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Communication - A Leader's Key to Success

For my whole life, I have opened my car door by inserting a metal key into a physical lock. Now, I can unlock the doors and start the car at the push of a button. It seems like magic to me, but it´s actually a simple application of science.

Keyless entry and keyless ignition are made possible when a transmitter within your key fob communicates with a radio receiver inside the car. Two conditions are necessary for this communication to take place: 1) the transmitter must be set to the same frequency as the receiver, and 2) the transmitter must send a uniquely coded message which the receiver has been programmed in advance to recognize.

Communication acts as a leader´s "keyless entry" into relationships. It can open the mind of an employer, the wallet of investors, and the hearts of loved ones. Talented communicators seem magical when they weave their words together. However, much like the concept of keyless entry, great communication depends on two simple skills—context and delivery. Context attunes a leader to the same frequency as his or her audience. Delivery allows a leader to phrase messages in a language the audience can understand.

As we explore context and delivery, we'll draw upon Steven K. Scott's book, The Richest Man Who Ever Lived. In the book, Scott offers commentary on the words of King Solomon, the wealthiest man in history. Renowned for his wisdom, Solomon writings are filled with advice about effective communication.

CONTEXT

Listen before Speaking
"He that answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and shame unto him." ~ Proverbs 18:13

Earn the right to be heard by listening to others. Seek to understand a situation before making judgments about it. As the Greek philosopher, Epictetus, observed, "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."

Understand Human Nature
"Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." ~ Proverbs 12:18

Words are powerful, and they can build up or tear down those who hear them. Regardless of your audience or avenue of communication, the following principles enable you to communicate constructively.

People are insecure. Leaders can bestow confidence by demonstrating their trust and belief in a person's abilities. People want to feel special. Leaders win a loyal following when they are generous with compliments and acts of appreciation. People are looking for a better future. Leaders inspire through an optimistic outlook and words of hope. People are selfish. Leaders learn to motivate when they begin speaking to the needs of their people.

Be Emotionally Aware
"Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day…is one who sings songs to a heavy heart." ~ Proverbs 25:20

Communicating within context involves taking the emotional temperature of others. Pay attention to facial expressions, voice inflection, and posture. They give clues to a person's mood and attitude.

DELIVERY

Adopt an Appropriate Tone
"A soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger." ~ Proverbs 15:1

When you're emotionally aware, you're halfway to effective communication, but you still have to deliver your words appropriately. Many times it's not what you say, but how you say it. Adopt a fitting tone to address the emotional state of those around you, and your words will have their desired effect.

Speak Persuasively
"The heart of the wise teaches his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips." ~ Proverbs 16:23

The National Storytelling Festival, held in Jonesborough, Tennessee features some of America's most captivating communicators. Listen for awhile, and you'll discover traits that allow them to persuade listeners to take interest in the stories they tell.

Enthusiasm. The storytellers obviously enjoy what they are doing, expressing themselves with joy and vitality.

Animation. The presentations are marked by lively facial expressions and gestures.

Audience Participation. Almost every storyteller involves the audience in some way, asking listeners to sing, clap, repeat phrases, or do sign language.

Spontaneity. None of the storytellers have notes.

The festival is truly an oral event. Storytellers didn't read their stories; they tell them, which allowed for eye contact.

Be Honest
"He who conceals his hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool." ~ Proverbs 10:18

In an effort to persuade, leaders may be tempted to cross the line into manipulation. When doing so, facts may be fabricated or spun deceptively. Lies add complexity to life since the liar has to operate under the guise of falsehood. Eventually, lies are brought to light and undermine credibility. Leaders protect their character by using discretion in their language. They speak truthfully—even when honesty is costly.

SUMMARY

Poor communication is the number one culprit of failed relationships—in business and at home. Since relationships are the foundation of success, leaders would be wise to invest in the communication skills of context and delivery. Master them, and you'll more easily gain favor, more readily make friends, and more effectively motivate others.

John C. Maxwell

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Reproduced with permission from John C. Maxwell via Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine. To visit Jim Rohn's website, go to http://www.jimrohn.com. Copyright 2008 Jim Rohn and John C. Maxwell. All rights reserved worldwide

Make what you want out of it

A New Post By Mike Mueller
The Mortgage Vloger Extraordinaries
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But I hear China is getting out of Dodge.  Make that our GSE's.

