Consistency Wins In Real Estate Sales

In this episode of the Be The Solution Podcast, Maria Quattrone sits down with Bill Mervin, Mortgage Branch Manager and longtime real estate and mortgage professional, for a conversation about what really separates top producers from everyone else.

The answer is not a secret script, a magic tool, or a perfect market.

It is consistency.

Maria and Bill talk about why so many agents and loan officers struggle with the up-and-down cycle of sales, closings, no closings, momentum, and then losing momentum. Bill shares how daily action, discipline, communication, and strong systems create stability in a business that can otherwise feel reactive and unpredictable.

This episode is especially valuable for real estate agents, mortgage professionals, salespeople, and entrepreneurs who want to stop operating in chaos and start treating their business like a real business.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why consistency matters more than perfection
• How daily discipline creates more freedom in your business
• Why getting your day started early can change your entire production rhythm
• How to identify your “green activities” that actually move the business forward
• Why daily and weekly planning help reduce stress and increase performance
• How huddles, communication, and clear roles prevent things from falling through the cracks
• Why “good news fast, bad news faster” is a business rule every professional should follow
• How experienced professionals avoid problems before they happen
• Why long-term success comes from showing up, doing the work, and staying in motion

Key Takeaways:

• Consistency is the difference between knowing what to do and actually doing it.
• Discipline is not restriction. Discipline creates freedom.
• Planning your day and week keeps you from living in reaction mode.
• The best professionals do not just solve problems. They anticipate and avoid them.
• Communication builds trust, especially when challenges come up.
• Success in real estate and mortgage is not always glamorous. It is built through daily actions, steady habits, and doing the work even when the market feels slower.

Featured Ideas From The Episode:

• “Discipline equals freedom.”
• “Don’t try to be perfect. Try to be consistent.”
• “Good news fast, bad news faster.”
• “You never get in trouble for overcommunicating.”
• “The superpower is finding ways to avoid problems before they happen.”

Bill Mervin:

The Bill Mervin Mortgage Team
Luminate Bank
Phone: (215) 431-7429
Email: bill.mervin@luminate.bank
Office: 223 North Sycamore Street, Unit 3, Newtown, PA 18940
NMLS# 313416
Luminate Bank NMLS# 1281698

Connect with Maria Quattrone:
Facebook: Maria Quattrone
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535

Transcript

Welcome And The Momentum Problem

Maria Quattrone 0:00

This is the Be the Solutions podcast and welcome my friends. I'm your host, Maria Quatrone. I'm excited today to speak with Bill Mervin, mortgage team at a new town, Pennsylvania with Luminant Bank. Welcome, Bill. So happy to have you today.

Bill Mervin 0:18

Thanks, Maria. It's good to be back. I was here once before with you. So good to good to be with you again.

Maria Quattrone 0:23

Yeah, you're you're a recurring champion here on the Be the Solution podcast. Over 400 episodes, and I'm still still swinging at it six years later, Bill.

Bill Mervin 0:35

Yeah. Consistency.

Maria Quattrone 0:41

Consistency. There's a lack of consistency in our industry in mortgage and in real estate sales. One of the things that I see, Bill, in another country, so what your thoughts are on this. Agents, mortgage loan officers, they get up, they bat, they bat, then they stop. They bat and then they stop. So they lose this thing called the big mo, momentum, which is why the business goes up and down, down, up and down, up and down, which means no closings, closings, no closings, closings, no closings.

Bill Mervin 1:24

Definitely see that often. Um this the most uh what this is most um you know apparent to me, or when this jumped out at me was uh I was at a I was I was coaching years ago and a coach of mine um he talked about you know going to this uh and he was a he was one of these he was a great producer in the industry um at you know and then of course he gravitated to coaching but he said he went out to this um coaching thing young in his career uh or some you know sort of seminar type thing and he's like you know these guys are great I respect them uh but he goes the things that they're talking about I know all of these things right the only difference between me sitting in the stands in the uh seats here paying to listen to them and them up there for the most part is the fact that they're doing these things and they're doing them every day. And you know, I you know I I know about them, I do some of them, and then I lose momentum. And it was literally just a mindset shift for him of I'm gonna leave here and uh and I'm gonna go back and I'm just gonna execute. I'm not gonna worry about things being perfect, I'm just gonna do. Uh don't let uh great get in the way of good, as he would always say. And it was like he just left there and unlocked something. And it wasn't that he learned any particular trick or anything fancy, it was just action, right? And don't try to be perfect, just try to be consistent. So I've tried to embrace that.

