MORTGAGE JUMPSTART DAY #1
START WITH THE RIGHT BUSINESS MINDSET
This is something I wish I was told when I first started, and it’s critical for the long-term success of your business.
Remember, it’s your process, so you want it to run in a way that you can not only manage it, but actually love your business, this way you can add value, and create the business you want. So figure out, how do you want to add value? In my business I wanted to be an expert, where my clients valued my advice and saw me as a valuable consultant regarding their overall financial plan. But in the beginning, because I didn’t clarify this up front and ended up being frustrated by clients who only cared about getting the best rate. Advice and service wasn’t so important to them. It took me a long time to create the structure I wanted in my business.
So begin your business with how you want it to run. Start with clarifying this so clearly that you can articulate it. For example, I will only work with people who are, and List the attributes you are looking for in a client. For my business for example it was: 1)People who are willing to follow a set process 2) people who see value other than just price. 3) people who realize that I am the expert…………and trust me unless a client does mortgages every single day, they will not be an expert. Even if they are in the financial services business or have an MBA, you will still know more about mortgages. Because the industry, the guidelines, and the market is always changing, so if you’re not in it every day it is simply impossible to keep up with the changes. This means is your knowledge is valuable and your clients need you.
Now, these are your principles that you should never deviate from. So you need to figure out how to convey this clearly to everyone that you meet. Referral sources, customers, everyone.
Let me give you a personal example. Let’s say I was telling a Real Estate Agent how I run my business. Here is how I would convey my message.
” Well Mr realtor what I like to do is structure the mortgage around my clients overall financial plan, and be an advocate not just for this loan, but a financial resource for as long as they are in need. So I have some principles I follow to identify the type of client who is the best fit for my services. They are…1) people who are willing to follow a set process 2)people who see value other than just price, and 3) people who are looking for an expert that they can trust .So I encourage you to take the time to figure out how to convey what differentiates you and why you run your business the way you do.
Now I believe that because I followed these principles in my business, everything else fell into place. Let’s use a different example, if you were to decide that you wanted to be the Walmart of mortgage lenders and always have the best price. That’s fine, but you need to understand that cutting your price to the minimum is going to come with certain aspects that may not be favorable for your business. Here are some examples of what I mean: Number 1, You are going to attract certain clients and business partners that are primarily price focused. Number 2, It will be more difficult to build the team, because cutting your profit so low will not generate enough revenue, for you or your company, to invest in building a team to assist you, it’s possible if you are doing a very high volume of loans, but will be very difficult. The point here is if this was the direction you want to go, you would need to be prepared to do everything yourself until you have enough volume to hire a team.
In closing, take the time on day one to think through everything in as much detail as you can. This is a critical step. For example, in my business I wanted to be like a doctor. I wanted to gather all the information up front, give long-term advice and have my clients appreciate this level of advice and service. And also competitive interest rate. So I knew I had to have a process to gather and analyze the documentation and what was important to my clients before I presented any solutions. I also needed to eventually build a team to provide service that enabled me to be able to do this, and most importantly I needed to study and become very financially literate, to be able to provide valuable financial advice. So I read, studied, and networked with experts to gather this knowledge.
Whichever way you choose to run your business, take day one to figure that out and visualize what you want every aspect of your business to look like.
Please excuse my grammar. I do not edit these posts.. Everyone’s time is to valuable. My goal is to get information out as quickly as possible.