Just crossing my Feed Reader...

"Bank of China flees Fannie-Freddie"

"Bank of China has cut its portfolio of securities issued or guaranteed by troubled US mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by a quarter since the end of June.

The sale by China’s fourth largest commercial bank, which reduced its holdings of so-called agency debt by $4.6 billion."

 

 

Read the Story:  http://tinyurl.com/6mx3lq

Poem Hanging In Mother Theresa´s Orphanage in India

The Paradoxical Commandments by Dr. Kent M. Keith

1. People are illogical, unreasonable and self-centered (including me). Love them anyway
2. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway
3. If you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway
4. The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway
5. Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway
6. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the littlest people with the littlest ideas. Think big anyway
7. People favor underdogs, but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway
8. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway
9. People really need help, but may attack you if you do help them. Help them anyway
10. Give the world the best you have and you will get kicked in the teeth. Give the best you have anyway.

Hat Tip: Chris Widener

Sales Success = “You Engaging Others” (YEO)

A New Post By Bill Rice
Marketing & Lead Generation Expert
Read other posts by Bill Rice

Jeff Turner, a willing and able advocate of social media’s impact on sales production and the real estate business, brings it back into focus with his capstone quote at Inman’s Bloggers Connect conference–”You Engaging Others” or YEO.

There has been a ton of excitement and hyperbole around leveraging social media to bring floods of customers. Meanwhile, the facts are (at least in the Real Estate and Mortgage business) that customer inquiries are on the decline. This means building systems for quantity and discounting quality is a guaranteed failure.

What? Bill are you closing your Twitter account, swearing off blogging, and auctioning your LinkedIn contacts? No, but perspective and objective are important metrics to revisit in social marketing.

Your social media strategy should be designed around these core perspectives:

• Start conversations
• Facilitate intelligent discussions
• Nurture long-term relationships

Furthermore, your social media efforts should acheive these principle objectives:

• Create opportunities for unique conversations
• Create opportunities for learning conversations
• Create opportunities for teaching conversations
• Create opportunities for seeking conversations

None of these perspectives or objectives brings you an immediate flood of closed deals. Engagement brings you a long-term flood of sales. That means listening, providing value, getting personal, and sitting down for a cup of coffee or a meal–not flooding the Internet with keywords.

Reprint: From Bill Rice's "Better Closer"

Words of Wisdom

"The greatest inspiration is often born of desperation."

                                           -- Comer Cotrell

Evaluating Your Associations (Part One)

If you were to evaluate the major influences in your life that have shaped the kind of person you are; this has to be high on the list: the people and thoughts you choose to allow into your life. Mr. Shoaff gave me a very important warning in those early days that I would like to share with you. He said, "Never underestimate the power of influence." Indeed, the influence of those around us is so powerful! Many times we don't even realize we're being strongly affected because influences generally develop over an extended period of time.

Peer pressure is an especially powerful force because it is so subtle. If you're around people who spend all they make, chances are excellent that you'll spend all you make. If you are around people who go to more ball games than concerts, chances are excellent that you'll do the same thing. If you are around people who don't read, chances are excellent that you won't read. People can keep nudging us off course a little at a time until finally, we find ourselves asking, "How did I get here?" Those subtle influences need to be studied carefully if we really want our lives to turn out the way we've planned.

With regard to this important point, let me give you three key questions to ask yourself. They may help you to make better analysis of your current associations.

Here is the first question: "Who am I around?" Make a mental note of the people with whom you most often associate. You've got to evaluate everybody who is able to influence you in any way.

The second question is: "What are these associations doing to me?" That's a major question to ask. What have they got me doing? What have they got me listening to? What have they got me reading? Where have they got me going? What do they have me thinking? How have they got me talking? How have they got me feeling? What have they got me saying? You've got to make a serious study of how others are influencing you, both negatively and positively.

Here's a final question: "Is that okay?" Maybe everyone you associate with has been a positive, energizing influence. Then again, maybe there are some bad apples in the bunch. All I'm suggesting here is that you take a close and objective look. Everything is worth a second look, especially the power of influence. Both will take you somewhere, but only one will take you in the direction you need to go.