Maria Quattrone 3:01

I say it's consistency, the discipline of being in your own business, owning your own business and showing up every day like it actually is a business versus playing realtor, playing MLO. There's a big difference, I think, and we have such a big percentage of the agent population that you know if they could only only understand that discipline equals freedom.

Bill Mervin 3:41

That's it. I uh you know, I've you know, just even talking to my own, you know, my own uh children, and you know, I explain to them, right? Like and I try to just think it's the same same thing in in in in business that uh you know you have to you you want these things, you want these freedoms, you want these privileges, right? But at the end of the day, you can have all of them, but you need to you need to do your part, right? So yeah, that I think it's well said that discipline equals freedom, that you know, in in trying to just have that freedom, you lose it when you don't when you don't you know do the actions that you need to do every day and every week. Um so for sure.

Build A Daily Cadence That Holds

Maria Quattrone 4:23

What are the things that that you when you're talking with your team and or agents in the industry that you suggest a daily keep it should look like?

Bill Mervin 4:35

Uh well for you know for us, uh I I try to get in early. Um, and we I try to encourage that we get in early, right? I think that there's so many reactive things that start happening once um the bell opens and and all the operational people and all are in. And I'm sure you have your own version of that in the industry, the clients calling or whatever, whatever that looks like for you guys. Um, so for me, it's a big part is getting in and getting that stuff out of the way um that has to get done and and and setting your day up early so that um you have to be intentional about that because despite your best efforts uh of time blocking or whatever else, there's gonna be fires that come out that you got to put out and things like that. Um, and then you know, late morning, early afternoon um is really when we try to do the green activities, right? As much of the types where we still have the momentum um and things that are gonna move the needle, um, some sort of business development, whether it's you know, talking with and um you know, talking with, communicating with our our client partners. We're not doing uh a lot of personally a lot of outbound um new stuff. Our job is to really we stay really close with the people that we have and um and the people that we're in transaction with and kind of use that as a natural way to build our business. So for me, a lot of just kind of you're selling even when you're doing status updating or you had a little challenge and you problem solved it and you're communicating it. To me, that's our soft sales, right? Because when you're executing that in your job and you're you're doing that, that separates you from the rest. And then, of course, then of course, at the end you want to come back and say, hey, did a great job for you. Will you, you know, we'd love to do this in the future with you. But um, so those green activities, whatever that looks like for you, I try to do the middle of the day. And then I try to bookend it with, you know, same thing. If you don't take some time to consolidate all of those things that happened during the day, um, you know, you come in the next day, you might have had a really good day today, and then you come in the next day and you've got all these loose ends, and you talk about that up and down consistency we see in our business, and now all of a sudden your next day is a mess because you didn't take a half an hour, an hour at the end of the day to um kind of clear everything out of your head, get everything on the calendar or in a to-do list, etc. Um, and I try to do the same thing with the week that I do with the day, which is you know, Monday I try to keep pretty clear to get everything set up so that I can really um do a lot of our green activities, as I like to call them, um, you know, Tuesday to Thursday. And then I try to bookend on a Friday as well to kind of consolidate that week's um you know action.

Maria Quattrone 7:28

Having the daily cadence, a weekly cadence is such a big game changer for people when they actually plan ahead. We just had a master training on that yesterday, in fact. And like it starts on Sunday, I say Sunday morning, review the week before. Look at your week ahead. I even go down to plan like what the heck we're having for dinner each night. So the worst conversation is when your spectrum calls you and says, What do you want to eat tonight? It just takes time, energy, and brain space that we don't need to worry about the situation. I know it's like funny, right? You laugh at it, but it's so true. We like to know what the heck you're eating for lunch without having to go, like, oh, do I have to go to like the Wawa to get lunch? It's like the worst food ever. But people do it. Yeah, you probably bring your food in and eat healthy like me.

Bill Mervin 8:27

Most of the time, yeah. It's funny.

Maria Quattrone 8:30

I've even seen that, you know, where I I and I don't I don't take it this far, but yeah, well, scheduling it all out because you know, I was thinking about this this morning when I was walking into the office and I got here pretty pretty early, and I was just like doo-doo doo, walk in. And then I thought about the days when I'm in a big hurry because I'm rushing because I didn't allow enough time in the morning, and your whole day kind of gets not off on a good start, and then you feel flabbergasted and overwhelmed when you could have easily prepared better, got up earlier, finally made your way into the office without a chicken without a head. It's it's a completely different day.

