Latest / Mortgage Marketing Radio / Focus Questions to Achieve Your 2021 Goals

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Focus Questions to Achieve Your 2021 Goals · Mortgage Marketing Radio

• 0:00
  In today's highly competitive mortgage industry, building profitable relationships with
• 0:04
  the real estate agents is essential for success.
• 0:06
  However, finding effective ways to secure agent relationships can be a challenge.
• 0:11
  With so many mortgage loan originators vying for the attention of real estate agents, it
• 0:15
  can be difficult to stand out and establish meaningful connections.
• 0:20
  Our new case study featuring loan officer Chris Cogill is a must-read.
• 0:25
  Chris has closed a remarkable 36 million in funded loans from agent referrals.
• 0:31
  And in this case study, he shares his proven strategies for building strong relationships
• 0:34
  with real estate agents and leveraging those relationships to drive more business.
• 0:39
  To get your hands on this resource, head over to LOKestudy.com and download your free copy
• 0:45
  of the case study today.
• 0:47
  You'll find actionable insights and practical tips that Chris used to close 36 million
• 0:52
  in funded loans from agent referrals and how you can, too.
• 0:56
  Don't miss out.
• 0:57
  Go check it out right now.
• 0:58
  Visit LOKestudy.com and download your free copy today.
• 1:03
  Hey, everybody, what's up, Jeff Zim?
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  For welcome, happy New Year, happy New Year.
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  Welcome to 2021, the year that everybody couldn't wait for, because we couldn't wait to get
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  out of 2020, I guess, right?
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  So anyway, welcome to New Year.
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  This is me, just me again, just kind of spitballing here, throwing out some ideas and concepts
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  as I'm having a lot of calls right now in the first few weeks of January, you know,
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  coaching calls with loan officers across the country.
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  We're getting business plans in place.
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  We're getting focuses in place and action items.
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  So I kind of want to start with this.
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  I'm sure some of you are already engaged in your own version of business planning setting
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  out your to-do's and your action items and stuff like that for the New Year.
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  So I just wanted to go through a couple of questions that I find helpful when I'm having
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  these conversations and creating clarity around what we want to achieve this year.
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  And so typically when I'm in these conversations, I start off by trying to get a 90-day burn.
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  So let's just start there.
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  As you look out at what you want to achieve this year in terms of business, units, production,
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  family served, things like that, income earned, start with where are you at right now as
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  you come into this year?
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  Like obviously, let's do an inventory.
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  One of the exercises I take people through is like, okay, so how many loans do you want
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  to close this year?
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  What's the volume?
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  Great.
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  What's your average loan amount?
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  And then how many loans do you need to close per week, per month, per year to reach
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  that goal?
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  So do some simple math for you, right?
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  Like if you want to close 100 loans in a year, let me get out my handy-dandy calculator.
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  What's that?
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  I'm not great at math, right?
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  That's basically eight loans a month.
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  So of course eight loans a month, that's two loans a week.
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  So what we want to do is identify the gap.
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  And for most people I'm talking to is they actually want to grow their production.
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  Not everybody necessarily listening to this will be in that boat, although I would like
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  to learn more about why that is.
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  I know you may be overwhelmed and stressed.
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  I also want to make the point here is that be careful.
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  Be careful of falling into the trap of saying, I don't want to grow.
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  I'm too busy.
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  I'm too overwhelmed.
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  I'm too stressed.
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  I don't have the capacity.
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  Listen, I get that, right?
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  But we have an incredible opportunity this year in 2021, probably going to be the best,
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  not the one of the best years ever on record for purchase business.
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  And while I know 2020 was really heavy on the refides, right?
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  All indicators are pointing to the fact that that's going to drop off and be replaced
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  by purchase business as the significant portion of business this year.
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  Now, I'm not, you know, I don't have a crystal ball, can't predict the future, but let's
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  just assume that that's true.
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  So the question then becomes is how are you going to get in front of that?
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  Factor that into, yes, you're busy.
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  Yes, you may feel overwhelmed from the past year, but what do you need to implement?
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  Who would you need to hire?
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  What systems or process or technology would need to be put in place to allow you to scale,
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  to be more efficient, to be more effective, to not have everything be on you?
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  So you may have heard me talk about it before, that the three areas I like to focus on
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  in a business is the people, the process and the technology, right?
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  Those are the three core pillars, if you will, for virtually any aspect of any business,
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  right?
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  In growth and market share and efficiencies and systemization and impact that you want
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  to have, you know, and so forth.
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  So that'd be the first place I encourage you to take a look at your business, you know,
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  through the lens of of people, process and technology, where's the gap?
