The Mortgage Cicerone - The Loan Attraction Coach - Con

Rich People Have Big Libraries...Poor People Have Big TV's

Over the years, the one common attribute identified with most successful people in business (no matter what their field) is their insatiable desire to continually educate and motivate themselves.

I have found this principle also applies to the most successful individuals in the mortgage business. I have witnessed a few exceptions, however I would estimate 95% of the top originators I've met are voracious readers and continuously listen and watch material that fills their minds with new thoughts and exciting ideas. They make it their quest to always be looking for new ideas to improve their focus, their memories, their business acumen, and both their mental and physical well-being. They just never ever stop educating themselves.

It is this desire that sets them apart from the rest of us. Jim Rohn, one of my favorite business thinkers has a saying:

“Rich people have big libraries...poor people have big TVs.”

Now that's a bold statement?

However, before getting offended, think about it. Do you spend more time reading and educating yourself or more time in front of the television? Do you spend more money on books or big televisions, stereos and dvd's?

When you think about it, the mortgage profession requires no formal education as a prerequisite, no formal training, in some states no licensing, and if licensing is required...only a very minimal class room requirement prior to testing. Plus, if you work for a lender, licensing may never be an issue for you.

Here is what most successful mortgage professionals do...

They just flat-out dedicate blocks of time to study mortgage and educational material.

They listen to educational tapes and Cd's when driving or riding in a car.

They read educational and marketing material on airplanes.

They listen to an MP3 file if their computer work doesn’t require a lot of thinking.

They read an educational book or printed e-book while having lunch.

They come prepared to wait for services/appointments with easily carried reading material.

They attend meetings and seminars to improve their mortgage knowledge, their motivation, and their marketing ability.

They schedule their time to allow for some if not all of the above activities...and still originate a record number of mortgages.

In the end, if you can establish a pattern of learning and continuing education, you’ll punch your ticket and begin the trip to wealth and success in the mortgage business. Invest in your education and make time for it. It will pay you back many times over.

If you’re not currently dedicating at least an hour a day to learning and improving your professional capabilities, change the cycle and make that commitment now!

Do it not...and you’ll be relegated to an abbreviated mortgage career that is filled with both frustration and mediocrity.

Acres of Diamonds

Before you go running off to what you think are greener pastures, make sure that your own is not just as green or perhaps even greener. It has been said that if the other guy's pasture appears to be greener than ours, it's quite possible that it's getting better care. Besides, while you're looking at other pastures, other people are looking at yours.

"Every kind of work has enormous opportunity lurking within it. The opportunities are there now, clamoring to be noticed. But they cannot speak or print signs for us to read. Our part of the bargain is to look at our work with "intelligent objectivity". If we have the wisdom and patience to intelligently, effectively explore the work in which we're now engaged, to explore ourselves, we would most likely find the riches we seek.

The story — a true one — is told of an African farmer who heard tales about other farmers who had made millions by discovering diamond mines. These tales so excited the farmer that he could hardly wait to sell his farm and go prospecting for diamonds himself. He sold the farm and spent the rest of his life wandering the African continent searching unsuccessfully for the gleaming gems that brought such high prices on the markets of the world. Finally, worn out and in a fit of despondency, he threw himself into a river and drowned.

Sadly, the farm the first farmer had sold, so that he might find a diamond mine, turned out to be one of the most productive diamond mines on the entire African continent.The first farmer had owned, free and clear ... acres of diamonds. But he had sold them for practically nothing, in order to look for them elsewhere. The moral is clear: If the first farmer had only taken the time to study and prepare himself to learn what diamonds looked like in their rough state, and to thoroughly explore the property he had before looking elsewhere, all of his wildest dreams would have come true."

This true story is a tale Earl Nightingale highlights in his classic recording, "Acres of Diamonds." Please take the time to download the entire story...it could open your eyes to opportunities you never imagined!

Download acres_of_diamonds.pdf

The Power of Planned Presentations

Last week I received a voicemail from my brother Lawrence in Colorado. While listening to his message I could tell he was very excited and dying to tell me about a very successful day he had just concluded. However, before I continue, allow me to step back and set the story up.

Lawrence had re-entered the mortgage business about ten months ago (great timing wasn't it?). The key word in the previous sentence is "re-entered." He had previously worked in the mortgage industry for five years (1994 - 1999). Those reading this Blog know those years were not easy years in the mortgage business. Yet, Lawrence managed to become a good loan originator averaging five to ten closings a month. Notice I say he was a "good" originator, not great, not excellent nor a superstar, just good. The reason I know he was just ‘good" is my father and I where his sales managers.

Unlike myself, Lawrence has many God given and innate abilities that just came naturally to him and salesmanship is one them. Problem was he never fine-tuned his natural abilities. He was able to be a "good" loan originator without much effort and still fund more than the average loan officer. As his sales managers, we knew he had the ability to be a Superstar, he just didn't have the maturity, yet.

Lawrence married in 1998 and his life drastically changed (for the better). He married the perfect woman for him. Carrie is organized, structured, good with money and a bit of an over-achiever. She helped Lawrence bring focus into his life.

In 1999, Lawrence was presented an opportunity in another industry that was too good to pass up. So, he left the mortgage industry (not because he wasn't funding enough loans...he was) and over the next six years began to fine-tune his abilities and matured as a person.

Fast-forward to 2005 and you will find Lawrence and his family living in a beautiful gated community home in San Antonio, TX.  He is the Texas sales manager for a small engine manufacturer and doing well for himself and family. Yet, he was missing his son (from a previous marriage) that lived in Colorado. His son had just begun High School and was also missing his Dad. Carrie and Lawrence decided this was a critical time in his son's life and they decided they would move back to Colorado.

Long story short, Lawrence re-entered the mortgage business in Colorado Springs, CO. Over the last year, we have been communicating, strategizing and fine tuning his sales delivery several times a week. One of the areas we spent quite a bit of time on is structuring his marketing activities. More specifically, over the last few months he has developed and implemented strategies and tools that consistently:

• Focus and direct his time/activities on efforts that are productive
• Identify niche market opportunities and develop planned sales presentations specific to referral partners
• Retain and track valuable prospects
• Provide better communication to clients and referral partners during the transaction
• Gain more consistent referrals
• Consistently stay in the forefront of clients and referral partners' minds
• Create a valuable, saleable business
• Becoming a marketing consultant to his referral partners

Lawrence has matured and even though we are in a market that has slowed relative to the first half of this decade, he has positioned himself to go from a "good" loan originator to a "superstar" originator over the next few years.

Getting back to the first paragraph and why Lawrence was so excited. He had made appointments with several prospective referral partners and they had gone incredibly well. For each appointment, he made a presentation package tailored to each individual that:

1. Outlined their business and needs
2. Provided valuable and saleable solutions to those needs
3. Reviewed communication points and tools he had developed to provide better communication to both clients and referral partners during the transaction.
4. Demonstrated how and why doing business with him enhanced both their revenue and reputation

Additionally, he practiced, rehearsed and developed a smooth presentation that flowed naturally and provided confidence to both to himself and the referral partner he made his presentation to.

When I returned his phone call, he reported the planned presentations went "smooth as butter" and that each of the referral partners was so impressed they promised him future business.

Since being successful is a process and not an event, Lawrence has implemented mechanisms to follow-up his successful sales presentations to position himself to stay in the forefront of his referral partners minds when they have business to refer.

Today, Lawrence just shakes his head and wonders why he never acted upon this advice before. Bottom line...he was not ready ten years ago, however NOW he is!

What about you, are you ready?