Bill Mervin 9:28

I know you never recover when that I I can't. That's a huge pet peeve of mine. I just uh I remember those days early in school and early in my career, and just that feeling of like it's 10, 11 o'clock, and you're still you're still reacting, you're still trying to get your get your footing, and then just you know, I you know, I never recover in those days, and and so that's why I exactly whether it's planning your week um the the on a Sunday night, whether it's planning your day in the morning and getting up early. Um, something as simple as that, I think, is one of the biggest for people. I don't know how people in this industry are successful without some version of that for sure.

Huddles And Scoreboards That Work

Maria Quattrone 10:11

Yeah, I mean, every single day you have to recap what happened today. In fact, we have our daily success huddle. It's gonna happen shortly. Usually it's a little earlier, but it's gonna happen shortly, and then there's a cadence to that. How many conversations were had, how many clients got signed, how many appointments appointments were set, how many appointments were kept, any offers in, any offers out, what got signed as a new listing, what's on deck to go up as a new listing, what is closing to that, what money came in? There's a couple other things. What mortgage referrals did we give out? What happened to them? But that's a cadence every single day. If it's not done, then we don't operate as good as a team. How about you?

Bill Mervin 11:05

Um so do we operate as good as you know, what is our what's our team's approach, or uh you're saying like what's yeah, like what what's your philosophy on on on on that, on you know running how running it like yeah, so um, you know, our our everybody's different, so just curious. Yeah. Our action is um, you know, like yes, we do uh we do a a a quick uh you know a quick uh huddle in in the morning, right? And it's just who's on first. Um, you know, we kind of have in my internal team, I don't I'll be frank with you, I I don't manage a lot of outside loan officers, even though I'm a branch manager. Um right now um I just have one who's been with me 20 years, he's super independent. Uh I had a point where I had um 19 total people in my branch. Right now I have um eight. Um and so I I really focus on and and I and I realized that I was doing a lot more activity and spending a lot more time managing people, but it wasn't necessarily making more money than just focusing on my business. So so really I went my business is focused on the Bill Mervyn team business, my personal book of business with you know my two longtime uh partners, loan partners, uh Mike and Angelo. So in that in that team, we're um everybody's kind of in a role. So, you know, Mike focuses on the pre-approvals, and then Angelo and I kind of are in tandem doing the consultations and things like that. So there's not a ton of overlap. There's the most overlap with Angelo and I, since we're kind of um co-managing our our clients. Um, so him and I do the most, um, you know, do a quick huddle. Oh a quick huddle, who's on first and things like that. Um, and then we'll do we'll do a weekly team meeting together, uh, all of us just kind of um focused on um, you know, what are the what are the challenges that could be coming up? Uh what issues do we have to pay attention to in the pipeline? Um you know, what you know, agent called with an issue and and and has it been resolved, or do we do we need to address it further? So, you know, and it can look different from week to week, uh Maria, but the fact is is that you know, we're in regular communication, who's on first, who's got what, because the problem is without that, either one of two things are happening. Either we're both looking at each other and the ball drops between the two of us, or the three of us, or everybody's doing it, and then we have duplication of effort and we have confusion, and that's that's inefficient as well. So, you know, whatever that looks like in your in your particular business or whoever's listening to this, um, I don't know that that's necessarily as important as just that you're doing it, right?

Overcommunicate And Solve Problems Early

Maria Quattrone 14:11

I think you're doing it, yeah. You're doing it, but I I know, and because you said that you do a lot you communicate a lot with your partners, is your your agent partners is that nobody ever gets in trouble for overcommunicating. Meaning nobody ever gets mad at you for overcommunicating.

