From rock bottom to President's Club: Tiffany Spell's success story
Tiffany Spell hit rock bottom.
She was failing as a loan officer with her company. She and her husband Joe couldn't pay their bills. He was working as a truck driver to make ends meet, but that took him away from the family 6 days a week.
She was in a bad place.
Desperate for something, anything, she touched base with an acquaintance, Movement Mortgage Market Leader Daniel Cain. He gave her a desk, a pen and an opportunity with Movement.
"I didn't know what else to do," said Tiffany. "I was a failing loan officer. I was also struggling at that time because I was pregnant, with our third child."
The struggles continued. Tiffany soon earned the name "The $50,000 Queen" and that wasn't a compliment. Those were the only loans she could get, which means she was barely making any money. The pile of bills at her house was turning into a mountain. She and her husband discussed having her quit mortgages and go back into banking, just to get consistent money. Joe knew her better, he believed in her, and pushed her not to give up.
The hits kept coming. In November of 2014, Tiffany found out the banking commission was going to revoke her license because her finances were in such bad shape. She reached out to Cain, he told her to contact Love Works, Movement's employee-funded financial assistance program. She hesitated, knowing she hadn't made any money for the company and feeling guilty for using resources. But finally she called. Love Works was able to get her back on her feet and she was able to save her license.
Cain also signed her up for coaching with Tim Davis. Coaching that Tiffany didn't think she needed. He would call, she would dismiss him. This was their routine. He would call every every Thursday at 10:30 a.m. She would tell him it wasn't necessary, that he should stop calling. "I was so mean," she says, "I mean I have literally hung up on him."
At this point, Tiffany was working inside of a Keller Williams office where she says she may as well have been a statue. No one brought her business, they all thought she wouldn't last and quite frankly, she felt like they wanted her gone.
One day Tiffany overheard a Realtor saying "She's not going to make it in there, the new MM girl, she's not gonna make it."
Defeated, Tiffany finally caved and took a phone call from Tim Davis. She was going to prove them all wrong.
On Tim's advice, Tiffany walked to the front of the Keller Williams office one morning and got everyone's attention. "I said if you just give me one loan, and if I mess anything up, closing is delayed, I will stand up here and let you tell me I was wrong."
It worked.
An agent walked into her office that same day and handed her a file. It was a loan that needed to be saved. It was worth $350,000.
This loan was her shot and Tiffany had two-and-a-half weeks to make it happen. She got on the phone with her Operations team immediately, determined to prove herself. A couple of weeks later, the loan was closed. She did it.
"When we closed it, it was almost like she (the agent), she had to have said something," Tiffany gushed. "Because the floodgates opened, big time. From June to December I closed I think 111 units."
Tiffany made President's Club that year, and the year after that, and the year after that. Joe was able to quit his job as a trucker. He became Tiffany's assistant and then, became a Movement Mortgage loan officer himself.
The credit, Tiffany says, goes to Tim Davis but also to her Ops team that dealt with her when she knows they wanted to wring her neck.
"I am sure they smiled every time I called," said Tiffany sarcastically. "But they did always answer the phone. And half the time they'd answer the phone laughing because I'm hiding behind the dumpster. I had people in my office asking me questions I didn't know the answer to and I'd go stand behind the dumpster and call Ops. To this day, you can ask anybody, have you ever talked to Tiffany when she's been behind the dumpster? Guarantee you. Everybody will tell you they've talked to me at least once."
There are no more phone calls from behind dumpsters these days, but Tiffany still relies heavily on the expertise of her Ops team to make loans happen. She took it upon herself to drive to Fort Mill, South Carolina, files in hand, to sit down with the teams of processors and underwriters and ask questions to better understand the process. She and Joe now have a book in their office they've nicknamed "The Del Book," after underwriting manager Del Bridges, with answers to questions that may crop up. Ops no longer dreads phone calls from Tiffany and Tiffany, she's still taking those coaching phone calls from Tim.
"I still have agents that watched me go through rock bottom that message me, to this day, and say, so many people turned their backs on you, so many people didn't think you'd be where you are and I am so proud of you," says Tiffany. "I feel loved. Loved, a lot. We feel loved."
Today, both Tiffany and her husband Joseph are loan officers with Movement Mortgage. A few weeks ago was the four-year anniversary of the day that Tiffany stood in front of the KW office, took a chance and changed her life.
