My name is Natalie O’Connell and I’m the newest member to the TK team. I started my internship in September assisting with marketing and making calls to our realtors about upcoming events. I’m now starting the process of getting my LO license. I’m very excited to be working with Tara Krieg and her team! The office is always a cheerful place to be and there are always so many events going on around the workplace.
Coming from a place where I was bartending until 3:00 am near busy ASU, this was a big change for me. Although I wasn’t new to customer service I was new to marketing and media. The needs of the people looking to buy homes are very different than the people I helped in the restaurant with simple things like making food or refilling beverages.
I never realized all the time and effort that goes into finding new clients and keeping up with past ones in this industry. In the bartending business, your job is to keep the customer refreshed and happy until they leave, when working with clients in the loan industry it’s our job to keep up with them even after they leave our office. Some of that includes sending update emails and making calls to keep them in the loop about what’s going on throughout the entire loan process.
Tara and her team work non-stop to be the best at what they do. Tara constantly goes out of her way to answer client questions no matter where she is or what the circumstances are. Her commitment to her clients is bar none. One time I watched her paddle board Tempe Town Lake while answering a client’s questions over the phone!
The team spends all week helping realtors create media to share and promote them and are constantly checking in with clients and help to steer them in the right direction. I feel so lucky to have the opportunity to work along-side them. I’ve had the opportunity to go out and meet a ton of our business partners and it’s such a thrill to build personal relationships with those people and get to know them beyond just referral partners. Tara and the team go out of their way to learn more about our business partners and really build a relationship with them.
It’s been a great few months on the team and I can’t wait to see what my future looks like with such an amazing team. I am looking to move into the loan officer assistant position after I take my LO test and start helping clients make a plan for buying a home and sticking to that plan.