Bill Mervin 14:33

Communicate early, communicate often. Uh, another one I have, uh one of the you know, I have these little taglines that I've been using for years, and you know, good news fast, bad news faster, you know. And I I like to say that you know, we don't have a lot of bad news to communicate, but you know, nobody I I've some agents I've worked with for a decade or more, and I've probably warned them like a dozen, two dozen times, like, oh, we're hitting some headwinds here, you know, um we here's my here's how I'm thinking we're gonna handle it, etc. Um, and it never materializes, uh, or has almost never materializes, but yet they're not gonna when we have the problem, you're not gonna hear it from me for the first time, right? We're gonna let you know what the, you know, where the hair is on the deal or what challenges we might hit. And and in our industry, especially on my side, and I'm sure you have this as well, maybe with the agents and the client, um, is that when you start hitting problems, that's when people stop being available, right? I say hiding under your desk. Um, and uh, you know, people people understand that things come up, they want to know what's going on, and personally, I like to call where I've already died, you know, diagnosed the situation and I come with, you know, what's our solution or or what's our path forward here, right? Here's what we hit, here's what's going on, here's how we're gonna solve it, or here's how we're gonna do our best to work around it. And you'll you'll never go wrong doing that. But those are tough conversations, and and people in our industries tend to uh uh avoid them, and I think that's probably one of the worst things that you can do.

Maria Quattrone 16:12

No doubt. Creative avoidance, I call it by hiding under the bank covers. Yeah, and it's funny, and that's why we can this podcast be a solution.

Bill Mervin 16:28

That well, I didn't even put that together, but uh for for sure. Um, and it's funny because I I also one of my other kind of taglines is you know, I don't mind um I don't mind solving problems, but I I prefer I don't mind being a problem solver, but I prefer to be a problem avoider, right? So, you know, you've talked, we talked, you know, kind of leading up to this about superpowers, right? It's one thing to be somebody who can figure out how to overcome problems, but you know, the best thing to do is to really plan ahead, ask all the right questions, you know, be good at your craft and anticipate. Um, because a lot of these things, not all of them, but a lot of them is just it's it's it's all in the setup, right? And so I think uh, and I'm sure there's carryovers in your your industry, but um is yes, uh some people get credit for solving problems, but I think really um I re I think really the superpower is is is finding ways to um to avoid them before they happen.

Maria Quattrone 17:32

That's where the experience comes in and experience over decades of walking through that issue already, that challenge, and being able to anticipate what's gonna happen if this doesn't happen up front. So that's that's the part that you know, not at we're not all created equal in the sense of where we're coming from in our our backgrounds in business. As people, yes, as humans. But in business, I always found that interesting. You know, you want to work with somebody who's got into the business for one year, or do you want to be in uh working with somebody who has so much experience that they can navigate? You wouldn't even know that there was a problem because the problem was handled up front. And we make it look too easy.

Bill Mervin 18:25

Yep. Yeah, it's funny, you know, and and this, you know, both of us in our industries have different, but we, you know, we have you know, certain compression, and we've got certain, you know, online companies and different things that are trying to replicate what we do, and um, you know, and they'll say, Oh, so and so closed with whomever and didn't have any issues. It's not the it's not the eight or nine ten nine out of uh eight or nine out of ten people who everything's smooth and simple. It's there's one or two out of ten where it's the it's it's a complete you know game changer for them. There's there's people I know we've we've solved problems for who had they just you know been with whomever, um, they wouldn't have closed and they they'd probably still be renting this day because they probably would have thrown their hands up and and given up. Um, you know, and so that's uh you know, you talk about being a professional at your trade and all those things. It yes, there's some transactions that frankly, you know, anybody could do, and it probably comes out all right. But the difference that we can make in individuals' lives on those on those um fringe areas, I mean, that's that's really all all the difference. Um and uh, you know, I say that, you know, it's what if if you think that our getting people into home are the ship to create generate show. Yes, that's that's that's uh and that's that's really the name of our game. Um, I like to say most of the people in my industry are are debt sales people, um, where our whole model is built as like truly um like an advisory firm. Um and really from the first conversation till we do post-closing calls and all that, it's it's not about closing a transaction, but um, you know, using using real estate um, you know, as a tool to build wealth.

Maria Quattrone 20:20

So 100%. That's getting people into those houses.

Books And The Power Of Small Wins

Maria Quattrone 20:31

So tell me, do you are you an avid reader or podcast listener?

Bill Mervin 20:37

Yes, I'm uh I am a uh notorious um I've got literally a you know a whole room of books, but uh you know, I've read two or three chapters of many of them. Some of them I've read front to cover, but you know, I tend to uh I tend to get it and and and extract a few things out of them and then move on. But yes, I I I consider myself a reader. And some podcasts.

Maria Quattrone 21:03

What are your top three faves?

