One of six services within WFG National Title Insurance Company’s Blocks program, it further helps partner agencies to grow their business while increasing sales.
WFG Blocks, a program created for WFG National Title Insurance Company’s partner agencies, offers title agents direct access to the same services the national title insurer uses for its direct operations. These six modular programs are available on an as-needed basis, at any time and in any combination, and without long-term or minimum commitments.
“These are services that do not necessarily have a market identity, so they can be used successfully without compromising an agent’s established position in their market,” explained Patrick Stone, WFG National Title’s Founder and Executive Chairman.
The Marketing & Sales Block, in fact, is specifically designed to help agents boost their market identity and hone their sales strategies.
“Through our Marketing & Sales Block, with Justin Tucker, we share marketing functionality with the agents to help them prepare marketing pieces to promote their products without having to hire a vendor or employ a full-time staff,” Stone added.
Tucker, WFG Executive Vice President and Director of Strategic Initiatives at WFG National Title, said that the concept behind the Sales & Marketing Block starts with the fact that “there is alignment between WFG and its agents.”
“We run direct operations in seven Western states and we're constantly learning what things work, what things don't, and what things we want to double down on because they're making a good impact,” Tucker said. “That's what this Block embodies: it's all of the lessons we've learned from a sales and marketing standpoint that we can translate over to our agency world and help them grow. Because at the simplest level, when they grow, we grow. And we're very committed to helping them do that.”
The technology offered through the Marketing & Sales Block can advance an agent or agency to another level.
“If someone is just starting out and needs to create their brand and articulate their message, we have something that helps them do that,” Tucker said. “Or, for those more established, they may want to be more targeted with their sales efforts and make sure that they are going after the right real estate agents and lenders. We have a specific solution to help them with intel around their production, or that of the title company they're using.”
The services and solutions available within the WFG Marketing & Sales Block are provided through WEST, a Williston Financial Group company. They can help an agent with content development and distribution, or refer them to one of our Preferred Vendors for support with things like website development and deployment.
“Just as importantly,” Tucker said, “there's also a consultative component.”
That is because WEST is not only the company’s technology developer, it is staffed with a large and diverse team of experts experienced in the specific needs of marketing title services, mortgage lending services and real estate.
These are WEST’s Marketing Technology Directors, or MTDs. Through the MTDs, it is possible to tap direct assistance or access specific tutorials for a wide range of essential marketing needs. Agents may access these resources by registering on the company’s website, The Modern Day Title Agent, which may be accessed here.[1]
“Whether it's product-centric or it's education-centric,” Tucker said, “MTDs are only a phone call away to sit down with an agent and dive into their very specific situation and come up with the customized solution that fits their exact need. It's education, product, and consulting services all wrapped into one solution.”
“But at the core of it,” he continued, “it's about education and empowerment. So, we also have a learning management system that agents can log into and watch tutorials, or for skill development, or training, or to get product reviews – that kind of real knowledge empowerment.”
The Marketing & Sales Block also encompasses WFG’s highly acclaimed Spark, a national event that offers all-around marketing best practices, including sales and technology strategies specifically geared for the title agency space.
“And once again we'll be holding our sixth Spark event in March 2022,” Tucker said. “We will be putting relevant content and valuable information in front of agents that will help them find that competitive advantage. We bring in high-end, industry-leading speakers, as well as experts from outside the industry who can offer a unique perspective.”
One of those partner agencies that has become a regular Spark attendee is Northwest Title in Columbus, Ohio.
"We've been sending people from our company to ‘Spark' as long as we've been with WFG,” said co-owner and CEO Scott Stevenson. “I can't say enough good things about it. It is definitely industry leading, and the amount of ideas and things that we learn from WFG, we are bringing home and bringing into implementation, after every meeting. It's been huge. We have really had a lot of success with the ideas that come out of those meetings. It's been wonderful.”
“There's so much opportunity in the title space, and there's so much opportunity to differentiate from your competition to create that competitive advantage,” Tucker said. “We just want to help our agents do that. So they get to come for a couple of days, collaborate with us and learn from some really amazing people. We learn from them, too. And at the end of that, we hope that we're all just a little bit better in our approach.”
More information on WFG’s Spark 2022 event is available here.[2]
Back to the Blocks
The other five components within WFG Blocks are Compliance Services, an Expense Management program, Human Resources, Information Security and, of course, Title and Settlement Services.
“Basically, this is the only comprehensive attempt to help agents doing business anywhere in the country lower their costs and change fixed costs to variable costs,” Stone explained. “So if you maintain a staff and you're not using it constantly, you have a fixed cost. If you can access that capability just those weeks or that month when you really need it, it becomes a variable cost.”
“The idea here is that by having access to these services you can operate a more efficient, cost-effective operation and indeed make more money and be more successful,” Stone has said. “We want you to be as successful as possible. We enjoy being associated with you.”
“Our clients work hard to run profitable businesses,” said Jaime Johnson, Vice President and Director of the WFG Blocks program. “Blocks helps them save on expenses so they can invest that money back into their businesses. We’re doing these things every day in our direct operations and so we are simply opening it up so we can help them do it, too.”
For more information on the WFG Blocks program, download the white paper “Creating a True Partnership Between Title Agencies and Underwriters” at https://wfgagent.com/blocks-2021-whitepaper, contact your local WFG Agency Representative or visit wfgblocks.com.
[2] Link to: https://wfgspark.com/