How I Designed The Title Company I Wanted When I Was A Title Sales Representative
It was Friday morning and the closing was Monday at 10:00. The buyer's agent had just gotten an email that the payoff from the seller's second mortgage hadn't come in and that lender closed early on Fridays. He called the person on our sales team who had been on the file since the contract came in three weeks earlier.
Our team already knew. The payoff had been requested eleven days before, we had the confirmation, and she had the escrow officer on the other line. The lender had sent it to the wrong fax line and she was already on the phone with them getting it resent.
The payoff came in at 4:40 that afternoon. The closing was Monday at 10:00.
I tell that story because of what that agent got when he called. Someone who knew the file and who had already done the work and had the answer before he finished the sentence. That's the experience I want every person who calls here to have, no matter who picks up the phone. It's also not what most people expect from a title company on a Friday afternoon. And that gap is the reason I built Infinity Title Agency.
The Story Behind The Business Model
Before I owned Infinity Title Agency, I spent 20 years as a title sales representative - calling on real estate agents, homebuilders, and lenders. So, for a long time I was the one agents called on a Friday hoping I could get them an answer.
Most of the time I could help, but not always the way I wanted to. My job was to bring the agent in and open the file. Once the file was open, I was expected to move onto the next one. When something came up, the agent would end up with someone who was hearing about it for the first time. “Let me check with the escrow officer and get back to you.” I understood. It’s how the business was set up. I just never stopped wishing the person who knew the agent could be the one who helped them.
That wish is a lot of what this company is built on.
Sales At A Title Agency Is A Service Job
At a lot of agencies, the sales team's job ends when the file opens. They bring the agent in, hand the file to escrow, and go find the next one. That's how the industry is set up and I understand why. It's efficient.
Here at Infinity Title Agency, the job starts when the file opens. The person who brought the agent in stays on the file through recording. They know the seller's lender, the buyer's timeline, and what the agent said on the first call. When the escrow officer finds an old lien in week one, the agent hears about it with the rep...that day...with a plan and a solution. When it's 7:30 on a Tuesday and the lender needs figures, the rep knows that escrow is on top of it.
That's why our sales team is on the phone even on evenings and weekends. Not because I make them. Because a closing doesn't stop at 5:00pm and neither does the agent; and the person who has the relationship should be the one who has the answer.
If you’re wondering if that’s even sales, I'd say it's the only kind of sales worth doing. An agent doesn't remember who took them to lunch. They remember who called them back at 4:40pm on a Friday evening.
"Every team member at Infinity knows their files and treats the person on the other end like they matter...because, to us, they do."
The Team At Infinity Title Agency
Our sales team isn't built around who can pitch. It's built around who will make the hard calls and who takes the work personally. When there's an old lien in week one or a payoff that's going to be short, the agent hears about it that day, from the person on their file, with a solution already in hand. Nobody on this team wants to be the one explaining a problem at the table when they could have explained it three weeks earlier.
The reason they work that way is because of the person waiting on the other end. An agent whose reputation rides on this closing going the way they said it would. A buyer with a moving truck booked and a lease that ends Sunday. A seller who didn't want to sell in the first place and is having a hard month. The people on this team know that and they know that the file on their desk is somebody's whole week. That's what the phone call is really about.
The agent doesn't have to explain why it matters. The team already knows.
Nobody Gets A Different Version Of Us
The thing I say to the team more than anything else is that the person on the other end of the phone is the most important person in the room. Homeowner, brand new agent, twenty million plus agent. It has never mattered to us.
That's not a rule we posted somewhere...it's just how the team treats people. The agent on the other side of a partner's closing who has never sent us a transaction gets the same treatment and the same attention as anyone else. A first-time buyer who calls with a question they're a little embarrassed to ask gets a real answer, and nobody makes them feel like they should have known.
Every team member at Infinity knows their files and treats the person on the other end like they matter...because, to us, they do. It sounds simple, but it’s how we work and what we believe in.
What That Means If You're An Agent
If you close with us, the person who opened your file is the person you call, and they'll know where it stands before you even have to ask. If something comes up, you'll hear it from them first...early... and what we're already doing about it. That's true whether it's your first closing or your four hundredth, whether you've sent us a hundred files or none, or whether you're the agent or the person moving in.
We know most people only meet their title company once, near the end, when they're tired and ready to be done. By then, the hard part should already be behind them. That’s what we take on for every one of our clients.
Jennifer Feagan
Infinity Title Agency