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  Maybe it's time you hired that assistant finally, right, or that biz dev person, or you
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  hired that virtual assistant to take care of those low, low paying tasks.
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  Maybe it's time to sync up and tighten up the process you have between you and your
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  ops team.
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  Maybe you need to finally implement those weekly or several times a week pipeline review
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  meetings.
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  Maybe there's certain technology need to put in place like a CRM, like a conversation
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  engine, like some automation, I don't know, that's for you to decide.
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  So let me get into a couple of questions and I'm just randomly going through these in
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  a book.
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  This book is called Coaching Sales People Into Sales Champions, a tactical playbook
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  for managers and executives by Keith Rosen, ROSEM, I can put a link to Amazon for it in
• 5:52
  the show notes.
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  But again, let's start with this in terms of getting some clarity for 2021.
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  So this is about accountability, right, and being responsible in self-management because
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  if you want to achieve a goal, right, I don't care if it's losing weight, quitting,
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  smoking, having a better relationship, growing your business, having more success with
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  realtors, referral partners, whatever, right, it comes down to accountability.
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  It comes down to being responsible and how good are you at self-management, right?
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  Because awareness will uncover the level of ownership and accountability you have around
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  your goals, right, your challenges as well.
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  So one of the questions I think, this is very, all right, let's come at you fast, let's
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  come at you fast and hard with a good one.
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  As you look back over the last year, last quarter, whatever it is, however you want to do,
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  right, let's take this in the business context first.
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  Where have you been most irresponsible?
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  Where have you been most irresponsible?
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  Is that in the area of follow-up?
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  Is that in the area of certain systems, people, communication, patience, caring, empathy,
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  your family, have you been irresponsible with your health and your dedication and commitment
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  to balance, aha, balance, right, funny word, looking back on last year.
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  We may have been quite a bit out of balance for quite a period of time last year.
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  I get that.
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  And sometimes that's just the way it is, however we can't remain like that forever, right?
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  But you might want to write these down for yourself and also ask them of your team, hey,
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  how have I been irresponsible in supporting you as a leader, as a team leader?
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  And as you look back at last year on your intentions, or if you look forward to this year,
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  you have certain intentions this year for things you want to achieve, right?
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  So as you look out at this year and your intentions behind reaching your goal, right?
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  Be aware of do your activities demonstrate your commitment to your intentions?
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  I'll say it again.
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  Do your activities demonstrate your commitment to your intentions?
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  See we're all guilty of this, I think, at various points and at various times throughout
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  our lives.
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  That intentions that I want to follow through on and be congruent with, and if I was being
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  truly honest with myself, there's probably certain activities that don't demonstrate
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  my commitment to it.
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  Like if I told you that I was committed to losing 20 pounds, but you came in and observed
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  me for a day and saw me eating bags of cheetos and drinking beer, sitting on my couch, watching
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  Netflix, do those activities demonstrate my commitment to it?
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  If I wanted to add five new quality referral partner relationships to my roster this year,
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  but I hadn't made a single call to a real estate agent, I hadn't had a single conversation
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  with a real estate agent, I hadn't hosted a virtual class, I had done nothing of an activity
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  that would demonstrate my commitment to it, would you question my commitment?
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  So you can have the intention, but do you have the commitment, and how do you know you
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  have the commitment?
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  Activities, activities, even when it's difficult, even when there's resistance.
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  That's the secret there gang, is everything we want is typically everything we want that
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  we don't currently have or if we want to go to another level or if that requires something
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  more of us, with that comes inherent resistance.
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  So the question is, can you break through the resistance?
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  Do your activities help you defeat resistance?
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  Because resistance is not a one time event, resistance is a recurring thing.
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  You can beat it, you can wear it down, and it will become a smaller monster over time,
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  but you must continually demonstrate with activities, your commitment to your intentions.
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  Does that make sense?
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  All right, let's ask another question.
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  What is currently on your plate that will get in the way of you meeting your goals this
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  year, your intentions?
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  What are you taking on too much of, I talked about this on a previous episode, what are
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  you not saying no to, that's getting in the way?
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  Again, I want to write these down when you're not driving, okay, and start to just contemplate
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  them.
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  Just let them marinate for a little bit.
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  What's on your plates that's going to get in the way of your intentions and your goal
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  this year, right?
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  Are you spending too much time with low profit, high maintenance, people, could be on your
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  team, could be referral partners, I don't know, right?
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  Are you spending too much time in activities that aren't generating the results you want,
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  but you're romantic about the past, or you're romantic about the idea, right, or in love
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  with that thing, yet have you really taken a look at it?
