If there is one thing I ask my seasoned loan officers to change right out of the gates when they first engage in coaching with me, it’s their, “willingness level.”
You may want more business. You may want more Realtor partners. You may want more direct consumer leads, BUT, the most important question to ask yourself is, “What am I willing to do to get more of what I want?”
Your willingness level will always dictate how much opportunity you can expect. And, to be clear, one’s willingness level is not measured in words, it’s measured in action.
Here are a couple of examples of what I tend to hear from seasoned mortgage professionals struggling with a lack of will…
“I did all that networking stuff before and it never works.”
OR
“Yes, I know I’m supposed to be calling my past customers, but I don’t want to feel like I’m begging anyone for business.”
The examples above are rife with assumption-Assuming there’s no new networking opportunities, no new way to glean business from networking events and that their past experience with networking won’t be any different, today. Assuming their customers don’t want to hear from them and don’t want to help them.
All of these assumptions are simply knee jerk reactions to protecting the core issue, which of course whittles down to that nasty, four-letter “F” word…FEAR!
Everyone feels a certain measure of fear when faced with situations that makes them feel vulnerable or requires them to commit to a game plan for the long haul.
At some point, many (not all) mortgage professionals become complacent, too comfy and stop stretching themselves. They want more business, but they’re not in enough financial, “pain” to be willing to get out of their comfort zones to make more happen.
If they’ve got, “enough” in their pipeline, then they’re mildly happy. When the pipeline dips again and they don’t feel like there is quite enough, then they get frustrated, spend money and time here and there on different, “shiny gems” hoping for a quick fix.
99% of the time the, “shiny gem” doesn’t pan-out, the money spent doesn’t lead to the leads they hoped for and the one networking gig they begrudgingly show up to, is a bust.
Then, ‘thank God’, a few good leads suddenly come in from one or two of their old, stand-by referral partners and ‘gratefully’ they immediately turn ALL of their attention to those leads and the cycle of, “just enough business” is set into motion all over again.
If this sounds even mildly familiar, read on…
If one accepts that there are no short-cuts to growing their mortgage business and much of what it took to get going in this business in the first place is still required today in order to grow, then all that’s left to consider is…Are you willing to feel the fear and do it anyway?
Here’s what works to grow the business, always has and always will. The GREAT news is that there’s a variety of creative approaches when engaging in the following activities and I should know, I have an entire roster of mortgage professionals I coach who are tackling these business builders in different ways:
- Various networking (social, business, charity, etc.) and continued follow-up, WORKS!
- Staying in touch in a personal way (live calls, video, client appreciation events, social media) with our past customers, WORKS!
- Making sure we are calling on our Realtors and seeing them face to face (socially and professionally), WORKS!
- Asking for referrals, WORKS!
Stop assuming-Find the will-Get committed-Feel the fear and DO IT ANYWAY!
If you need help getting committed to your business growth goals and getting out of the rut you’re currently in, reach out to me and Ask for a Complimentary Business Coaching Session!