The Power of Partnership: Elevating Customer Experience and Winning Together in Mortgage Appraisals

Will Eubanks [: 00:00:00
It is the power of the phone, the phone call, the cold call. You never know what's going to come from it. I'm a firm believer in it, but this was the best one I ever had and happened to be the first one in a training session, which was beautiful.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:00:15
Everyone says they're your partner, but few actually mean it. In our first ever guest episode, we're going to sit down with Will Eubanks, the founder and owner of EA Appraisals, to talk about how Cold Call turned to one of our strongest and most dynamic business partnerships here at hma. What makes this company different and how true partnerships can change the game. Welcome to the next exciting episode of Lending Leaderships with the Mortgage Pros. I'm Robert Fillyaw with Tom Mills and joined by Will Eubanks, our first ever guest. Welcome to the show, Will.

Will Eubanks [: 00:00:48
Thank you so much. It's such an honor. I'm super, super excited to get on here with my buddies and talk shop. It's an honor.

Tom Mills [: 00:00:57
We're excited to have you, man. We were brainstorming and, and talked about having a guest on and it was, it was a consensus, really quick decision that, that you, you should be the guy we bring on, man. You've been a, you and EA Appraisals, your team, you guys have been every, a partner in every definition to us, man. And you become a great friend as well.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:01:22
Yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't really even a discussion, right? It was like, first guest, Will Eubanks, EA Appraisals like, you know, when we. Partnership is such a buzzword in our industry, so many people talk about it and you know, we have, gosh, I couldn't even maybe a hundred. Right. Vendor relationships of various forms and formats. And so you look at it and you think about like, who really fulfills the promise, who is really a partner to us in every sense of the word. And that I know that I can count on, that we can count on in the business that we do day in and day out. And that's you hands down, brother.

Will Eubanks [: 00:02:01
Awesome. It's a, it's a privilege. We like, like y' all mentioned it is there really is a friendship here. I loved getting to know you three and then your whole team just kind of getting integrated into your whole, your whole whole family. And being, being a part of that community has been awesome and I, I really feel involved. So as you guys grow, it's exciting to watch and just be a part of it and just keep. Continue to cheer you on and partner with you. But Ultimately, I.

Will Eubanks [: 00:02:30
I enjoy the time hanging out with you guys, going to games, going to concerts, talking sports, talking kids, talking families. That, to me, is what makes it special. Looking for. When the phone rings and it's one of you guys, it's not a. A beating. It's more of a excited, oh, I got to figure out a way to answer this call if I can. I gotta call them back because I want to catch up. Yeah, we get things done, we work hard, but we also.

Will Eubanks [: 00:02:54
We all have a good time together and have a special bond. So, yeah, excited to be on here today with you guys.

Tom Mills [: 00:03:00
I think in an industry where people are always looking for the next. The best deal, you know, and I guess that's every industry, really. You know, at the end of the day, you know, in this business that we're in, man, it's not just about the best deal in every angle of what we're doing. It's about how do we cohesively deliver the customer experience we want to deliver, work with the people we want to deliver, work, work with the people that we want to work with, and then be an extension of our culture, really. And I think that that's what's important. You know, we culturally align. When you work with people you enjoy and you like, and they do great business for you and they do great things for you, and I think we hope we've helped you ways as well. That's what it really is really about, you know, winning together.

Will Eubanks [: 00:03:44
That's right.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:03:45
Well, and. And for us, right, it's the. The. I mean, to me, as I look at the vendor relationships and partnerships that we have, it's. How do you make, like, our life easier? How. How do you improve the experience for our customers, for our employees? You know, how. How did we take something off of our plate that maybe isn't our highest and best use? And man, when we look at that, you check all of those boxes, you know, as Tom and I joined HMA and. And, you know, we're talking with Dave and we're like, all right, well, now we're going to go from this.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:04:21
This footprint that's, you know, basically the greater Pittsburgh area, a little bit of Ohio to now, really not nationwide. Right. But covering two time zones and appraisal management in that, with all the various relationships and the different markets and all the. The different state requirements, everything that goes into it, like, honestly, dude, we were scratching our head a little bit, like, well, how are we going to manage this? How are we going to do this? Are we going to tackle this so when we met, you can't. Could not have come at a more perfect time. And then, you know, it's just. It's. It's really been lights out from there.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:04:59
You know, one of our things that's.

Tom Mills [: 00:05:01
It's an area of our business where the only time we talk about appraisals, when we hear some story that Will and his team had did versus some complaint. And even if, you know, we've had some bumps in the road, the story always ends and you know, what they kind of did about it. So it's. It's literally an area of zero friction for us, and we appreciate that.

