if everybody's talking about the same thing, which is, you know, the market, this or the rates that or generically talking about first time homebuyer challenges or things like that, as opposed to really getting really specific, you're just part of the noise. 

You're not providing a solution and you're not digging in and really providing something of value to whoever's watching or listening or reading what you've got to say. 

Joe Wilson: You know, as that's such a cool concept, right? It's like focusing in and making things more specific actually widens the audience. So let's use like just an example here of like renovation loans.

That's super popular today. People who own homes. Are having historically high amounts of equity because of the crazy increase in home values, especially here in our home state of California. Why do you think like becoming the go to expert of like renovation laws would really help change the way clients and referral partners see you?

Bridget Clark: I think renovation is a great example right now, right? I mean, because people are either a staying in their home and renovating it to be closer to what it is that they need and want. And then home prices are such. That people are buying fixers and getting in and maybe they don't have a lot of experience with a fixer, right?

So giving really detailed information about, in the case of renovation, how does that work? How does future value work? If it's more construction based, how do draws work? That's something that the average person and a lot of realtors, frankly, Don't know a lot about and to take that even further. It's a niche.

It's a niche where a lot of mortgage professionals don't have really deep understanding. So being the one who knows and being the one who can really dig deep. And talk about kind of the nuances of that sets you apart, right? So I think that it then also allows you to connect with referral sources. So not only realtors who maybe they sold the property to a buyer five years ago, who now can't buy up because, you know, the family is growing, but they're going to have to renovate.

Very often those clients go to the realtor to find out if they can buy the realtor figures out that they can't, and they have that referral, but you also with contractors with past clients. I mean, the more you do in that niche.  The more your referral sources and your past clients and all of those people become your strongest advocates because you're the expert, right?

And you're the only one that they've come across that has really that really fine tuned expertise. 

Joe Wilson: Man, you took that and ran with that super fast. I'm impressed.  I know. No, no, no. I'm like, that was awesome. Like you took that idea and you just took it over. And that's why I like. I know you're so valuable at APM and these, you know, the loan officers of the thousands of LOs that you have that impact on can come to you and consult with you on that.

So kudos to you and kudos to APM for making you so, like, so accessible to everybody. Oh, thank you. I think it's so great. But you know what, sometimes Renovation loans are super annoying. And I think that's why people, a lot of people stay away from them because they can be really annoying to do. Let's talk through a scenario here.

Like you're working with one officer and they're trying to figure out like, all right, I don't want to do renovation loans because they're just too annoying. Or I don't want to get in that, that market. How do you talk to an LO about finding what niche works for them?  

Bridget Clark: I think it's really, you, you take the time to kind of take a beat and look around your market and look around at your clients and look around, where's the problem that you can provide.

A solution for right. So maybe in your market, it's not renovation or you don't want to do renovation, but when you and I were doing our pre interviews, you were talking about, you know, there's reverse mortgage, but maybe your niche is talking to the kids of those people who need reverse mortgages, right?

Which I thought was really smart. You talk about investment properties, right? Dealing with DSCR and dealing with all the kind of intricacies of that. If you're the person who really has that expertise, you've got a solution for a self employed borrower. Now you've got a built in referral source with CPAs.

Who are doing a lot of, of taxes for those kinds of clients. So I think looking at, at what it is that you're solving for. What are the things you get questions about? What are your neighbors saying? What are your friends saying is a great way to kind of find a niche. 

Joe Wilson: Yeah. And like, what do you like to talk about?

Right. I think that's also another side of it too. All right. So let's say I've decided on, you know, one of these niches, what, what's the first step I should take as a loan officer then to help take that nation, start letting everybody know that I, that that's my specialty.  

Bridget Clark: I think that the first thing is you dig deep.

And when I say dig deep, you get on the phone with your scenario desk, or you get into guidelines and you find all the little things about that particular product and what it's solving for. And then you start creating. Whether it's a blog, whether it's a social media post, whether it's a video, you start creating content.

Answering those, those things that you're trying to solve for. Right. And then you can kind of, then in the case of renovation, you can, you can get into the intricacies of renovation loans or, or  how to pick a contractor or, you know, how to figure out if you're overbuilding for your area, things like that, that, that not everybody in the world is talking about.

You do a video, you know, walking through Lowe's looking at. Cabinet polls and things about cabinet polls. I mean, it could be literally anything, right. But really digging deep into that niche. And that doesn't mean you don't ever talk about the market. You don't ever talk about kind of the regular, you know, everyday loans, but those loans.