Bill Mervin 21:06

My top three faves? Um well, I mean, without for lack of uh being unoriginal, um, of course, you know, Think and Grow Rich was one of the initial deals that um I mean the initial books that really set all this off for me and so many other people that I know. Um I actually recently read a book by um oh geez. Uh I'm not gonna remember it. Uh it had a lot to do with I can't think of his name right now, but it was uh it was organize organization. It had to do with like uh winning the day. I forget the exact title of it. Another one that's uh another one that was really good was the one um of um like the incremental change. I don't know if you know which one I'm talking about. It talks about like uh the the the person that um the person that one day you come home from work and you watch 10 minutes of tv or you read 10 minutes of a book or you eat uh you know you eat the healthy snack or you eat the potato chips you know and on a day a week even maybe even a month you don't notice any difference but you extrapolate that out you know 10 years um and i mean the the change is massive right just like those two lines that are one degree apart and you take them out miles away in the difference so i i'm forgetting the name of that book but that was another one that really um you know really woke me up encouraged me it's so easy to be like well i'll do this tomorrow or had a long week um but just trying to stack as many of those little wins daily that that that's it's all in that it's all in those daily little wins and there's not some like lightning bolt moment that's going to change everything it's just as you said in the beginning doing those daily disciplines so those are yeah the compound effects the compound effects of thank you that was my that's one of my favorite books of all time yeah yep yep it's so easy anybody in sales or I mean life but especially sales reads that book from day one understanding that you know this we're in a marathon this isn't a sprint and it's just getting up and doing the work day in day out it's not glamorous it's not pretty sometimes it's fun but most of the time it's it's work and it's what we're doing but we're here so that we can serve others and for our families that hope we can live the life that we want so I think that the end of the day that's really what it's all about you know helping others being in contribution making an impact on the world and doing the best that we can do each and every day I'm with you in that in agreement in that great yeah I'm excited about uh the second half of the year Bill I think we're gonna have some things opening up with uh the ending of this uh looks like this war upon us so that will be excellent I think for our industry because I know that there's been a lot of uncertainty and uncertainty causes people not to take action and then when they don't take action they don't buy homes as they should be buying right now.

Market Outlook And The Bear Story

Bill Mervin 24:30

I think there's a lot of pent up demand particularly in our our region here and um you know it's not like these you know certain areas are a little soft in some of the coastal areas and and some of the um some of the areas that saw the post-COVID migration that's kind of reversing back a little bit so you're seeing you know like a tennis uh Nashville and and some of those places Austin but I think in our in our we'll call it Philly metro area um it's all organic it's all you know healthy growth and I think that there's a lot of pent up demand um that yeah has been been on the sidelines because just people don't like to make big moves I mean you have the situational stuff where people just have to move I mean obviously we're both closing closing deals but I think that there's um a lot of folks that are um in need uh and um I think that hopefully with some clarity they will uh jump off the sidelines so I have to um I'm hopeful as well because it's not been the easy it's been a rough a little bit of a rougher year than usual so for everybody it's okay it is what it is what it is you just keep trucking along I I uh I say I always tell the story and I did it kind of post post COVID when things really slowed down because in our business we even you know we both have seasonality stuff um but we also had the sugar rush of the refinances that wore off so we saw a massive from uh peak to trough you know pullback from 2021 to like late 22 early 23 and I told my team I said you know there's times there's there's there's times to to reap and there's times to sow and right now is a sowing period so I've always tried to look at it that way that um there's some times where you're not lighting up the world but actually that's really the critical times because I always give the story of the two guys walking down the path and they see a bear and the one guy looks over at the other guy and he he sees him bending over and tying his shoes and he said you know what are you doing? You're never going to outrun that bear and he said I don't have to outrun the bear I just have to outrun you um and that's how I look at those times where things are a little bit slower or down which is you know all we need to do is be gaining market share improving our systems um so that when those periods of sewing come back you know we're in the best position to capture it. So that's how I look at these things.

Maria Quattrone 27:06

I love that that's a good analogy except for your friend got eaten by the bear. Yeah we weren't that close so the bear is the yeah the friend is the competition in this case so awesome it's been it's been great Bill having you today on the Be the Solution podcast and I appreciate you and uh thank you for spending the time with me this war morning. And here's to a great rest of the year and a happy 250th birthday to our great USA greatest country in the world right by far.

Bill Mervin 27:47

It was awesome thank you also for having me again and uh you know you're all it's always great to chat with you. You've got so much wisdom and uh and experience in this business and uh it's always great to talk with like minded folks.