Will Eubanks [: 00:05:20
That's the goal.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:05:21
Well, and that's. That's one of the things that makes you guys different, right? Is, you know, I can. There's not a single time when. When we've called you and said, hey, we're, you know, we're up against whatever, like, pick. Pick an appraisal situation, right? Listeners out there, you guys know if the appraisal goes wrong, it can screw everything up. So, like, pick a situation. There's never been a time when I've picked up the phone and called you or Manny and said, hey, here's what we're dealing with. And you guys haven't went right to work on a solution.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:05:52
I don't get a runaround. I don't get excuses. I don't get, oh, you know, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's. You've somehow some. In some of the stuff you've pulled off. I still don't know how you've done. Right? Like, I remember a deal that we had to reorder an appraisal, and you had it in the next day.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:06:09
Like, I. I still don't know how you guys pulled that off. I don't want to know. Keep the mat, like, make. Keep the magic. Magic, right? But, I mean, those are the things that just set you apart and make you different. You know, we know how critical the appraisal piece is to the mortgage process, and frankly, it's a pain point for a lot of originators and a lot of companies. And you guys, as Tom just said, you just take all that friction and pain that exists in so many other places and just eradicate it.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:06:38
So kudos to you and your team, man. Y'. All. Y' all do a hell of a job.

Will Eubanks [: 00:06:43
Thank you. I tell. I tell my team over 90% of the appraisals that we manage are pretty smooth and don't require a ton from us. We have great relationships with our appraisers with our vendors. So, you know, it's kind of cut and dry. We get the appraisal back in a timely fashion. It checks the boxes that the client needs. But those 5 to 10%, where there's.

Will Eubanks [: 00:07:09
There's some type of headache that's caused some struggle, something didn't go according to plan, the appraiser might have dropped the ball, but those are where we got to put on our Superman capes and. And try our best. Whatever it takes. If it costs time, if it costs money, whatever it costs, we have to step up on those for our clients and. And try to be Superman. And those are the instances you're referencing, and that's really where we try to separate ourselves or those. The other ones are easy, but when there's a problem, we can't run from it. We can't just accept it, do all we can as quickly as we can to make sure it works for y'.

Will Eubanks [: 00:07:47
All. That's what we do.

Tom Mills [: 00:07:49
Real simple way of looking at it, man. And you're right. That's really our business, too. You know, 90 of the time, smooth sailing. And 10 of the time, you got an opportunity to be a hero. You said put on our capes because that. That's what it really is, is when you're working with a partner, you just have an opportunity to be a hero here. Like, the ball got dropped, Something happened.

Will Eubanks [: 00:08:10
It's.

Tom Mills [: 00:08:10
It happens, right? Maybe it's not the ball dropped or just whatever. There's a million reasons that we.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:08:17
We could.

Tom Mills [: 00:08:17
We could have a problem, as you know, but. Yeah, man, I appreciate that mentality, dude.

Will Eubanks [: 00:08:22
I. In a weird way, I almost thrive in the chaos. I look forward to those in a weird way, and obviously I want them to be smooth. But when you guys, when I get a call from somebody at HMA saying this happened, they dropped the appraiser, dropped the ball, this is happening. Whatever the situation is, I can't promise you I get it fixed. But I. I look forward to doing something different, to separate ourselves, to pat myself on the back to you guys. I love to be.

Will Eubanks [: 00:08:51
To try to save the deal. I want to be the hero. Everybody wants to be a hero. And, and when we can step up and do something different and unique and something that's talked about amongst your company, like, that's. That's what I love to do. So it. Yeah, it's a little bit stressful in the moment, but trying to find the solution and, and throwing the Hail Mary and having them catch it is pretty awesome.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:09:14
It's. It's funny that we're talking about this and a little bit timely. I literally got an email from a pissed off loan officer yesterday morning. That was something appraisal related on an appraisal. We had to transfer. And it's a long convoluted story. Right? And this was on, this was on a Tuesday closing, supposed to be on Friday. FHA loan got the appraisals transferred in.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:09:38
Well now it's, you know, turns out it's expired. So now we need a new appraisal and we've got three days. And literally this email came in at like 9:30. We engaged your team. You guys had a solution and a path forward. And not only that, but we were gonna, we're gonna make our closing date on Friday, literally by like 11 o'. Clock. And I was able to get back to the originator and you know, then all of a sudden the pissed off is Happy Rainbow Sunshine.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:10:05
Right? And that's, that's, that's a testimony to you. You guys did that. I wasn't even on the call that happened. I just know that it happened. So I don't even know if you were on the call. Right. That was your team probably. So my team, that, that's magic, man.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:10:20
What are some of the common, you know, kind of pain points that you see out there in the industry? You know, other, other amc, you know, that you've seen over time? And how do you, like, how do you guys tackle those differently other than the mindset that you just said, which is not to be understated. That's massive. It all starts there.

Will Eubanks [: 00:10:40
So it's, it's a, there's two things have happened in the appraisal world that I think have affected the service levels. Because at the end of the day that's what I view, that's what we do, you know, is it's a service industry, what we do. And two things. A lot of these companies started getting bought up and private equity came in and so they became really, really large and it was all a margin game where they were paying their vendors and their appraisers less. They were trying to use cheaper appraisers. We kind of have a different mentality and approach. We, we think the appraisers and the vendors that we use are significantly important to the process. So you know, we, we, we have preferred appraisers.

