Secrets to creating strong customer relationships

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Welcome to our open house. Instead of examining hardwood floors, closet space, and kitchen layouts, we're taking you on a tour of what's happening across today's mortgage industry. During each episode, we'll hear from industry leaders and subject matter experts to give us an inside look into a hot topic, cutting edge technology, or new trend that can help accelerate your digital journey. Thank you for joining us. Come on in.

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Hello and welcome to another episode of the ICE Mortgage Technology Open House Podcast. My name's Michaela Rosenbal, Senior Marketing Manager here at Ice Mortgage Technology. As we continue our Women in Mortgage technology series, I'm excited to bring to you Episode 3IN partnership with Shred Media, we are spotlighting the women leaders who are pioneering advancements in mortgage technology.

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And driving our industry forward. In this episode we're featuring two sales executives who have been successful in developing strong customer relationships that accelerate their clients ability to navigate the digital mortgage journey. Without further ado, let's listen into the conversation between Josh Pitts from Shred Media and our two executive account leaders, Rianne Boland and Mary Solan.

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What is up? Good morning ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Shred show live. And this morning like every single morning, we have two incredible women joining us. We are spotlighting in partnership with ICE Mortgage Technologies. We're spotlighting women who are making a difference. We're making advancements in the mortgage technology and driving our industry forward and this morning.

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More than ever, we're talking about something that is so relevant, so important, so impactful that you are not gonna want to miss this. You're gonna want to share this with your entire organization. You're gonna want to tag all your leaders because I am joined by Randa Bolin and Mary Solin, who are both VP Sales leaders within the ICE mortgage technology.

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Company. And we're going to be talking about how you the secrets of creating strong relationships which all of us need more of right now. Ladies and gentlemen, Are you ready? Are you ready? It is time to shred. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. And again, welcome back to the Shred show live. I am joined by Rhiannon Boland and Mary Soland their last names. Ryan, I love what it makes it easy for me. That's just so much fun. But they're both VP sales leaders within the ice.

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Industry or within nice companies. Yeah, see I can't even think about this morning. I'm literally that excited about this cuz as we were talking everybody if you're listening this morning, what I'm so excited about is all of us know within our industry.

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There's, there's a little bit of fear going on. There's some, there's some things that are going on right now where relationships are everything. And this morning both Rhiannon and Mary are going to be sharing some of the secrets and we want to be an open book. We want to share these things with you because we want to help you create stronger relationships with your customers, with your clients. More than ever they're turning to you. And as VP, sales executives, these two ladies work with some of the best of the best, some of the top companies.

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In the industry and they're hearing the concerns, they're hearing the needs. And so they're going to share with you today some of the things you need to be thinking about how you can strengthen these relationships. So ladies, welcome to the Shred Show and thank you so much for joining us this morning. Thanks for having us. Thank you so much, Josh. We're excited. Both of all, both of you are excited. I'm excited for this and I want to dive right into it because both of you have an incredible background within our industry. Both of you have have incredibly successful careers.

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What got you start? I love hearing the background because none of us as little kids, we weren't like in high school. Say, you know what I'm going to be? I'm going to be a mortgage professional when I grow up. That's what I want to do. I'm sure neither of you were were the same. So what got you started in the industry and what has helped you get to where you are today? Rhiannon, let's start with you. Well, I did. I dreamed of it as a child. No, I'm doing. No, I was. I was, I actually. So I've been in the industry almost 23 years now. I technically was a child of mortgage, let's say. So it kind of actually runs through my blood.

4:07
My mom was in the mortgage industry, you know, pretty much her whole career, and eventually ended up as a senior executive in the warehouse space before retiring a few years ago. So it's kind of, you know, in in in my family and my blood, so to speak. I started out in on the OPS side, OPS, underwriting, coordinating wholesale, moved into working in a mortgage insurance company, PMI at the time, no longer in business prior to the financial crisis.

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And at the time I became aware of a junior sales position that was coming available and I went into my, you know what was the then mortgage of that then manager's office and plopped my very thin resume down on his desk. And I asked for the role and that's how I kind of began on the B to B or business to business sales side.

