10 Years, 4,000 Members, and Customers Who Actually Stay Subscribed

Meet Dale: One of the First Homebot Customers

Dale Syta has spent 25 years in the mortgage industry. For most of that time, he's been running and managing teams of loan officers and operations staff. Today, he serves as Managing Director at Bellco Home Loans, a role he's held for four years.

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When you've been in the business as long as Dale has, you develop a wider lens on the industry. You've seen markets boom and bust. You've watched technology come and go. And you've learned that success isn't about waiting for the perfect market conditions.

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"I'm an individual that believes that our job is to truly win today, not be focused on too much, you know, overwhelming whether the market's good, bad, or indifferent," Dale explains. "How do we win today?"

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That focus on winning each day has shaped how Dale approaches his work. He's a creature of habit. He protects the hours before 10 AM for focused, productive work. No meetings. No distractions. Just the activities that move his business forward.

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The Problem Every Loan Officer Faces

Here's what Dale has learned after 25 years: whether you're a small producer or running a large scale company, the challenge is fundamentally the same. You work hard to earn a customer's trust. You guide them through one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives. 

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You close the deal. And then... what?

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• How do you stay connected to that customer over the years between transactions? 
• How do you remain their trusted advisor when they're not actively buying or refinancing? 
• How do you protect that relationship from competitors who are constantly trying to win them over?
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Dale thinks about past customers the way large companies think about their servicing book: an asset that needs to be protected. "Our number one thing that we can do is protect our database," he says.

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But that requires providing consistent value. And most loan officers fall short, sending generic birthday cards and anniversary reminders that have nothing to do with the customer's situation.

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"Happy birthday is great," Dale acknowledges. "But I think a consumer really, in today's world, they want to understand what is happening in the real estate market."

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"A thing of value to me is something that really is specific to an individual user... versus this little flyer that goes out that says it's your home loan anniversary."

Finding a Better Way to Stay Connected

Over a decade ago, Dale discovered Homebot when the platform was just getting started with Universal Lending. He was one of the very first customers.

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"I was blessed to be part of the early years of Homebot," Dale recalls. "For as much as has changed in the industry, we're still looking for the same type of value from a vendor: how do we continue to provide education to the customers we have served and stay top of mind?"

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What made Homebot different was the specificity. Instead of generic market updates, each customer receives a monthly digest tailored to their specific home:

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• What's their home worth right now?
• Are there refinance opportunities based on their current rate and equity?
• Could they rent out their property, and for how much?
• What would it look like to tap into their equity?
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These are the questions homeowners are already asking themselves. Homebot gives loan officers a way to answer them, consistently, month after month.

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Today, Dale's team has more than 4,000 members using Homebot. And over the past 10 years, he's watched the platform evolve from a simple digest into something much more powerful.

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How Homebot Helps Dale Win Every Day

"Just seeing the evolution of Homebot over the last 10 years with things like AI, drilling down analytics within your base, early consumer activity analytics... the evolution has been wonderful," Dale says. 

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Here's what makes the biggest difference for his business today:

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1. Digests That Customers Actually Want to Receive

The true test of any customer communication is whether people keep it or delete it. "Individuals that receive a Homebot digest, what we see on our end is they maintain that digest. It's not something that people want to turn off or aren't interested in."

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That consistent engagement keeps Dale top of mind without him having to chase anyone down.

2. CRM Integration That Gets Loan Officers to Actually Use It

Anyone who has managed a sales team knows the challenge: getting people to adopt new technology is a battle.

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"So the fact that we've now got Homebot integrated with CRMs and the ability to have LOs going to one location to be able to leverage this technology has been a huge lift."

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Homebot runs directly inside Bellco's Salesforce instance. Every morning before 10 AM, Dale checks the opportunities Homebot has surfaced. "It is teeing up, 'Hey, this person's likely to purchase within the next number of months.' So we're using that as a tool for outreach."

3. Predictive Analytics That Identify Who's Ready to Move

Homebot's analytics predict when customers might transact next, based on early consumer activity signals. Instead of waiting for someone to reach out, Dale's team can be proactive.

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"This tool can help identify some of those opportunities," Dale explains. "I think the future will have AI and messaging and even more specific analytics involved."

4. AI Video Tools for Loan Officers Who Hate Being on Camera

Dale loves creating video content. But he knows that's not true for everyone. "There's a lot of individuals that have anxiety about that," he says.

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Homebot's AI avatar features solve that problem. Loan officers can create personalized video messages without ever stepping in front of a camera.

5. Home Search That Keeps Customers in Your Orbit

When past clients start thinking about their next home, they often disappear into Zillow or Redfin and the loan officer never hears from them until it's too late.

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Homebot's private home search experience changes that. When customers browse listings through Homebot, their loan officer stays connected to that journey instead of being cut out of the loop.

10 Years Later: What the Results Look Like

After more than a decade with Homebot, Dale can speak to results that go beyond metrics. Yes, he has 4,000 members in the platform. Yes, his customers maintain their digest subscriptions. But the deeper result is what Homebot has done for his positioning in the market.

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"Knowledge is power," Dale says. "I believe I can have conversations at a higher level than many individuals that might be newer to the business."

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For anyone considering Homebot today, Dale's advice is straightforward: think about protecting your database, providing consistent value, and partnering with a company that's going to keep evolving.

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"Just know that Homebot is not a one-hit wonder. They're an ever-evolving company and platform that is very forward thinking. I think that's an important part of anyone's future brand as we move into this next five to 10 years of this business."