Will Eubanks [: 00:11:22
They oftentimes are, we pay them better, we have relationships with them. So that gives us a better service. If the appraiser goes and does the job well professionally on time. If there's an ROV or a revision. They do it timely. If they do all those things, it makes us look good.

Tom Mills [: 00:11:36
Yeah, you get the next order. The next order.

Will Eubanks [: 00:11:38
We pay them well. We take care of them. We call the vendors, you know, before we use them for the first time, we have a relationship with them. A lot of the other AMCs are not doing that. They're sending out these blast emails to all the appraisers in the county of the subject property asking who will do it the cheapest, and that's who they use. So we have a different approach. Approach in that our margins aren't. Aren't as good, to be honest, as those guys.

Will Eubanks [: 00:12:00
But we have a better service and we have our vendors, they give us preferential treatment. And then I would say the other one that, that we do a little bit differently is our team is probably a little bit better. We have a really, really good staff, and we take care of them, and they prioritize the clients. You know, a lot of my guys and our team, and it's just a little bit different level of service because we've got. We've got a bunch of people with appraisal experience, a bunch of people with athletic backgrounds that are disciplined and they. They. That's. That's kind of a niche that I have at our company.

Tom Mills [: 00:12:43
They want to win, too.

Will Eubanks [: 00:12:44
Yeah, they're competitive, they're disciplined. It's not just motivated. You know, motivation comes and goes. But they're disciplined. They get up every day and they. And they want to win, and they know it's going to take work. So we've just got a great team. We got a great team of staff.

Will Eubanks [: 00:12:58
We got a great group of vendors that I think cares a little bit more.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:13:05
It shines through, man. And you, Your. Your team probably has the highest average height of any amc. Yeah.

Tom Mills [: 00:13:11
Every time we're with you, right, you're with two people that are above six. Five.

Will Eubanks [: 00:13:15
That's right. We. We will win any. Any five or any basketball game. I take my company against any. Any company in the mortgage business, even the big.

Tom Mills [: 00:13:26
I. I would. I would have to agree. Let's pivot a little bit, because I.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:13:31
Wanted to point one thing out real quick there, Tom. When you were talking about the service and the margins, and I, I thought about this. I don't know if you guys ever seen it. It's a little, like, meme or slide thing, and it's got three. Three toggle switches. Right. And one's cheap, one's fast, and one's job like, well done job, and you can only turn two of the three on. Right.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:13:50
You can get it cheap and fast, or you can get it fast and done well, or you can get. Right, you. You only get two of the three cheap, faster, or well done. And you guys focused on the fast and the well done. And you know what, What I love about you in as we go into markets is the other piece of the partnership that I think is important is if. If you have to adjust your margin a little bit to make it work so our clients don't fill it, and we're still competitive in that market, that's a big difference. It helps us win also. And we're.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:14:24
We're all about winning, man.

Will Eubanks [: 00:14:26
Let's go.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:14:26
Sorry, Tom. Go ahead.

Tom Mills [: 00:14:27
Nah. More about the relationship than the deal, right?

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:14:30
Yeah.

Tom Mills [: 00:14:32
I was going to say I wanted to pivot a little bit because I want to go into, like, how we met and started doing business with you. And. And we knew the story, but then we were hanging out. We all got together in. In Texas a few weeks ago, and we were hanging in the pool. And you told us kind of the background of that story that led to the call that, you know, we started our relationship. And being as this is, we tend to keep a lot of. Of the topics of this call very sales focused.

Tom Mills [: 00:14:59
I think it's really relevant that we. That we. That we talk about how our partnership began.

Will Eubanks [: 00:15:03
Absolutely.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:15:05
It was funny to us to hear your side of it, because we only knew our side of it. Yeah, right. Which was that we had this originator is like, oh, we got to bring this. We got to bring this AMC on. We got to bring this AMC on. And you and I jumped on a call and, you know, that was at the time when we're talking about, we're going to manage this or not. And you seem like a great solution. And I mean, honestly, we kind of pulled the trigger almost a little haphazardly.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:15:30
Right? Yeah, we. I think you and I had two calls, and I was like, this is the guy. Let's go.

Tom Mills [: 00:15:33
You were like, we got a million things going on, and this guy seems legit. Let's go.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:15:37
Yeah, I love it.

Will Eubanks [: 00:15:39
I love it.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:15:39
But what we learned is the backside for you is kind of blew our mind. Tell us about that.

Will Eubanks [: 00:15:45
So. So the backstory for myself, I'll start there quickly. But, you know, I had an appraisal shop.

Tom Mills [: 00:15:51
We were in a.