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And since that time, I've had various outside strategic enterprise level sales or sales management roles in various aspects of our industry. I've worked in credit risk for mortgage insurance. I've worked on that capital market side. I've worked for a cooperative. I'm now in technology. And I've also been throughout my whole career very involved in the industry. I've been on committees or a board member at state and national levels almost my entire career.

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For longer than I can, long more years than I can, I can probably count. And I recently received my C MB designation and I'm very passionate about sponsoring and being involved with helping new

candidates for C MB's get their their designation as well. And I have the very good fortune of working with my good friend Mary here at ICE.

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Wow, that was Mary. Good luck. I don't even know where you're going to go with that. But no reason. Look at look at the energy she just gives us. I mean, it just rubs off on you. I honestly think the first time that we really spent any time with each other, but really true story, we were getting off the elevators, going to our separate rooms and they said, I love you and I'm like, oh, it's a little early in the relationship, but that's exactly how I felt. It was just a really strong connection and.

6:10
And is how she is with her customers and her friends. So it's my pleasure to work with her. So my story's a little bit different. I actually worked in insurance for about 20 years an executive and I was working for Nationwide and I started working in our corporate strategy department and my role was to help all the business units kind of really get a a format and a structure for strategic planning, really looking out at the future.

6:37
And one of those businesses that we had was mortgage and I thought, wow, that's kind of interesting. You know, of course we, you know, we had a mortgage, but that's really all I knew about it. Well, Long story short, I found my way to mortgage and became the the leader over all different facets of our operations and sales. So I was fortunate to work with the president who really believed it was important for all of his leaders to get experience in all the different areas. So he moved us around a lot.

7:05
A lot of fun, challenging at times. Of course. You just kind of like Okay, I got my groove and then Okay now you're going to do this instead. So that was really great and you know that was really how I found my way to mortgage and then how I found my way to ICE was through a couple acquisitions. But it was also through a lot of things that people are going through right now. We had made a decision that we were no longer going to be in the mortgage space. So I found myself in a spot of.

7:33
Trying to determine what did I want to do next. And one of the things that I valued so much was the relationships that we had with our partners. We didn't call them partners and those partners taught me many, many things about how to work with customers and how not to. And so I I thought you know what I'd like to give back on the other side. So I found myself on the other side really supporting customers instead of being the, you know, the.

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Being on the other side and being the customer that has a vendor supporting you or a partner supporting you. So that's on my way here. That is absolutely amazing. And both of you ladies have such a well-rounded like background of experience that you have learned you have grown in different opportunities. And of course now with ICE Mortgage technology, Mary, you actually mentioned something I want to kind of stay with and out and I want to kind of stay with you for a second on this one because both of you within your roles within ICE mortgage technology, you work closely like very, very close with some of the top literally I said that in my intro.

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You work with the top companies throughout the mortgage industry. How do you build trust? You mentioned you calling them partners, not just clients, not just customers, but how do you build that trust with your partners that really allows you to get to create strong relationships. You know, might sound kind of cliche, but it's really important to listen. And so when I start working with a customer, you know, they don't need to know yet about me, about our company, about what we're doing. I need to know about what's going on with them and I.

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Establish that relationship. So in every conversation, I try to make sure I step back and say what's going on with you right now? What are your strategic initiatives for the next three years? What are you focused on for the next year? And honestly, that can change on a monthly basis or a quarterly basis. So really making sure that at every point of the conversation that I start with them, I always try to step back and ask what's going on with you. And I think you can tell you know, we're relationship people.

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So I don't want to just know about business. I want to know, you know how are things going in life and find that connection point that we might have something in common or not. And then I'm learning new things from people. But it's and then it's about being honest with the communication that you're delivering. You know, we don't always have 100% positive information that we're sharing with each other. And so just making sure that I'm their advocate and they recognize I'm at their advocate, but I'm always.

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Trying to be as honest as I possibly can with the information that I'm sharing and making sure that they have the information that they need to make decisions. Rihanna, what about yourself? Yeah, I totally agree with you, Mary, about this. I think the mortgage industry at its core is a relationship business. But I also think that B to B, business to business is a very different animal than B to C You are dealing with not only the people.