Come back to you because those people in three years, the market has changed and now they are ready to buy it. And what they're going to say is you got to call Joe because you know, he's the guy. He helped me with this really complicated thing. Like your thing is easy peasy. We can get, you know, he can help you with that. 

So that's where  you end up getting the kind of critical mass of getting the business.  

Joe Wilson: Yeah, geez. And then repeat buyers. And then also people who were like, Oh, I had a great experience with Bridget, but it wasn't necessarily about renovation loans, but you do a good job for everybody in that niche. And then they're going to refer their family and friends for whatever type of loan it may be.

So it's like when you niche down and you expertly exist on those loans, you do that loan really, really well. Everyone's going to have a great experience and you're going to want to do different types of loans. So you don't, you're not, is you're at liberty yourself to only doing those types of loans. 

You're just focusing your marketing on finding those people that you can give great service to, to then leverage that as a jumping point. But you said something I want to really hone in on here too is, is about referral partners. We're talking about that with, you know, you said the CPAs, obviously real, real estate agents, construction companies.

I mean, that's all really cool stuff that people love to look at versus looking at mortgage content. So talk with me a little bit about how we can partner with some of these referral partners in our marketing efforts.

Bridget Clark: One thing that you didn't mention that I didn't mention is other loan officers. So if you've got a loan officer, you know, that you work with, that you respect, that they dig deep on a completely different niche. 

Then you've got a way to kind of work together. And it doesn't mean that you toss away the layups. It means that, you know, if you've got somebody who's, you know, who's really deep into investment properties and you're really deep into renovation or doctor loans or whatever. You can have a symbiotic thing there, right?

And then I think as far as getting other referral partners, right? So you're looking for, whether it's realtors or, or contractors or doctors or whoever, you, to be, to be able to, to create content really talking to them, whether that's social media, whether that's an email campaign, whether that's going in and seeing somebody eyeball to eyeball and talking through, if you're prepared with the answers to their biggest questions,  And let's face it, they don't want to look like idiots.

So that's a pain point for them. So if you're able to kind of be the person who can kind of answer those questions and really know,  and if you don't know, don't say I don't know, say I'll find out. Um, but if you're able to dig into that for somebody who is a potential referral partner, you're, you are relieving a pain point for them. 

Joe Wilson: You're helping them. You're providing value. 

Bridget Clark: Then they look like the hero too, right?  

Joe Wilson: That's the key, right? It's like, when you provide value, you can make other people look like the hero and that's where you really want to be as a, as an originator. It's like, don't make it about yourself, make it about your referral partner and they will continue to refer you.

If they feel special by working with you, they're going to always want to work with you. 

Bridget Clark: One of our core values at.  American Pacific Mortgage and APM is we are, as a company, 100 percent focused on making our loan originators, branch managers, and branches look good.  We want them to have the marketing that they need, the information that they need, the access that they need so that they look good.

We want them to be out in the market looking good. And you want to do that for your pro partners, right? You want to make sure that, that that CPA has right at their fingertips. Oh, you know what? I know somebody who can help you with that.  

Joe Wilson: Yeah. You're doing a great job at that. Cause your branch managers, your loan officers all look.

I mean, not everybody, but like, you know, the people that want to do it, the majority, the major, major majority are doing a phenomenal job at it. Right. And I, and I see that like that mentality helps them see like you're modeling the behavior you want them to take with their referral partners. Right. And that's magic.

Bridget Clark: Yeah, that's great. And then, you know, to take that further, I think making sure that your social media, your website, your bio, your conversations that you have, your talk tracks that you have really are all aligned, um, and that can be, you know, tough to do, but really, you know,  tells us all the time, have that conversation in the mirror. 

You know, until until those words come out of your mouth without you tripping over them until you're really comfortable with that content and with those guidelines and with those what you know, you know what the overlays are and you know what all that stuff is. If you know that stuff, that's how you present with confidence.

Joe Wilson: And I think it shows really strongly, particularly on social. If you are confident about what you're saying, you know your stuff. It comes off. And if you're not, you're not confident you haven't practiced, that also comes through really quickly, right? You can't, this is one of those things that you can't really fake it.

You got to really know it, but you also have to start somewhere, right? And so I think it's okay to like, you know, always, especially with video content, your first videos are going to be horrible and that's okay. Right. So don't, don't prevent yourself from doing something cause you don't feel totally confident with it.