Will Eubanks [: 00:15:51
We had a group of appraisers, staff appraisers, and that is what we did. So we had, you know, A whole team doing that across a handful of states. And then we started getting licensed as an amc. So we become licensed as an AMC and we wait till we're licensed in all 50 states before we hit the market. So it's a separate company, but we started doing that. And a few years back, the, the guy who's kind of been my right hand guy with the appraisal shop all the way helping us get licensed, his name's Manny. You guys know him, Seven foot guy, one of my best buddies. And he was, you know, gonna start helping me with some sales on the AMC side.

Will Eubanks [: 00:16:29
And I said, listen, we're nationwide. It's, it's an overwhelming task to just try to figure out who to call, who to talk to. We're growing. But, you know, I said, we need to just, let's start in our backyard, so let's just start calling. And he, you know, he was a little concerned about the cold calling. Hadn't had a lot of experience with it, hadn't had a lot of luck with his limited tries. But I told him, you're going to get shut down, you're going to get rejected, but just watch. So I get on Google Next to our office, Google for mortgage loan officers, mortgage brokers, whoever.

Will Eubanks [: 00:16:58
And there was one like literally down the street, we're in for Texas. And so down the street, a couple of blocks away, call the phone number. And this lady answers. And long story short, she answers, she said, normally don't answer these calls. This is crazy. You're calling Will because all this is going on and, and we're actually with this group, you know, we're considering trying to figure out what we're going to do for appraisals. And I need you to talk to this guy Robert. I said, really? She said, yeah, first, you know, talk to this guy Jeff in Houston.

Will Eubanks [: 00:17:33
Talk to Robert. But. And so Manny's sitting there listening to this call on speakerphone, just in awe of what just happened. And actually I, I am too. I'm just trying to show them how to make a cold call, fully expecting there to not be an answer. Obviously, most times they don't answer an unknown call or if they do, to just shut me down. I recognize that's the, the norm. But this was the very first call on a.

Will Eubanks [: 00:17:59
Hey, buddy, here's how you do a cold call. This was the very first one. I was expecting to do 10. We had two hours blocked off. This is what we're going to do. But the very first one the lady answered put me in contact with you guys. And now, to be clear, I did reach out to Robert a handful of times. Was wearing them out.

Will Eubanks [: 00:18:18
He was really busy during all this, so I took a little bit to get him on the phone. Totally sold like, right away. But eventually I got him on the phone and we hit it off right away. But it. To your team, to the sales point of view, it's. It was the cold call, which so many people hate to do. And it is, it is hard. And this was a anomaly that the first one in that time block was turned into this incredible relationship.

Will Eubanks [: 00:18:43
But it is the power of the phone, the phone call, the cold call. You never know what's going to come from it. I'm a firm believer in it. And, but this was the best one I ever had. It happened to be the first one in a training session, which was bu. The first.

Tom Mills [: 00:18:58
My first question as a sales guy is, when you got off that call, did you immediately dial and make another one?

Will Eubanks [: 00:19:05
Did not. I celebrated, to be honest. I did. My next call was to this guy Robert. Oh, yeah, you're on it. You're on the trail.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:19:15
And then true, true to form. I, you know, that didn't answer the cold call. No unknown number.

Will Eubanks [: 00:19:20
But, but nonetheless, man, he was like, that was interesting. And then as it progressed, a couple days later and I'm on the phone with Robert and, and we start talking about working together. He, you know, Manny was just in awe of what happened. So now we've got him doing a little bit. To this day, we have never had a better phone call, a cold call than that one, just to be clear. But, but, you know, is the cold calling and that kind of work is. Not everybody's doing it anymore, but on the sales side, it's, it's so valuable, so powerful, you know, just, just putting yourself out there.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:19:56
Yeah.

Will Eubanks [: 00:19:57
Yeah.

Tom Mills [: 00:19:57
You probably don't have to do as much cold calling now. I think, you know, one thing you've done really good job of, of getting the EA name out there. It's, it's, it's a, it's a name that I think is recognizable in the industry. You've gotten into the right networks of, of people, got some good people that you're working with that, you know, are, are happy to and excited to, to. To talk about your company and, and, and recommend it to others. So works. I've seen your growth, man. I love it.

Tom Mills [: 00:20:26
I love that we're a big part of it.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:20:29
I love it and I hate it. Like, I love it for you. We were the biggest client For a while, and now we've been. We're second biggest, I think, or third, maybe even third at this point. Right. Tom and I have to get. We don't get to get our butts. We have to get our butts in gear to get some recruiting in to take that number one spot back.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:20:48
We're working on a few things. We'll be talking soon.

Will Eubanks [: 00:20:51
I love it. Let's grow together, baby.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:20:53
That's it. And, And I mean, you. You've been instrumental in that is. I mean, literally, you're a guy. When we talk about partnership, you're. You're the only vendor, by the way, that this happens with, that when we're recruiting. You have a conversation with the originators. You're, You're.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:21:08
You're literally part of the recruiting process and the conversation that's had more often than not, not every time, but more often than not. So that. That's pretty phenomenal. Tell us a little bit, you know, about the, The. Some of the growth that you've seen and as you've gone through it. So kind of two parts. What's. What's one of the biggest challenges that you had with the growth that you've guess.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:21:31
Seen. You've seen? And then what's one thing that you kind of wish that you knew before, you know, if you would have known when you were starting on this growth path ahead of the, Ahead of time, what's that one thing?