10:18
In the industry, but a living and breathing business that ebbs and flows with the crazy industry that's as we know ever changing. But it's still about relationships. I think as partners to our clients, that's incumbent upon us to know what's going on in the industry. I think we should have a broad knowledge of industry processes and functions and legislative and advocacy issues and trends so that you can engage.

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With your clients holistically, you know, so that they they know that you already have awareness about what might be happening inside of their business. And then from there you really have to spend the time to understand. And the clients that Mary and I deal with, you know you really have to understand at a deep level and sometimes departmentally what is going on with our clients goals and objectives, what the challenges are that they face, how and where they want to grow and even personally. So kids, family, passions.

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And this does all take a tremendous amount of time. But I truly believe that the effort that you put into this, if you were in a B2B role like this over your career pays off in space. Because I know that no

matter what product or what company that I may representing unfortunate enough to do that with ICE today my clients.

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If they know what I do and what I'm representing is something that they think that they might need, I will be the first one that they call. And I think the clients with whom you've developed trust will always feel like they can come to you because to Mary's point, they know that you're going to shoot him straight. And sometimes, by the way, the hard part about building relationships in a sales role and and especially in strategic sales like this is you have to have the patience to wait until there is something of true value that you can bring to the table.

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So it's it's all about just waiting, being patient, listening, learning. But for me, I mean I've always had a laser focus on wanting my clients to be successful. Both of you, both of you ladies have talked about listening like that is something that I think Mary you mentioned this you it may sound cliche but it's like it's not because in this world that both of you had mentioned this the mortgage industry, if you've been in it for any amount of time, the one constant is change, it's always changing.

12:28
It's all well, like, especially right now with all the fear, with all the uncertainty, you know, having an ad, Mary, you mentioned this word that I think is so critical. Having an advocate, having somebody that you know is on your side that you know you can trust and rely on and give you the good, the bad and the ugly, like, hey, I'm going to shoot it straightforward here. That's what we need more of. There are so many tech companies. There's so many like, well, you know, those things are still good and they're trying to sugarcoat everything. It's like, is that really doing the like the good that are are.

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Partners as Mary, is that doing them, the good that they really are in need of which I want to talk about that a little bit more. I want to dive a little more into this because what is your process? What is both of your process when it comes to getting to know the business objectives of your partners? Let's start with you on this. Honestly, I have a pretty simple answer for this because we've kind of already alluded to some of this, but I think it comes from researching the client.

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Researching their profile, the decision makers, their outward initiatives and then as you're interacting with them, having a well crafted questioning strategy that enables you to listen and learn. And I think sometimes in sales I think it gets misrepresented because you're selling something or talking about your product or your service when truly what I think makes a great strategic salesperson is their ability to shut up.

13:51
That's so true. Sometimes that's simply it. He's gotta shut up. Mary, what are your thoughts on this when it comes to getting to know the business objectives of your partners? Yeah, absolutely. One of the things that I've always tried to do is as we're having those discussions, because they do get, we try to make those a little more formal.

14:09
Right. So we're, you know, we're not just going in and wasting their time and you know you're talking about top executive companies. You want to make sure that you're giving them valuable information and they're spending their time that it's worth it and they want to do this again with you and the company, right. So I try to make it easy for the customer. I try to recognize what I've heard, which may not be that much yet, but at least I've, I know a few things about what their challenges might be, what their needs might be.

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And then I try to craft that agenda and say, okay what I'm thinking, but but now give me your feedback. What have I missed? What other area do you want to cover? And as I mentioned, the very first thing that I always start with, no matter what is tell us what's going on with you. It's an update on how things are going. You know what's what's changed? Has anything changed since the last time we did this?

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Strategic discussion because you'll find something out that will then be helpful throughout the discussion that you can then relate to them about. You know that's that's what it's about is really making sure that you're intimately understanding their company, their business and what their strategic goals are.