It's easy to just dismiss the things that influence our lives. One man say's, "I live here, but I don't think it matters. I'm around these people, but I don't think it hurts." I would take another look at that. Remember, everything matters! Sure, some things matter more than others, but everything amounts to something. You've got to keep checking to find out whether your associations are tipping the scales toward the positive or toward the negative. Ignorance is never the best policy. Finding out is the best policy.

Perhaps you've heard the story of the little bird. He had his wing over his eye and he was crying. The owl said to the bird, "You are crying." "Yes," said the little bird, and he pulled his wing away from his eye. "Oh, I see," said the owl. "You're crying because the big bird pecked out your eye." And the little bird said, "No, I'm not crying because the big bird pecked out my eye. I'm crying because I let him."

It's easy to let influence shape our lives, to let associations determine our direction, to let pressures overwhelm us, and to let tides take us. The big question is, are we letting ourselves become what we wish to become?

Next week we'll take a look at the three forms of disassociating from negative influences. Until then,

To Your Success,
Jim Rohn

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Reproduced with permission from Jim Rohn. To visit Jim Rohn's website, go to www.jimrohn.com. Copyright 2008 Jim Rohn. All rights reserved worldwide

I Hope WAMU Isn't Signaling The End

A New Post By Mike Mueller
The Mortgage Vlogger Extraordinaries
Read other posts by Mike Mueller

I shared via FriendFeed, an article that I read in my Feed Reader

Washington Mutual is offering a 1 year CD that is paying a full 1% higher than anyone else. 

Why is that?  Are they just trying to be nice?  Are they "giving back to the community?" Have they made enough money this year? 

You know I'm kidding of course.  the most likely answer is that they are strapped for cash (capital) and need to raise some serious dollars.

To be honest, that's a guess on my part.

We so know however that Wamu has a very large lending exposure in both California and Florida.  Both of these states have experienced some of the highest yearly declines in value.  We know that's not a good thing.

We also know that Wamu has a high percentage of Alt-A and Option ARM loans on their books.  And we know that most experts agree, this is the next wave of borrowers to default. 

A homeowner that stops paying their mortgage becomes a "Non-Performing Asset". 

Here's what concerns me the most.

Prior to their collapse, many banks (Indymac would be a prime example) offered high yielding CD's in a last ditch effort to raise capital. 

I just hope I'm wrong.  We need more lenders not fewer.  What do you think?

How To Add Podcasting To Your Marketing Mix

A New Post By The Mortgage Cicerone
A Guide for Mortgage Professionals
Read other posts by The Mortgage Cicerone

NikNik at MyTechOpinion posted an excellent instructional guide on "How To Add Podcasting To Your Blog."

According to NikNik:

"Podcasting is simply a way of distributing digital media over the Internet using RSS...Podcasting can enhance your blog content and your online visibility. Strengthen the bond you have with your current audience, as well as reach a new audience. And, give your blog readers the flexibility to listen and obtain your expertise on the go!  Podcasting is even an affordable and pretty seamless option when it comes to integrating a new social media tool to your blog.

Cicerone readers are going to be reading a lot regarding this subject from our resident online Vlogging master, Mike Mueller, however in the mean time, read NikNik's post and start learning more about this powerful way of distributing digital media over the Internet via RSS.

Click hyperlink below to read:

How To Add Podcasting To Your Blog

The Mortgage Market is Soiled. You Better Have a Trust Strategy

A New Post By Bill Rice
Marketing & Lead Generation Expert
Read other posts by Bill Rice

If you are a mortgage broker and you haven’t already figured this one out I will state it bluntly–no one trusts us! Sure there is an enormous amount of finger pointing going on. From Wall Street to Main Street everyone has an opinion on who got us here. Guess what? The customer thinks it was you.

Snapshot of the Florida Mortgage Market

For the purpose of clarity, I am going to focus in on one market–Florida. However, don’t absolve yourself because you are not a mortgage broker in Florida.

The Miami Herald launched an investigative series entitled “Borrowers Betrayed,” written by Jack Dolan, Rob Barry, and Matthew Haggman. These reporters dig in to the nasty underbelly of Florida mortgage originations during the housing and mortgage refinancing boom.

