Not too long ago, I laid a giant egg.  An instant, where I could have had a happy, long term and profitable client working with me turned into an awkward, rambling and stupid time. 

I made a vow to never, ever let that happen again.

I made second vow to always embrace times that i can learn from the stupid stuff that I do. 

I got myself in front of someone that could have sent me a lot of business, if he was comfortable with me.  I got myself in front of somoene with the real live ability to help make my business more successful, given me great referrals, and helped it grow.   But, because I didn’t have the absolute, basic fundamental bases covered, I blew it.  Maybe that was a $20,000 lesson to me, every year.

The question was: How did you get into the mortgage business.  I used to be a Real Estate Agent, and he knew it. 

My answer, "Well, um…I couldn’t stand showing houses, but I um…made good money, so it wasn’t like I was running with my tail between my legs."    The conversation got stupider and worse from there, and a guy that was looking for a lender put me in the pigeon hole of negative moron that runs on and on at the mouth.

I didn’t want to be in that category, but what other choice was there?  I wasn’t prepared.  I was tossed an easy pitch, and I couldn’t even swing.  I’m putting myself out there in networking situations on a daily basis.  I need to have a BEST ANSWER for a list of questions. 

You are asked the same 7-10 questions in almost every business setting.  Why not have answers that are succinct, upbeat, positive, friendly and engaging?

Here are the questions I will never fumble again:

1. How did you get into the business?
2. How long have you been a mortgage lender?
3. Why did you pick being in the mortgage business?
4. Why did you stop being a Realtor?
5. How did you pick your company?
6. What rates do you offer?
7. How did you meet your wife?
8. How did you pick Westerville?
9. What hobbies do you have?
10. What charities/groups are you involved in?
11. Do you co advertise with Realtors?
12. how long does it take you to close a file?

Now, all of these eleven questions are what work for ME–and the bases I’ve covered so far.  What it means is that I am congruent with my buyers and my sellers.   

Related Links:

Scott Ginsberg -  Grill Yourself 

Jeffrey Gitomer- Creating the Perfect 30 Second Commercial

You want more recogntion and appreciation in your life, and you want things to be a little easier and a little faster for you.  One of the best things that you can do to start to love others, and help others get what they want (which gets you what you want), is to go the extra mile to make someone feel appreciated.

I do it with thank you notes.   People live such diconnected lives that a simple “thank you” is an outlandishly thoughtful act.   So, whenever someone does something a smidgeon nicer than average, I send them a thank you not to let them know I appreciate them and their efforts.   Something hand written, mailed.  Costs me 60 cents, maybe 75.  And hopefully it will make someone’s day a little nicer and a little easier.

We’ll keep working on this ide of a daily task list, but this is a great start.

We’re learning this with the promise of “a mortgage in ten days.”  Making “ten day service” the key of our business creates some headaches.  All solvable.

• You promise something attractive to people.
• If you’ve promised something good, they call you
• They come expecting what you’ve promised
• If you deliver, you’ve only held serve–you’ve not exceeded expectations.

If the marketing is specific enough, it becomes more effective.  I offer “ten day mortgage service,” in my business.  This is strong.  it is specific, and it’s a commitment from me to you with what I will do. 

Think:  What is a specific, novel and valuable twist on the service that I offer that people want?  What has been the experience of the HAPPIEST customers?  What can you offer different, better, cheaper, and memorably?

I don’t have to compete on rate.

I don’t have to back down on fee.

I just deliver the best service possible, and do it with passion.

What can you do to get apart from your competitors?

I don’t have the same persuasive abilities as the Omnipotent, but you’ve found yourself here, at the beginning.  You’ve set out to change, you’ve just got to want to do it.  You’ve got to decide to do it. You’ve got to decide to subordinate yourself, your ego, and your life to who you will be.

 So some first steps–and yes, you will have more steps beyond this:

1. Decide who that is.  Your ideal self.  It’s going to look different than your present self, so what kind of (wo)man will you be? 
2. Decide why it is that you want to be that person.   It’s easy to set goals that don’t really matter that “sound good.”  So consider: is this–at the core of your being–who you want to be and what you want to be doing?  Is it realistic?  Is it something that your minds eye has pictured…all your life…but you’ve been unable to make the connection.
3. Write it down.  For me, my mission is here: www.leftovermoxy.com/mission.  Make it real. 
4. Expect change to be hard.  It’ a forgivable mistake to expect all of this to be dirt simple–but really, as Matthew Ferry says, “Change is a planned conflict with the status quo.”  Write down three things that you’ll do when the going gets rough.  You have written down WHY you want to change, WHO you want to be, so make sure it’s work.
5. Results, not perfection.  Bill Phillips from Body For Life puts this in perspective.  You might be able to go through on a meteoric rise without a bad day, but when you have one bad day, you gotta shake it off.

Maybe you’re starting from a point where you can’t figure out what your goals are, what goals REALLY matter to you.  That happens.  And what I recommend is to set this as your priority for a week–or longer.  Have a silent room when you’re awake and alert.    Try and find out what things move you and motivate you.  Start journaling at Wordpress or LiveJournal or on paper.    Think about what you want to be  do and have. 

 Go forth and conquer.