15:16
OK. I love this. So I want to, I want to you guys have both kind of touched on this, but I want to go a step further because you both have mentioned the needs, some of the challenges, but what are those needs, what are some of those, what are you doing to help those, those partners overcome some, some of those challenges, Mary, what are some of the needs that you're hearing right now specifically within the industry? Yeah, well you know really honestly the, the big thing Josh is reevaluating their business models, you know?

15:43
What's what is bringing success right now, what may not be, you know obviously a lot of customers are having to shift resources from one area to another area going through some really, really tough times and decisions but recognizing that they're they want to be stay focused on what's going to have them be successful in the future. So again shifting business models is happening. You know customers are every customer is talking about how can they streamline their process.

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How can they get to the data that they need to be able to make faster decisions, get those loans to close faster, have more improved quality, making sure that you know the loans that they're delivering or they're originating are you know, without errors with that which are so important. And recognizing that they really want to make sure that their team members are focused on the right activity, right. So you know make sure that they are focused on the exceptions versus.

16:40
You know, really going through an entire file, but really recognizing where they can focus on, oh, I need to make sure that this has been done properly. Everything else has been automated or streamlined. Now I can really focus on those key areas that will make a, you know, a person be more efficient in what they're doing. And you know, the the, the pressure is intense right on either us to originate or cost to service. But one thing about this industry is people are passionate about.

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You know you you really do become part of it and knowing what you provide to you know the the the entire country in terms of home ownership is so critical. So we all become really passionate about what we do and collaborating is so important. You know we we make sure that as we're talking with customers if we see that you know what one of these other customers could actually help this customer with something.

17:37
They like to network, they like to collaborate. So we try to also be kind of that funnel in getting customers to communicate with each other. I didn't see I think that's one of those things that is so critical for the future success of our entire industry. But when you have an organization like ICE Mortgage Technology that is willing you the of course you both of you as VP sales leaders are serving and and and working side by side with the top companies in the industry. It's amazing to see that these companies year point Mary are willing to collaborate they.

18:06
Understand that's why top companies get to where they are. That's why ICE is such a critical piece of it all is because they're bringing those clients together. They're having those discussions. They're saying, you know what, all of us, yes, we understand difficulty there. You know, there's lots of fear. But together we can get through this. Together we can even come out better if we do collaborate. So Rhiannon, same when it comes to that. What are some of the needs that you're hearing and then what are the, how are you helping them overcome those challenges right now?

18:33
Yeah, I I mean, I agree with much of what Mary said. I always say it, it kind of takes a a little bit of crazy to be in this crazy business, right? All of us, what we do, it does get in into your crazy passion, right? Crazy passion, That's what it is. But you know, it obviously goes without saying we're in a period of significant adjustment right now. And Mary and I have been to this before and a lot of us have, right? It's a very cyclical industry, but nevertheless, it's not easy for a lot of folks. I think empathy does go a long way.

19:00
You know clients are struggling with a significant drop in volume and the very real situation of having to maybe restructure or rethink their business. You also have that the combination of that and valuable resources leaving the industry either through because they decide to retire or they're leaving because they were let go. And so at the same time you have people that are still working in the industry that are dealing with less capacity.

19:28
And less resources, but the same or more amount of work, right. And I mean arguably Mary and I've been in this industry a long time. We've been a fairly antiquated business, especially when it comes to technology. I do believe that we are kind of at the precipice of this shifting a little bit and I would say that you know conversations being had right now while much of it's still kind of in discussion around OK, what are what are we going to look like in in 2023. I think that's starting to be discussed.

19:56
And they're starting to put resources towards how and when they can focus on projects to enhance or streamline their existing processes much to what was Mary was saying, how do they include their improve their client interactions and then how do they allow their employees to focus on strategic types of work rather than sort of mundane activities as I would say. So that's how they're considering technology use cases these days, right? Yeah, I think with.

20:20
Volume shifting, things starting to slow down a bit, while it's been a significant adjustment for everyone now people are starting to look at OK, how do we start thinking proactively. So we've kind of got, we're working through this adjustment. How do we start thinking proactively And I think our clients are lifting their heads up and they're starting to see what that future is going to look like and how their business and their processes could be improved.