Will Eubanks [: 00:21:46
Some of the challenges with growth, and you guys, you guys will know is, is when you're scaling something, you. You can't. You just can't lose the touch. If that's your sauce and that's your juice. Like, you. You have to stay. You have to stay involved, and you have to have the right people in the right places. So, you know, there's a.

Will Eubanks [: 00:22:08
There's a challenge as you grow, and some people have a little bit more responsibilities thrown on them trying to pivot. You know, I know some of you guys have had to do some unique roles for a season until you found the right person to handle this task or this part of your job. Maybe not what you're best at. And it's the same thing here. It's, you know, at first, when you're, you know, smaller and growing, you're kind of wearing all the hats and there's. There's. That's a. That can be a challenge.

Will Eubanks [: 00:22:32
But then figuring out who is best at what, whose strength is what, and then finding the right people, and sometimes it's. You're not right, right Away. You know, you might think you have the right person for this or this might be the right responsibility for this person. And then you get, you know, halfway down the road and you think maybe we need to turn around, come back and start over kind of thing. But it's just finding the right jobs and tasks for people as you grow and responsibilities increase in terms of, in terms of what I, what I wish I knew, you know, kind of when I had got started, it's, I knew it, but I don't think that I fully grasp, grasped it. It's just so much of this is relationship. You know, you build, you try to build products and you try to build systems and processes and all those are valuable, but really, you know, out of the gates and as you grow, just having the right relationships and, and investing in those and, and prioritizing that is significant and, and allowing yourself to have the time to do that, you know, putting the right people around you to handle some of the other tasks and responsibilities. I would have done that a little bit sooner.

Will Eubanks [: 00:23:54
Sometimes I find myself in the weeds in my email or doing some things that you know, I didn't need to be doing as we were growing and I should have, you know, been had a lot put, given myself more time to be out there and, and invest in, more in, in the people and, and our, and our clients and that kind of thing. So just you know, putting the right people around me sooner, giving myself more time to invest in the things that really are mattering, which is relationships, you know, the high level stuff which is part of small business growth. You got to wear any hats early on and finding the right time to take that some of those hats off is a challenge.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:24:32
Yeah, I love that man. That, that aligns with so much of what we talk about preach here. And you know, I think that's, that's a lot of the synergy that we have, right. Like we're all about find the right person and then make sure they're in the right seat and you know, get, delegate a lot of that stuff off as you're growing and focus on the relationships. Everything that we do is relationship based in our business, your business, so that, that resonates really well, man.

Tom Mills [: 00:24:56
And then you're, you're also saying, you know, find the find, create the time to do the things that, that you love, the things that you're good at and, and the things that help you grow and make, make money for the company. And you're right, man. And that's the hardest part of any our business is the same. Right. The hardest part will, and I think it goes back to what you're talking about before is the people, is people can't let go of things to, to take the time to go and do that. They think, and I'm sure you probably thought this at some point in your career. Nobody can do this as good as I can do this. You know, then it comes into developing, I think, a culture amongst your team that, you know, you have your ways of making touches, but your team does too, man.

Tom Mills [: 00:25:39
They, they. They are extension of you. So you've obviously done a good job of kind of building that to where you felt like you could go out now. And now we're watching you grow as a, As a result. And your team, they're, they're taking on more prominent roles and, and their values greater and, and, and they, they're a huge part of what you're doing, and they know that you can get out and do what you do well. It's helping feed the business. And they got, they got that, like, I got this mentality and that's a really, like, a beautiful thing to have when you, when you get there because you feel like you can go out and you can do anything. I can get any relationship.

Tom Mills [: 00:26:13
I can service that relationship, you know, and you're right, you know, it's not just like you couldn't have just like, had that phone call with us. We give you a try, we start sending orders over, and 18 months later, we're bringing you on a podcast. No, like, you put time in our relationship and, and, you know, we built, built a friendship along the way, so I think it was a little easier, but.

Will Eubanks [: 00:26:35
Much easier.

Tom Mills [: 00:26:36
Yeah, there was a lot of touches there, man. You, you were all over that thing, making sure that we were, we were getting what we were looking for.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:26:44
Well, and you're, you're. The, the irony of, you know, empowering people is the, the more you try to hang on to stuff, the less you empower your team, which you, you hired them to empower them to take it off. So when you don't let it go, you're actually just doing the opposite and, and you're, you're setting a precedence and, you know, teaching them that you don't trust them with it and not empowering them. So, you know, one thing that's funny as we talk about the relation piece, and I know you spend a lot of time on the road now, attending various conferences and being in person at, at, you know, events or meeting people, right? Being. Getting that face to Face time. When, when I had the opportunity to meet your wife, she was talking with Lace and she was, she was sharing that. That's like you being on the road's new right. And it's taken some getting used to but it, like in our business it's kind of necessary and it, you're seeing the results of it.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:27:38
So it's interesting know just to a lot of people talk about the relationship piece but then they don't put the work into it and you, you put the work into it and you're seeing the results. So kudos to you guys.

