At a recent Realtor event, I met Michael Steele, a loan executive with Prime Home Mortgage, Inc., I thought, how funny, a mortgage broker with the last name Steele.
That is until I met his partner Scott Crooke, a loan associate. I thought that can’t be right, a team of mortgage brokers named Steele & Crooke? Don’t people think it’s Steal & Crook?
But, it was their names.
“With names like Steele and Crooke, people trust us,” said Steele. “They figure, with names like that, how can you not trust them?”
The team market’s itself with this slogan, “Steele & Crooke - A name you can trust.”
“We use the reverse psychology,” said Steele.
Even though the names in a service industry are unusual, imagine growing up with those names.
Steele said he was teased most often with “Steely Dan” while Crooke was called “Crookie Monster.”
Poor guys, but it seems to have paid off in their profession of choice. Steele tells of a story where someone just couldn’t believe their names.
“I was meeting with a client after hours at a local restaurant to discuss his oceanfront condo purchase,” said Steele. “This client was a referral from a business associate of mine from years gone by. We had introduced ourselves and sat down to start discussing what this individual was looking for and what his needs were. The name thing had not clicked in when we did our initial introductions.
“Scott (Crooke) was to join us after finishing up a few things in the office. The conversation was going well although this prospective client kept referring to his guy at one of the mortgage giants. I was in the middle, explaining that some of his needs were not being addressed in the loan program proposed by this mortgage giant when Scott (Crooke) joined us at the table and introduced himself. I then explained that we worked as a team with Scott the ‘inside guy’ and me as the ‘man on the street.’
“When I mentioned our team name ‘Steele & Crooke - the mortgage bankers with a name you can trust’ this caused the client to burst out laughing.
He said, ‘That’s it!’ Anybody who is willing to market themselves with the name ‘Steele and Crooke’ have got to be trustworthy. It is the Law of Contrarian living, you have my business.”
Steele has been with Prime Home Mortgage, Inc. for two years and Crooke joined the company in April after graduating college.
Steele has 22 years experience in the financial services and wealth management field. He decided to go into mortgages because he wanted a change.
“I wanted a new and fresh angle on financial services working in real estate versus stocks, bond, and money management,” said Steele.