20:43
Through the use of technology and that's kind of where Mary and I get excited about being engaged with our clients right now. So you mentioned something right there, Rihanna that I kind of, I want to switch gears just a tiny bit because you of course, ice mortgage technology, technology is a big part of what you guys do. Adopting new technology can be a journey. Yeah, I don't want to call it a challenge, but I want to call it a journey and it's important for their lenders to trust.

21:05
Their technology partners like that's it's a big part of what we're talking about here that trust, how do you help them navigate the process, How do you maintain and even retain those strong relationships and partnerships with your clients through that journey of technology adoption. You know, we've talked a lot about having you know those relations, strong relationships, the trust that you've established right, but it also comes with having regular dialogue with your clients.

21:30
You know, asking them good to Mary's point, open questions, How are things going on in your business? What's going on with with with you right now and and where are you headed? And I think in doing that and listening, you're going to find out what their current state and their future vision is. And it helps you or us to get clear about what they do and what they don't need and that enables us to kind of focus on okay, what's relevant.

21:57
And then from there we, you know, I would say give give our our team a plug here because we have an extreme focus on teamwork and collaboration here at ICE. So we all work together to provide relevant information, details, demos, whatever it is that we're doing with a client and how we engage because no one wants to waste anybody's time. To Mary's point, we're working with some very senior execs, You know, it's like you know, bullet bullet point strategy, right.

22:23
So we're very fortunate that we work with some extremely driven, talented, knowledgeable folks and we collaborate together to bring the information about what you know is the relevant offering. And I say relevant and highlight highlight that because that's really important for our clients and then try to bring some clarity around that. What does that look like, what can you do for your business, what's the implementation going to be. So I think that's how we can make a difference for our clients at least here at Ice Orange Technology.

22:50
And I think that's how you are making such a difference. And Mary to that same to that same point, random. It's just something I think there are discussions and you mentioned honesty earlier just being very black and white with your clients. There are times when it comes to adoption, when it comes to streamlining back to your point earlier, Mary, where sometimes it's it's it's consulting with the client, be like you know what, maybe this piece isn't like exactly what you're maybe it's like looking at the entire gamut saying how do we better make this or how do we make this more efficient. So how, what are, what are some things that you're seeing and what are some of the things that you're doing to help maintain this?

23:20
Relationships and helping with them with that technology journey sure. And and RAN and really has touched on it, but we do have an incredible team that supports us. So as we're working with those customers, you know we may identify one or two needs and then we bring in the team that helps to support talking in more depth about those products, being able to do those demonstrations with the customer about those products and really making sure that they're engaging their team.

23:49
Which is so important that it's not just you know one individual making a decision, but it's a group of individuals on their team that somebody be thinking about something that's a true very challenging pain point that somebody else may have no idea about. So we ask them, make sure you're bringing in a broad audience that can help to identify where where things can be streamlined. And then to Reanna's point, you know we're we're going to make sure we're bringing the right product and not ten products to the table.

24:17
Do anybody any good. So it's really being very focused on what what do we hear from them and then bringing in the group that helps to support that and who are just, you know, incredible teammates. I love that you, you see my sign behind behind me. Teamwork makes the dream work like that. Both of you have mentioned the team and it really is Ice Mortgage Technology has a phenomenal team, but it's also when it comes to working with those partners, it's building a team that can support their needs and that really understands and says hey, you know what?

24:47
Like this is what's going on in our organization now and to to what we've all mentioned things are changing so often and sometimes it's like hey we need another player of this team we need somebody else who can helps like who can help us through this, this portion of it. Now I want to stay with with something you said Mary, because you literally hit something that I think is so critical when it comes to technology. What are what technology are your customers really finding to be most helpful in today's market. Sure. Yeah really great question Josh. You know every customer is talking about data how do I.

