[caption id="attachment_5732" align="alignleft" width="468" caption="A Rebranded NAMB by Brian Stevens & Frank Garay of TBWS"]
[/caption] A few years ago I had a chance conversation with Don Frommeyer; he's a mortgage guy from the state of Indiana. In spite of the fact that he's an ardent Colt's fan, he's a pretty good guy. During that conversation we spoke about the long and short term viability of NAMB (The National Association of Mortgage Brokers). At that point, you could imagine, things were definitely NOT conspiring in NAMB's favor. Broker's had been reduced to a withering remnant of their former “self,” and it appeared that the entire country had decided to offer up the mantle of perfect evil villain to the mortgage broker. As a result, their numbers suffered and their association, NAMB's numbers suffered similarly. During my conversation with Don, I tried to impress upon him that NAMB needed to be a strong sales group along with a strong advocacy and education group. The truth of the matter is NAMB is an association of Sales People. Roughed up and beaten down sales people but nevertheless sales people. As such, NAMB needed to, as an association, be a sales group. Further, NAMB needed to be exceptional at sales if they were going to “sell” their message to their possible constituents. That of course is loan officers and mortgage originators. Personally, I think during the height of our melt down, NAMB failed in their messaging. They failed because they failed to understand part of their national audience. Of course they needed to advocate in Washington on behalf of loan officers. Of course, they had to offer education and share in our collective struggles. Problem is, when things fell apart they didn't do this. As a reaction to NAMB's failure, their numbers suffered and the entire real estate community lost an important voice. Guys, if you're gonna sell to sales people, you need to be a super sales person. You need to be a Yoda, Jedi Knight sales person. That wasn't happening. The good part of this story is Don saw that. Don realized NAMB needed change to continue to be viable. Of course their message in the past has been great but their ability to deliver that message to Washington was suffering due to NAMB's faltering membership and lack of funds. The good part of this story continues; NAMB has, over the past year, gotten their finances in order. NAMB has streamlined their association and most importantly (in my mind) now has Don Frommeyer as its president. Now I play an industry expert on TV (actually the net), but in truth, I'm a marketing guy. To be clear, I don't have a role with NAMB and their advocacy is only shared in our collective desire to make things better. I am not being paid by NAMB, nor would I accept a dollar if it were offered. I do not want to run NAMB, be on the board or ANYTHING ELSE. Period. With that said, I want to see them succeed. I want their success because I believe it’s good for the industry, and I believe it’s good for our country. I think I'm pretty good at marketing and I think that chance conversation with the new president, Don Frommeyer, can allow us to help NAMB with their messaging, advocacy, and delivery. That's where we come in, and that's how I think we can help a viable and important association for the entire industry. So, Don along with his supporting cast has agreed to work with us. They have given TBWS the chance to help them with their marketing. I think it's good for them because we can reach their audience. I think it's good for us because we believe the right team is in place. In the future, look for a new flavor from NAMB. Let's see if we can find a way for Loan Officers, from across the country, to join NAMB, join the struggle, and help make things better not only for ourselves but for our clients. NAMB will help that endeavor take place. 
Thinkbigworksmall.com (TBWS) was founded in 2007 by a group of highly successful real estate and mortgage industry entrepreneurs. Born in the most battered market in the real estate and mortgage industrys history, Thinkbigworksmall.com was conceived after decades of observing how the most successful professionals always seem to work smarter not harder. Frank & Brian can be reached at [email protected]
[/caption] A few years ago I had a chance conversation with Don Frommeyer; he's a mortgage guy from the state of Indiana. In spite of the fact that he's an ardent Colt's fan, he's a pretty good guy. During that conversation we spoke about the long and short term viability of NAMB (The National Association of Mortgage Brokers). At that point, you could imagine, things were definitely NOT conspiring in NAMB's favor. Broker's had been reduced to a withering remnant of their former “self,” and it appeared that the entire country had decided to offer up the mantle of perfect evil villain to the mortgage broker. As a result, their numbers suffered and their association, NAMB's numbers suffered similarly. During my conversation with Don, I tried to impress upon him that NAMB needed to be a strong sales group along with a strong advocacy and education group. The truth of the matter is NAMB is an association of Sales People. Roughed up and beaten down sales people but nevertheless sales people. As such, NAMB needed to, as an association, be a sales group. Further, NAMB needed to be exceptional at sales if they were going to “sell” their message to their possible constituents. That of course is loan officers and mortgage originators. Personally, I think during the height of our melt down, NAMB failed in their messaging. They failed because they failed to understand part of their national audience. Of course they needed to advocate in Washington on behalf of loan officers. Of course, they had to offer education and share in our collective struggles. Problem is, when things fell apart they didn't do this. As a reaction to NAMB's failure, their numbers suffered and the entire real estate community lost an important voice. Guys, if you're gonna sell to sales people, you need to be a super sales person. You need to be a Yoda, Jedi Knight sales person. That wasn't happening. The good part of this story is Don saw that. Don realized NAMB needed change to continue to be viable. Of course their message in the past has been great but their ability to deliver that message to Washington was suffering due to NAMB's faltering membership and lack of funds. The good part of this story continues; NAMB has, over the past year, gotten their finances in order. NAMB has streamlined their association and most importantly (in my mind) now has Don Frommeyer as its president. Now I play an industry expert on TV (actually the net), but in truth, I'm a marketing guy. To be clear, I don't have a role with NAMB and their advocacy is only shared in our collective desire to make things better. I am not being paid by NAMB, nor would I accept a dollar if it were offered. I do not want to run NAMB, be on the board or ANYTHING ELSE. Period. With that said, I want to see them succeed. I want their success because I believe it’s good for the industry, and I believe it’s good for our country. I think I'm pretty good at marketing and I think that chance conversation with the new president, Don Frommeyer, can allow us to help NAMB with their messaging, advocacy, and delivery. That's where we come in, and that's how I think we can help a viable and important association for the entire industry. So, Don along with his supporting cast has agreed to work with us. They have given TBWS the chance to help them with their marketing. I think it's good for them because we can reach their audience. I think it's good for us because we believe the right team is in place. In the future, look for a new flavor from NAMB. Let's see if we can find a way for Loan Officers, from across the country, to join NAMB, join the struggle, and help make things better not only for ourselves but for our clients. NAMB will help that endeavor take place. 
Thinkbigworksmall.com (TBWS) was founded in 2007 by a group of highly successful real estate and mortgage industry entrepreneurs. Born in the most battered market in the real estate and mortgage industrys history, Thinkbigworksmall.com was conceived after decades of observing how the most successful professionals always seem to work smarter not harder. Frank & Brian can be reached at [email protected]