Will Eubanks [: 00:27:50
Thank you. Yeah, I'm like you guys, I've spent enough time with you. We're, we're similar. It's what I love about working with you guys. But you know, we're people people. I love people like people. I have friends. I don't like people.

Will Eubanks [: 00:28:03
They're such a big. I'm the, I always, I, I just love people like I, even the goofy ones, I just laugh like it there, you know, it makes life great being surrounded with good people and people that are like minded and have the same mentality and approach to life as a whole. But, but I love that. So being on the road, traveling, finding the right fits. I found I've had some clients where it just wasn't the right fit. And I told them, you know, after starting to work for them, good sized branches or regions or whoever, I just said this isn't, this isn't the right fit. And it just, I, I want to work with the right people and grow with the right people. And I'm open minded.

Will Eubanks [: 00:28:42
It doesn't have to be exactly guys like you guys who are like my homeboys but at the same time, you know, I, I'm gonna, we're gonna be a value add but I don't want people that are detracting from us and our energy and don't come with the same kind of juice that we do every day. And if they're trying to, you know, suck the juice from us, we're probably not going to be a good fit. And if they're mistreating my team, we're not going to be a good fit. So you know, it's not. But at the end of the day, you know, I love, I just, I love finding the right people getting out there and then growing, growing together. Just like watching you guys, you guys continue to add states and add branches and add regions and every time you bring me into to the fold, it's awesome. I, you know, it's always the right people, great crews. I can list the names in my head right now, but I'm afraid I'll leave some people out, so I'm gonna just past.

Will Eubanks [: 00:29:32
But so many of these people that you brought in in the last year, I love talking to them.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:29:37
Just great people, just good folks. Yeah. Well, and I love what you said there because it's. We preach this to our originators. We really preach. I mean, really, the whole team. You got to have boundaries and balance, and people will take as much from you as you let them take. Like, that's just the nature of it, especially in our business.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:29:56
Right. So if you don't set those boundaries and then. Then your balance is going to get out of whack. And then you look up and you know, you're a horde of everything and everyone, and it's no fun. So how do you. Other than setting the boundaries with those, you know, some of those relationships that aren't a fit and listen, for everyone listening out here, that's okay. That realtor that you did the deal with that you hate working with, it may not be a fit for you. It's okay not to work with them.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:30:21
That client, like every. Everybody's not a fit for everyone. And it's okay to politely refuse to work with them in the future. Right. So I want to empower anyone out there listening that you have that ability. You can set those boundaries. You know, the hand in hand with that will is the work life balance. As you started traveling more, as the business gets busier, how do you kind of, you know, how do you equal that out?

Will Eubanks [: 00:30:48
That's a good question. And I gotta be honest, I probably am not the best at that. Something I'm trying to learn and grow. I am a. I'm. I really enjoy what I do. Obviously, I love my family, but it's. It's something I got to figure out and continue to get better at.

Will Eubanks [: 00:31:08
Like, as my kids are getting older, I'm, you know, I try to prioritize their bigger events, make sure I'm in town for those things. But it is something that I need to continue to grow and get better at because I. I do love my job. I love working. I'm a very competitive, competitive person. I wake up excited to get to the office. I. I look at opportunities and conferences and meetings and schedules, and I.

Will Eubanks [: 00:31:32
I get excited for those things. And so. So it's a. It's a very tricky situation, you guys know, and not to get too deep into the weeds here, but I just went through a person thing. In my personal life with one of my kids this past week, 17 year old healthy daughter Emma. You guys both know her. Out of nowhere she has a open heart surgery because of an infection. And you know, her life was truly imbalanced.

Will Eubanks [: 00:31:54
And those kinds of things do alter your perspective a little bit and, and kind of bring you back to, to life just in terms of drugs.

Tom Mills [: 00:32:03
Yeah, they do.

Will Eubanks [: 00:32:04
So, you know, it was a heavy week for me personally and I've loved the time that I got to spend with her. I was supposed to be in Orlando at the fam show this past weekend, but I, it was obviously that was the day after her open heart surgery, emergency surgery that happened. So didn't go to that. I've got a lot of quality time with her and that. And you know, it's, it, it has it made me think more about your question, which is the work life balance. Because I, you know, I love, I love both work, my life at home, my work life, I love all that. So it's trying to find the right balance. I don't want to be hypocritical and act like I'm the master and I figure this out.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:32:41
No one hasn't messed.

Tom Mills [: 00:32:42
No one has.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:32:43
Yeah, no one has it figured out. You're in good company. Right?