Go with it. Make your first couple of videos about your first marketing efforts and your outreaches. Let them be horrible. Like that's fine. Put that aside. Know what's going to suck and then get forward and then you are going to have that confidence. But you're not going to gain that until you actually do the hard ones, which is, that's the hardest thing.

It's like ripping the band aid off the knee. 

Bridget Clark: Start with what you know. Start with a little hanging fruit. That's okay. And then as you get more and more confident, then, you know, your content will get better. I mean, everybody's first video is crap.  

Joe Wilson: Well, I look back at my first stuff, you know, six years ago, I'm like, Oh,  it's embarrassing, but it's okay.

But we did it and it served a purpose and you get better and better. I still created everything I do. And that's okay. I don't think I think that's just a personality trait, but, um,  But Bridget, it sounds like you coach a lot of LOs about this. There's got to be somebody who you've talked to that's had some success in niching down.

Can you, like, share with us a little, like, a little bit about them, what they've done, and how they've had some success doing this?  

Bridget Clark: Yeah, I mean, there's, I've, I've worked with loan officers and there's been a bunch of different niches, whether it's working with schools and universities, whether it's working with, you know, contractors and things like that, um, one particular loan officer that comes to mind, he focused exclusively on docker loans.

And instead of marketing to everybody, he really built relationships with hospitals, medical schools, and large medical employers, and he really concentrated on medical schools. So as doctors in this instance, get out of school, they have a contract, they have a letter of intent, they have all of these things, but they haven't moved yet.

They're having to relocate. They need to buy. They've got school debt that they're not sure how to manage to that. But what he did was that, you know, within a year, he was getting steady referrals because More and more and more of these, these students as they were graduating,  had no idea where to get the information that they needed to get as he started kind of reaching critical mass, they would come to him.

Right. And sometimes he couldn't help them. And that was okay, too, because what happens is that now he's specializing in doctor loans. So these people, five years down the road are in a very different financial situation than they were when they were getting out of medical school. And who did they call?

They called him.  

Joe Wilson: And it almost is like saying no,  it's the right thing. Cause it probably helped them out that long term impact of doing the right thing and niching down really helped this guy out  

Bridget Clark: One hundred percent. And in his case, there was nearly no competition. It served him well because he really went deep and knew all the nuances of that.

And nobody else  really could go that they didn't know how to answer those questions.  You know, as, as guides changed about student debt, what does that mean? And they, he was able to assimilate all of that information on the fly really quickly as, as there were changes. Cause he wasn't starting from the, from the start.

Joe Wilson: Yeah. Wow. That's so cool. I can't imagine being somebody not feeling inspired by what you've shared here today, but there will still be people that will say, Bridget, I don't think this is for me. Like, I don't know if I can start with this. I can do it. What do you say to that? To the person that like.

Doesn't think they can do this. 

Bridget Clark: That's short sighted. First of all, I think that anybody can find a niche. What are you passionate about? Finding that spot and finding that audience and, and digging deep about something that you're passionate about is easy. 

Joe Wilson: I know a guy, his, his Instagram handles the beekeeping banker.

He had, there's a lot of beekeeping content. And so he's got this whole community of beekeepers that guess what? They're all doing their loans through him and they love buying big properties for their bees.

Bridget Clark: It's perfect. I love that. Your hobby. It can literally be anything, you know, if you're, if you're really into equestrian and people who buy horse properties and like, I mean, you can, you can literally do that with anything.

Um, it's just, it's just finding what you find interesting and looking around and talking to your neighbors and friends, like what are the, what are the stumbling, stumbling blocks for them? What, where are they? Where are they getting caught up? Where are they seeing friction? And you being able to provide a frictionless  source of information for that. 

Joe Wilson: That's so good. Well, I know we're about out of time here, but this has been such a fun, quick and long conversation. If I could summarize your points. It's like, pick a niche, focus deeply on it, get comfortable with it, get the content out there and just go all in and the success will follow. 

Bridget Clark: 100%. It doesn't mean you're leaving business on the table.

It means that you are gathering critical mass  and you're solving a problem.  And the, the business will come. It's like, feel the dreams you build it. They will come.  

Joe Wilson: Yeah. I mean, if you're chasing every deal, you're doing it wrong. The secret standing out to dominate one niche and that's your, your, the win here today. 

Gosh, Bridget, thanks for sharing your one thing today. This is super valuable. I hope that everybody who listened to this, uh, takes that, thinks about it and, and create some content. So thank you, Bridget. Thank you, APM. And thank you all for listening. Have a great day. Thanks for having me.