25:16
Ada, right. So you know we have our AIQ product and we you know if it to to people who may not know what is a IQ mean, it's really our OCR and data products that we bring to the table and and but really it comes down to what are you trying to solve, what are you trying to do with that data because we can give you all this data and then what. So that's nice, doesn't do you any good if you're not going to do something with it, if you're not going to change the process, if you're not going to change the behavior.

25:45
So really recognizing what are the goals that they're trying to achieve. So for example, it could be that they want their underwriters to stay focused on on the exceptions, right, and not having to underwrite it a complete file. So we know we have our AIQ Analyzer products that help do that. Could be that it's really just getting your folder in a in good working order we get as we all know it's an incredible amount of documentation. Well you need to be working from the right documents.

26:16
So really recognizing that you know something that's helping you identify those documents is going to be the right product. And then you know the other piece that people are talking about is E close, You know everybody close and you know certainly I think the pandemic kind of sped that up for all of us, which is great. But really that's the other topic that customers are really wanting to talk about. And then at the end of the day, I know we talked about it, but just streamlining the process so they can.

26:42
Do more with the people that they have today and that they're better prepared for that next wave of volume and manage that in the most efficient way possible. Hold on. I love the positivity you just ended there with Mary, because the wave is coming. Like, I know we're all on this wall right now.

26:59
But, but we've all done this long enough to know those who are willing to put in the work now to stick it out, to work with incredible organizations like ICE to find the efficiencies we're gonna make it through this ladies and gentlemen, whether interest rates go to 8910, whatever they do, I mean back you know in the 80s they were in the 16, seven like we as an industry.

27:18
As long as we collaborate, we prepare for this together and we utilize the technologies that are going to help us become most efficient and truly serve the needs of the of the home buy. That's what we're all in there. We want to help the American achieve the dream of homeownership. As long as we're focused on those needs and we're working with our lenders, working with our partners, we can achieve that. So Rhiannon, what are some of the technologies your customers are finding to be the most helpful right now in this market? Yeah, I mean I would agree with, with Mary, you know, you know, OCR, data extraction I guess.

27:48
The way I would sum that up is when you think about our most valuable resources in the industry, so they're they're you know that the ones that need that we need to make strategic decisions, underwriters and processors and closers that ultimately what they're doing in the loan manufacturing process is critical to being able to sell your loan in the secondary market and not have it come back to you, right. It's it's about how a company generates money and how they retain the money that they made from selling their loans, right so.

28:18
You know, using technology because those folks are so critical and and need to make strategic decisions about, you know, what's happening in all of the loans that are coming through a pipeline enabling them to like as an example, why does someone have to push a button to order credit?

28:39
It doesn't make it's it's it's a mundane process that that is what you know we're trying to solve for. It's it's what, why, why does there need to have such a such a manual process for somebody that is in a strategic role that needs to make decisions around the viability of the loans that they're selling to investors. So that's what we're trying to solve for. I also think that you know

29:03
In the context of data and and data being so much more critical to all industries today, I mean we you know we are owned by ICE Intercontinental Exchange, so they're massive data company, right. And it's it really is all about data. But how you use the data to make Better Business decisions based on what you see in the data is also I think very critical and when you think about NBA stats.

29:32
Right. They come out with their origination, their cut, their study, you know cost to originate studies and you look at those graphs, right. And you look at the tiny little piece of that that represents technology and the rest of it is you know labor costs, right and and overhead that part of it can be shrunk in some capacity by the use of technology and how you are making business decisions to have your business run right and let your employees do.

30:00
Strategic do the strategic activities that they are they have been hired to do. So that's what we're trying to solve for and and that's just it is you continue why I love these conversations why these are so insightful and so impactful. Sometimes it's an industry we get so distracted with technology and sometimes we get distracted with tech stacks and this and that. But both of you have mentioned like that's why have being being the advocates that you are having those relationships having those trusted.

30:25
Relationships can be so critical in a market like we're in today. Like I literally like. I just keep thinking more and more about that. That's why having somebody who we can turn to. I think it's just.