Will Eubanks [: 00:32:45
That's right. So I gotta, I just work, I gotta continue to work at it, continue to grow, prioritize my kids events and my wife's events and. But they, the good thing is I, I'm blessed that they understand that I'm who I am. The, the way I operate, that I'm a worker, I'm a grower, I'm a, you know, I, this is just who I am. So, you know, there's, there's a, there's a healthy understanding of both of them and I have great relationships with them all. But, but I, I can't. You know, it's, it's a hard, it's a hard thing and that's something I struggle with.

Tom Mills [: 00:33:16
I think the key is when you're not always present to be present when you're present, you know, because there's a lot of people that see are with their kids every single day that aren't. Aren't present with them. So I, I know, I know, I know how you are with your kids, man, and your family. And you know, I'm sure they miss you when you're away. But you know, there's something to be said for like knowing what daddy does and what he loves to do and what brings him joy and supporting that and I can tell that your family has that with you. Has that with you, man.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:33:49
Dude, you want to like present when you're present is so powerful. I was picking Liberty up from cheer practice yesterday actually and you know, we're driving and I, I took a phone call or something and she looked at me and she goes, dad, put the phone down and talk to me. And it hit like, it just like bam. Like just hit me like that. And that phone went right down and stayed down the rest of the drive home, you know what I mean? So yeah, that's, that's good stuff. Listen, we're round and third headed towards home and we would be remiss if we didn't spend the last few minutes talking about that. E.A. swag, baby.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:34:28
Hands down the best swagged out company in the industry. You, you've landed swag on some of the biggest names in their respective industries. Right? Like I'll name drop a few. You probably have a few more. Steph Curry rocks the EA Swag. You see co Wetzel in concert, he might be rocking some EA Swag. Tell us a little bit about that. Like how, how did it, where did it come from? How did you get started with it? How do you get it in front of some of these people, man?

Tom Mills [: 00:34:54
One other thing about it too, you know. Well, you know, people go out and they buy how much can I get the cheapest with as much. How much can I get with my put on it? You know, and people take it and they're like, oh this, you know, 7999 hat. This is cute. You know. And they give it to their kid, right? Like I remember I get swag boxes from him that's got. That are so detailed that we stole that. And I don't know if you know Will, but we do that now.

Tom Mills [: 00:35:22
We stole our media. It was brilliant. As soon as I received it, I sent a picture to marketing. I said, buy these immediately. This is Will. What Will does you. We're slipping. And, and you know, it's, it's the way it was packaged, right? It's the note that's on the top, it's tied in together.

Tom Mills [: 00:35:39
You open it up, it's got the EA logo appreciations all written all over. And, and you get the. And it's quality stuff. Like I'm not giving that away. It's good stuff, you know, it's. So you spend a little bit more on it. And I know, you know, look, marketing, the easiest form of marketing is just creating Raven fans and delivering good service and that that's marketing. But you, you've developed a way of really kind of going plus one with your marketing because your, your shit's dope and, and everybody wants to get their hands on it.

Tom Mills [: 00:36:10
So and, and we are now start. I don't even know if you know your vendor, your hat vendor. Like that's who we order from now.

Will Eubanks [: 00:36:16
I know.

Tom Mills [: 00:36:17
So you can drop him a. Yeah, throw him a little name drop.

Will Eubanks [: 00:36:24
No. So yeah, so kind of the backdrop is just you know, you reference marketing. It's you know, getting out there, having a good service, handling your stuff obviously is, is marketing but, but I wanted to have some, some swag and something that I could send to people that, that was memorable. And I'm all, I've always been kind of a quality over quantity guy. I just like to have, I like it to be nice, don't have to have a ton of it, but I like to have nice stuff. And so I have a, you know, good buddy who does some designing for co Wetzel does his merch and so I kind of worked with him on some of the stuff and he, we came up with some really cool ideas. It was a little more pricey of products, but we went that route and then wanted to have a cool box and just something to. To that was memorable to me.

Will Eubanks [: 00:37:21
Sales when, when it's like from, from cold calls or being at these conferences, there's a million sales people walking around and so many, so much is forgettable. The merch at their tables, the people, no offense, are like, there's just a lot of forgettable stuff. And I'm all about being memorable for memorable experiences, memorable products, memorable people. One thing I love about traveling with Big Manny that we preach for is he's a seven foot Brazilian.

Tom Mills [: 00:37:47
I remember him.

Will Eubanks [: 00:37:47
Even if they don't have, he's worth his weight in gold. But when I go to these places, anywhere he goes, people remember it and, and that's, that's worth so much. But also our merch. It's so good, it's so well done. It's quality. The design, the, the brand and it's, it's quality, it's memorable. It's just not your standard stuff. So that was it.

Will Eubanks [: 00:38:08
I'm old school with that stuff. Want it to be done well. You know, I'm, I'm a handwritten letter guy. Some people think it's cool, some people make fun of me, but that's just, I love that stuff. I, I send five out every day, five days a week. Like I'm just a I'm a handwritten letter guy. I like to receive them. Very rarely do, but when I do, I love them.

