Seems that every 5 minutes there’s a zoom meeting or video going on about rates going up, inventory is down, and other things that you, me, and Pharaoh’s army can’t do anything about.
So it’s not that those conversations aren’t important, it’s just that they are not a function of my activity that actually increases my market share.
It may help for my own personal investing in the stock market, but for my mortgage business, those things are what they are, and they are that way for all lenders. So it’s still a level playing field, even if the playing field is at altitude and the oxygen is a little thin.
I often times think that when I do focus on those things, it’s really me looking to not do those activities that actually make me money, you know, doing the actual activity that makes the phone ring so that we can take yet another application.
“So Carl, what do we focus on?” 3 things
1. Sell what’s on the shelf.
Look, the vast amount of time, we are all selling the same programs and the same rates. Nobody has “Magic Money”. If my rates go up, so do yours and everybody else’s.
So, some of the time that you may spend on charts and graphs that is guessing what the rate is going to be next December, I’m going to spend that time getting more customers and selling what’s on the shelf, both now and in December.
By the way, whoever focuses on getting more customers… gets more customers..
2. Keep your eye on your profitability.
Here’s the thing, some months, seasons, and years we sell more loans than others. When we close a bunch of loans, we need more help and resources. When we close a few less loans that “season”, then we need less help and resources.
As a general rule of thumb, I have 5 to 7 loans per full time employee. Those numbers keep us very profitable, yet leaves breathing room in our teams’ schedule so that at the end of each call when they are talking to the listing agents and the borrowers, our team can ask for yet even more referrals on every call…
… and guess what, when they ask for yet even more referrals on every call, we close more loans. If they are too busy to use our “New Way To Say Goodbye” script to get more referrals, well, that’s costing me way more business than the rates going up or down.
If I have less than 5 loans per full time employee, somebody needs to be laid off, otherwise we are all in jeopardy of losing our business 90 days from now. You can’t operate a business without a profit for very long.
3. Lastly, Save 25%.
This part has saved my butt more than the other 2 put together. For the last decade or so, the lovely Mrs. White and I have saved 25% of net income. So whatever is on the paycheck after taxes, we have saved at least 25% of that each month.
Was it easy at first… NOPE.
Now that I’m sitting here with an 8 figure net worth, am I grateful that I did it… YEP!
Even if it’s tough, do it. Rates go up, rates go down, I still live in a nice house, drive nice cars, my kids live in nice houses, we go on dream vacations, we support 4 other families (2 completely), we built a center for abused women in Columbia, South America…
…we set up scholarships for kids that otherwise couldn’t go to college, we give large amounts of money to many local charities, we paid cash for a car for a single mother that needed one, helped another single mother buy a house by giving her $70k, and my company is on very very very solid ground.
I don’t share these things to brag, but to inspire you to focus on where the real money is. While most are looking up to see if the sky is falling, I’m sticking to the pro-active activity that actually sells more loans, and helps me be profitable so I can help more people.
Those 3 things I can control, and those 3 things have made rates going up or down a simple inconvenience, and certainly nothing to sweat about.
Sell what’s on the shelf!!
Want help on what specific activities to focus on to sell more loans so you can help more people? Meet me here.
Your homie,
Carl White
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