The Miami Herald investigation clearly comes in with an angle on consumer hot buttons: Loan officers with criminal records, identity theft, no background checks, and trails of victims.

The Miami Herald facts are terrifying to your prospective customers:

• From 2000 to 2007, regulators allowed at least 10,529 people with criminal records to work in the mortgage profession. Of those, 4,065 cleared background checks after committing crimes that state law specifically requires regulators to screen, including fraud, bank robbery, racketeering and extortion.
• More than half the people who wrote mortgages in Florida during that period were not subject to any criminal background check. Despite repeated pleas from industry leaders to screen them, Florida regulators have refused.
• Confronted with a growing epidemic of mortgage fraud — Florida now has the highest rate in the nation — the number of license revocations declined over the last five years, leaving borrowers at the mercy of predatory brokers.
• During the peak of the housing boom, the Office of Financial Regulation ignored a state law enacted in 2006 that compelled it to perform nationwide criminal background checks on applicants. That failure allowed people convicted in other states — and in federal court — to peddle loans in Florida without any scrutiny.
• Regulators allowed at least 20 brokers to keep their licenses even after committing the one crime that seemed sure to get them banned from the industry: mortgage fraud.

This is how the customer will increasingly come to know you.

Create a Trust Strategy

You could launch into a flawless debate on who else is responsible. However, I suggest a more productive effort–build a strategy. Create a Trust Strategy.

Put your customer at the center of your business. Steps into your client’s experience and emotions: distrust, fear, ignorance, vulnerable, uncertain. Then design a process that systematically wipes out each of those fears.

Building Your Personal Brand

One thing is for certain, criminals don’t go around building a personal and long-term brand. No, they maintain low profiles and bounce from one victim honeypot to the next.

Spend time on building your personal brand. This is easily done both on and off-line. Certainly have your own web page and blog, but also make sure that local businesses and civic groups know you too. Get involved in community activities. This branding building and community involvement will build a lot of good, verifiable context to your name.

Don’t be complacent about personal brand building. Even if you are backed by a big coorporate brand, people buy from people. Give your client complete confidence in your integrity, as well as your company’s.

Establish Authority

It is one thing to be a nice person, but are you competent. This is going to be the next big question in a mortgage customer’s mind. After all there were probably as many good as there were bad people that got folks into bad loans from simple incompetence.

Remember the earlier list of client fears? Education and knowledge sharing is a valuable way to build trust and remove feelings of ignorance and uncertainty for the mortgage transaction. Create a blog, newsletter, or even weekly column in the local newspaper to educate your borrower before and during their mortgage experience.

Get Endorsed

Renowned expert on influence and persuasion, Robert Cialdini highlights the powerful effect of social proofing in his books and presentations. The principle is simple: “The greater number of people who find any idea correct, the more the idea will be correct.” It is a simple due diligence short cut. If my friends and neighbors trust this person then so will I.

Make sure this principle is in your Trust Strategy. Get testimonials. Nurture public endorsements. Earn the respect of local personalities and influencers. Build referral marketing into your customer loyalty program.

“Climbing the Distrust Mountain”

This advice should have been first because of its power. However, I didn’t want you to miss it. Morgan Brown, of BlownMortgage.com described a process of “Climbing the Distrust Mountain” with mortgage customers. I have linked to it many times, but I will give you the simple technique here.

Trust, in any relationship, is built or destroyed with a series of simple promises. You either fulfill them or you don’t. Promises like:

• I will call you right back
• I will check on the status of your appraisal
• I will give you tips on how to improve your credit
• I will keep you updated throughout the process
• If you have any questions call me (and I will answer)

If you want a mortgage customer to trust you after this mortgage mess you have to make a lot of little promises and keep everyone.

What other things should be in your Trust Strategy?

Reprint: From Bill Rice's "Better Closer"

Using Social Media to Meet Real Estate Agents and Grow Referral Networks

A New Post By The Mortgage Cicerone
A Guide for Mortgage Professionals
Read other posts by The Mortgage Cicerone

Todd Carpenter of Lenderama was interviewed by The Ibis Group that is focused on "Using Social Media to Meet Real Estate Agents and Grow Referral Networks ."

A definite must listen for any mortgage professional.

Click Here To Download Interview

Great interview Todd!