30:36
It's so important within our industry right now I I want to talk about this because again I've mentioned this, we've all mentioned this through the difficult challenges that we're facing in our industry right now. In any upturn downturn, there's always opportunities. I can and again you ladies have seen as much as I have, there's always opportunities in markets like this. So what are some of the opportunities that you both see on the horizons for your clients for mortgage lenders in the industry right now? Mary, let's start with you on this one.

31:03
Sure. You know certainly that this the streamlining of the processes and continuing to focus on the customer needs. You know what whatever customer it is, whether it's a correspondent partner, whether it's a servicing client, whether it's the end consumer and really recognizing you know what what is your strategic focus and and.

31:29
And not doing 100 things right, it's really important to focus on what are those top three, top five things that we want to do to really pinpoint and be successful with what we're going to do for the next three years. So I, you know I'm obviously I came from a world of corporate strategy at one point. So I'm a firm believer in having your corporate strategic plan.

31:49
And then you, you know you revisit that on a quarterly basis to see where those opportunities have shifted. So you know you, you have the opportunity to shift your business model right now. You have the opportunity to grow your market share. You may be in a situation where you can acquire some businesses and you know and that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's a way to continue to collaborate right for, for across all companies and organizations.

32:14
I love that and that's just it. You've mentioned collaboration so much. I I talked about it so frequently. Collaboration is what I truly see is one of the top ways that we will continue to thrive as an industry. And the more we collaborate, the more we support each other, the more we serve one another is how we really, really come out of this. Whatever you want to call the recession downturn, we come out of this stronger as an industry. Rihanna, what are your thoughts? What are some of the opportunities that you see on the horizon for mortgage Lenderson and partners? Yeah, I totally agree. I think we mentioned a couple.

32:44
Things before we talked about you know, streamlining the processes using OCR data extraction E clothes. I mean when you think about E clothes, it's been being talked about for since the dawn of time. It's it's just it's been out there for you know for so long. And I think we're really at a point where that is becoming a true end to end reality. Like you can get, you can get there now and when you think about it like we're coming into a purchase market around E clothes, right, like how.

33:10
Amazing would it be if the loan officer and the realtor and the borrower are standing out in front of the house they're about to buy, they close their loan and they hand them the keys. Why cannot happen. It can happen. So I think that that is a real, you know, opportunity that as we get there, there's a lot of legislative hurdles and different things that we've had to work through. But I think we're we're close. I would also add that because technology lives and breathes.

33:34
And it changes constantly. I mean we are constantly every quarter and every month making releases and updates and enhancements and different things. If you don't have a defined Technology Strategy for how you're flowing with it and you're not using the enhancements that are being made in technology or the updates or opportunities where there's you know and and certainly we know Mary and I know.

33:59
These are not easy things to accomplish because you have a whole process that you built and sometimes that means you're going to have to change process. So we completely understand that. But understanding the opportunities as technology changes and then also how that can get implemented, the implementation is so critical and how do you build that into your business to effectively use it.

34:21
You're talking there, just saying gave me gooseman was talking about the future like what's possible and I'm like, Dang, like that's why the ICE Mortgage technology team like you're working together. Both of you ladies have shared so many points on this that I'm just like.

34:34
Yeah, that's why we need more of these discussions. There's so many people, there's so many incredible women who have so such knowledge to share that are impacting and changing our industry. So you ladies have been amazing and I know we've gone overtime here, but I got a I've got one last question because both of you, both of you have mentioned passion. Both of you have had incredible careers within this industry.

34:52
And I want to, for all those women out there, what advice would you give to them who are looking to either start, maybe they're like, hey, I need to make a change. I need, you know, what's new, what, what can help me, you know, get to a new stage of my life or how can women continue to grow their careers within the mortgage space? Mary, what are your thoughts? You know, for me, what's been critical is having those mentorships and networking. So it's so important to build those relationships for yourself.

35:21
And to have those, again trust the people that you go to for advice, for, you know, bouncing ideas off, for helping mentor you. And there's so many ways and avenues to do that. But you know, takes initiative. So you you have to do that. At the end of the day, you own your own career. I'm a believer of that. The second piece that I would say and and I'm sure this is it it.