Will Eubanks [: 00:38:28
I was reminded of this. I was thinking about this last night. I was in the hospital room with my daughter, and she got more. More cards, envelopes from her kids, from her school. And we were reading them together, and she had gotten some emails and some texts. But these handwritten letters and envelopes that she got from her classmates meant so much more. She was so excited to read them, wanted to read them again. Different than a text message, different than an email.

Will Eubanks [: 00:38:53
That just watching that touch, even just on her, reminded me of why I do what I do. But just all that stuff, package as a whole is memorable. And to be honest, it gets calls back that I wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Like, you know, when I had a hard time getting Robert to answer the phone originally, I don't know if you're members, but I sent him a box and I wrote him a letter. And, you know, and. And I think. I genuinely think it helped. And.

Will Eubanks [: 00:39:17
And I. I have a list of stories like that, of where writing a guy a letter, sending him just a couple of cool hoodies and hats and a Grayson golf polo and. And just explaining your situation in your. In your letter that you write to them, like, before you know it, they call you. And. And there's. It's just taking the time to reach out to. To, you know, who you want to do business with and doing something with quality.

Will Eubanks [: 00:39:39
And like you said, it has gotten pretty cool. You know, we. We've seen it on SportsCenter, we've seen it at Coachella. We've seen it on all sorts of concert stages. All of them. And, you know, just from friends that think the stuff's cool. And that's probably helped the brand also, in a way, just because it's. That's another touch that's memorable and unique.

Will Eubanks [: 00:40:01
Um, but, yeah, it's. It's. It's been a cool thing seeing that, really. The hats more than anything, have kind of taken off.

Tom Mills [: 00:40:08
Yeah. And then you gifted us the. The first collab hat with the HMA logo.

Will Eubanks [: 00:40:15
Fire.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:40:16
Great Fire.

Tom Mills [: 00:40:16
The EA on the back. We love it. Everybody. Everybody here loves their. Loves their swag, man.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:40:23
The problem with your swag is it's too good. And when it arrives at my house, I'm fighting the. The wife and kids for it. I think I've gotten two sweatshirts now. Hoodies. And they. They both have been conf. Like confiscated.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:40:38
And literally, they wear them almost dead. I'm like, don't you need to wash that thing like right, like they love them.

Will Eubanks [: 00:40:47
We got another one coming your way.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:40:50
Well man, it's been awesome having you on. Thanks so much for joining us. We're wrapping up here. We're, we're a little longer episode than we usually do just because we had so much and it was so good. So defin appreciate you being on as, as we look to, to wrap this up. What, what would you say if you're going to share with us, what's the one thing that you're most proud of as you've built EA appraisals.

Will Eubanks [: 00:41:18
Back to the people portion. I'm really proud of the growth of my team more than anything. Watching, watching my, my group. So a lot of them you all know, but watching them take more and more responsibility and grow as people and as leaders and in the sales world and just watching their, their kind of network grow has been really, really cool. Been really, really proud of that. And I'm also really proud. I know you asked for one but I'm, I'm really proud of, proud of some of the friendships that, that I've built along the way. I think a lot of them are going to last for a lifetime and I'm excited to continue to grow in my business and yalls business and, and watch our companies grow and our friendships grow.

Will Eubanks [: 00:42:03
That stuff is exciting to me and I'm proud of that. It's not just a transaction. There's relationships here and it's, it's the best way to live a life is in doing, working together with people that you care about.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:42:18
Well said, brother.

Tom Mills [: 00:42:19
Well said, well said man. I, I couldn't have said it better myself. And yeah, friendships, relationships will last a lifetime. Confident to say we've got that in you. And you know, hey, for those out there listening, if you've had appraisal challenges, you know what it, you know, maybe you're even with a company that you've got your own like Will's. Will's a great guy. He's an expert. We'll get his information out.

Tom Mills [: 00:42:46
Pick up the phone, give him a call. He's super helpful. We appreciate you man. Appreciate your friendship, appreciate your team and, and everything that you all do for us and making a big, big part of what we do really simple for us.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:42:59
Really easy.

Tom Mills [: 00:43:01
But and thanks for joining today, man.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:43:03
If you're in a decision making role for your AMC and you're listening to this and you haven't spoken with Will, you're, you're missing the boat. You need to give him a call and at least have a conversation with him. Do yourself a favor.

Will Eubanks [: 00:43:16
Y' all are the best. I appreciate you guys.

Tom Mills [: 00:43:19
Let's wrap it up with that reminder. To all our listeners out there. Thanks for tuning in. Don't remember to. Don't forget to like and subscribe. Continue to follow us. We'll have some more guests, you know, along the way. I'm sure our next episode, Dave will be back, but thanks so much, Will.

Tom Mills [: 00:43:37
Appreciate you joining us today. I like that hat. I don't have that one and maybe I need it.

Robert Fillyaw [: 00:43:44
Wink, wink. Thanks, Will. Appreciate you, brother.

Will Eubanks [: 00:43:47
Love you guys. Let's have a great rest of the day.