"Climb the Highest Peaks" a success!Walt Scott Jr.membership contest, winners, outstanding efforts, recruiting new members
The preliminary results for the National Association of Mortgage
Brokers membership contest are in! The first quarter was a huge
success for the states that participated in the contest, and the
prizes have been awarded to the winners for their outstanding
efforts in recruiting new members for their state associations and
NAMB.
As we close the first quarter of the contest, NAMB would like to
thank the following states for such strong support of the contest
and very strong reporting of member referrals: California, Florida,
Indiana, Iowa, Ohio and South Carolina. In a contest like this,
NAMB has to depend on our state affiliates to report referrals to
us so they can count toward the contest, and these states proved
that we can depend on them to respond when we need them. These
states also were willing to step up and work with the contest
sponsor and on their own to promote the contest to their members
within their state. Well done!
Now, here's the important part - the winners!
The grand prize winner with 43 newly recruited members is Travis
Cline from Apex Mortgage
Services in Ohio. Travis' secret weapon was his belief that he
had benefited from membership in the Ohio Association of Mortgage Brokers
and NAMB, so it was easy to convince others to join as well. He
heard the call from OAMB board member David Earnest, who convinced
Ohio members that the contest should be a priority. He felt it was
easy to educate potential members on the issues facing the
industry, and once people were educated, they were willing to help
by becoming new members. This is a terrific example of state
leadership seeing the potential benefit to their state in terms of
new members and strongly encouraging their membership population to
participate. And, in an even more impressive turn of events, Travis
has volunteered to donate either the marketing package or the cash
prize to his state association. Now that's someone who really wants
to help his association. Bravo, Travis!
The first place winner with 38 newly recruited members is Erick
A. Parker, CMC, CRMS from Third Financial Service Corporation, also
of Ohio. Erick is the current OAMB president, so he has set an
impressive example for everyone else in his membership. Way to go,
Erick! The second place winner with 36 newly recruited members is
Chris Rines from Kemper
Mortgage, again from Ohio. Chris also clearly heard the call
issued by Ohio leadership and achieved Platinum Medallion status at
the same time. Great job, Chris!
We'd also like to give honorable mentions to our third and
fourth place winners. In third place was Florida's Rosie Granata
from Nations Title Agency
of Florida with 32 newly recruited members, and in fourth place was
NAMB Immediate Past President Jim Nabors, CMC, CRMS from Citizens Banking Company
in Ohio with 19 newly recruited members.
It's not too late to get involved. There are still two more
quarters left (Sunday, April 1 through Saturday, June 30 and
Sunday, July 1 through Sunday, Sept. 30). To maximize your
recruiting potential and help attract the most new members,
incorporate these tricks and tips into your recruiting efforts:
1. Use the NAMB membership contest site (www.nambmembershipsummit.com)
to spread the word. Add a forward slash and the postal abbreviation
for your state at the end of the Web site address to customize it
to your state. For instance, Arizona's site would be www.nambmembershipsummit.com/az.
If your state association has not set up its site yet, urge your
state leaders to contact Corey Bretsch at Superior Internet solutions
to do so. The site is free to any state that wants one.
2. Review the flyer sent in your membership renewal package.
3. Learn this number: (888) 968-8808, ext. 334. That is the
direct line for Corey Bretsch, the contest contact, and Superior
Internet Solutions, the contest sponsor. Corey is ready and able to
help you grow your membership as soon as possible. He can also be
reached at
[email protected]. Hop
on board, and let's continue to "Climb the Highest Peaks"
together!
4. If you do not find the information, contact your membership
chair in your state.
5. Please visit contest sponsor Superior Internet Solutions' Web
site at www.mortgagemarketingspecialists.com.
In case you aren't familiar with the contest, NAMB launched the
"Climb the Highest Peaks" membership contest in October 2006 with
the help of contest sponsor Superior Internet Solutions. "Climb the
Highest Peaks" was designed to provide NAMB members a direct
benefit for assisting in building the NAMB membership.
NAMB is facing serious challenges in the coming month, and we
need sizable strength to protect our industry from outside forces,
much like the sudden storms that roll into a mountainside and wreak
havoc on a climbing expedition. These forces are trying to put
brokers out of business! A strong membership of educated and
dedicated mortgage professionals helps to show the world, customer
by customer, the value that the mortgage broker adds to the
home-buying process.
"Climb the Highest Peaks" rewards the NAMB members who take it
upon themselves to spread the word to their loan officers, business
associates and even competitors next door about the purpose of
NAMB. It rewards those who take their responsibility to be an
involved mortgage broker seriously and communicate the compelling
reasons to others about how to make a difference in the formation
of laws that will dictate their lending options at the state and
national levels.
The contest works hand-in-hand with another member benefit that
NAMB already has in place to reward those members who recruit other
new members. In existence since 2004, the Medallion Membership
Program aims to give back to those who recruit. For recruiting five
new members, a member achieves Silver level. At the Silver level,
the recruiting member receives a lapel pin, a special membership
certificate and a 10 percent discount on registration fees for NAMB
events. Once someone recruits 15 new members, he achieves Gold
level. At the Gold level, the recruiting member receives a lapel
pin, a special membership certificate and a 15 percent discount on
registration fees for NAMB events. After recruiting 25 new members,
a member achieves Platinum status. At the Platinum level, the
recruiting member receives a lapel pin, a special membership
certificate and a 20 percent discount on registration fees for NAMB
events. The contest has been a fabulous boon for the program. In
the first quarter alone, we were able to increase the number of
Platinum level members from two to five! That's an enormous
contribution both to NAMB and to the states that those platinum
members are from.
So what you find is that even if you don't win one of the
contest prizes, there still truly is a benefit for recruiting new
members for NAMB.
All in all, NAMB could not be happier with the outcome of the
first quarter of this contest. Our membership numbers finished up
the year strong in a down market. We've seen a huge increase in the
number of referrals by existing members - more than 292 members
stepped up to recruit. This is partly due to the increase in actual
referrals and partly due to the increased reporting by each state.
Not only does this strengthen membership numbers, which is a
benefit for everyone, it helps NAMB expand the amount of
recognition we are able to provide through the Medallion Program at
the national level. We could not have done it without the help of
all our states and our contest sponsor, Superior Internet
Solutions.
Walt Scott Jr. is chair of the NAMB Membership Committee. He
may be reached at (800) 490-3039 or e-mail
[email protected].