35:46
Means in it's in any industry, right. But I try to come at everything that I do from the customer's lens and throughout my entire career and a customer could be, you know for example when I was in corporate strategy, it was the business units that I was working with. They were my customer. So always trying to look at it and look at through their lens and have that empathy. So to me being successful means focusing on the customer and thinking about the customer and any decision that you're making because somebody's going to be impacted.

36:16
So how do you either overcome that, how do you motivate that? How do you work through that? And then in in Rihanna has said it so much today as well. But this is an industry that is constantly evolving and and changing and you have to be comfortable with that you you know or learn things to be comfortable with that. But you have and So what you, you know, you may think Oh my gosh we finally solved for this. Well guess what tomorrow you didn't.

36:43
So you need to make sure that you're constantly looking at your processes and be the change advocate. Like being a change advocate on any team and doing it, you know, the right and thoughtful way can really help you in your career. And then I mentioned this in the beginning, but I'm a firm believer in doing lots of different things so you get perspectives of all those different jobs.

37:05
And seeing it through your peers or your team members or you know, your leaders way that they're looking at things. So again, you know, having that empathy and understanding I think really helps you as you as you think about a opportunity or a career path in mortgage. I love it, Rhiannon, what are your thoughts on those who are? What advice would you give to those women who are looking to grow within our industry? Well, I have to say this is a true passion of mine.

37:30
You don't say you can't tell by any means. There's no way you could possibly tell. That being, well, I'm a daughter of mortgage exec, right, and kind of grew up in the industry as I mentioned before. And

then when I got in the industry, I actually noticed some differences between, you know, women giving, getting opportunities for advancement and career progression. And for me, it led me to want to.

37:53
Create change or create opportunity in that space. So selfless plug here, but we actually found it as part of the Texas Mortgage Bankers Association, the Texas women mortgage Bankers and we started that thing in about in 2019 with about 45 women. We're up to over 500 now in just a couple of years. So it's an incredible endeavor that we've all embarked on completely grassroots volunteer organization.

38:17
But we have events throughout the year where we're talking, we're talking about, you know, career advancement and career progression and finding your voice, you know, empowers a huge, you know, just powerful, you know, organization with the NBA that is a, you know, you know, definitely something that I've been involved with as well. So true, true passion of mine.

38:36
And so I would say for what I the advice I would give for for newer to mortgage and women coming into the industry and I mentioned it before in my kind of bio when we introduced was go for what you want, go for the role that you want to get and don't worry about every box not being checked.

39:01
And I'd also encourage young women to not be concerned with being direct in their communications. I myself growing up in the mortgage industry had challenges with finding my comfort level with how I naturally communicate, which is being direct. So being direct and being professional is okay and don't be concerned with how you're communicating in that way. And lastly, and I think this is so critical, I encourage women to find opportunities to lead early.

39:29
And often in whatever capacity they can find, that could be through a volunteer organization, an industry association or within the current company that they work. But look for those opportunities and lead where you can and develop that skill set. So that's what I would say, ladies.

39:46
Thank you. Wow. I like it. This is, this is truly why I love what I do because this discussion that we just had was one of those that will impact lives that all the women in the mortgage industry who are listening, who are maybe they're struggling right now this this helps them say see two incredibly powerful women, two intelligent women who are sharing so much. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you. This was truly amazing. We shared so many secrets for all of you mortgage lenders, for all you companies out there. There was just so much in this throughout this entire conversation.

40:16
Go back and rewatch. Go back and listen to what Mary and Ranna have shared because it truly was one of those episodes. And this is exactly why we were partnered with ICE to do this, because there are so many incredible women in the mortgage industry who are empowering, who are impacting, who are making a difference. So ladies, thank you so much. This was truly incredible.

40:34
Thank you, Josh. And ladies and gentlemen, thank you to everybody who joined us for today. Like I mentioned, I personally, I grew. I love doing this because I get something out of it. I know each and every one of you got something out of this today. So make sure you go out and share this with all of your those who are in your organizations. And as always, we appreciate you. We love you. Now it's time for all of you to go shred, go show up, hustle, repeat every day. See you.