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  So what's on your plate that's going to get in the way, what do you need to get off your
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  plate?
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  Are you bloated with too much, all right, let me dig a little bit deeper right here.
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  Back to the 90 day burn, I like to keep it simple, focus, bring it into focus, 90 days,
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  in the context of the revenue and units goal that you have for this year, what is your number
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  one source of business, right, and how's that doing, how's it working, is it working well,
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  what areas need to be improved or short up, and what other sources of business might be
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  underutilized, under optimized, that if you simply put the right amount of attention and
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  focus on it, either directly or by outsourcing to another person you hire, to technology, whatever,
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  what of those areas that aren't yet optimized to the degree they could be, would they be
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  an additional source of business for you?
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  I know that's a little bit long-winded, let me just say it this way, what's your number
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  one source of business, how you doing there, what do you want to do with that this year,
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  and then secondly, what are the other sources of business for you to hit your goals this
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  year?
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  Is it going to be all past clients, database, you know, referral partners, maybe, I don't
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  know, if you want to grow like a lot of people I'm talking to want to grow, want to add
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  volume and units to their business, right, they may or may not be able to do that with
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  the current people and sources they have, you with me?
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  So they may need to add a few realtors to their referral partner base or financial planners
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  or divorce attorneys, they may need to step up their consumer direct social media game,
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  they may need to step up how many conversations they're having per week with in their sphere
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  of influence, they may need to start creating more of a brand on social media on YouTube
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  or whatever, you know, organic content that draws people to them, I don't know, that's
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  for you to decide.
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  But what are the three activities, here's the question, what are the three activities
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  you can commit to doing this quarter that will move you closer to your goal for this
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  year?
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  So for example, I've talked to people this week who, you know, have something brewing
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  with a builder and they want to get more engagement from that builder and become one of the preferred
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  lenders for that builder.
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  Cool, that's a, that's a big activity, right, that's one of three activities we could do
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  this quarter that would help us reach our goal.
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  Other people I talk to very often, it's, yeah, I need to add, you know, three realtors
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  to my referral bus, I need to get rid of these two and make space on the bus because you
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  only have so much space, right, if you're, if you're going deep versus wide, other people
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  wanted to start a YouTube channel and leverage YouTube in a big way so that they could drive
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  organic business, especially if you're living in an area where people moving to, like for
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  a lot of people moving out of California to Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington,
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  whatever, right, what are three activities you can commit to doing this quarter that will
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  move you closer to your goal?
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  Next question, perhaps even more important, who do you need to become, who do you need
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  to be or become in order to generate these results?
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  Because remember, what generates results, activities.
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  And we typically act in congruency with our identity of who we are, who we perceive ourselves
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  to be.
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  Hey, I'm a smoker.
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  That's just who I am.
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  Hey, I curse a lot.
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  That's just who I am.
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  Hey, I am somebody who takes care of myself.
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  I eat well, I work out.
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  That's just who I am.
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  Hey, I'm a top producer, hey, I'm a 30 million dollar producer.
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  Hey, I'm a 100 million dollar producer.
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  See, another question, what shift do you feel you may need to make in your thinking to
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  achieve this next level of goal?
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  See how the stacks on top of one another, right?
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  First of all, we get clear on what's working.
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  We get clear on what's our goal or objective for funded volume and units, our main source
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  of business, what's working there, what other sources do I need.
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  And then we get clear on the activities that you can commit to, right, the three activities
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  during this quarter.
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  And these, by the way, are recurring activities, right?
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  It's not just a one time thing because you want to build momentum.
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  And then we need to get clear on the next question is, who do you need to be or become?
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  I know personally that for me, oftentimes to have something before I can have that thing,
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  whether that's that increased income, whether that's the better health, the better relationship,
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  money in the bank, oftentimes it's the being or becoming that person that precedes
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  having the thing, are you with me?
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  Because if you look at the, like, if we lined up a bunch of top producers across the country
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  versus, you know, lower level bottom tier producers, here's what I know for a fact after
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  interviewing over 200 top producing loan officers, right?
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  The first and foremost, their identity is typically different than that of somebody who performs
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  at a lesser level. Does that make them a better person or the other person a lesser person?
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  No, it's not about that. Your identity is what shapes your belief and your behaviors.
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  And that's why the question of what shift in your thinking, in your mindset or at your
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  identity, do you need to make and your thinking to achieve the goals you've set for yourself this
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  year? Does that make sense? You guys with me? So it's not about just the doing, it's about who are we
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  being? Are you with me? And then the last question is, what do you need to give up or abandon
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  in order to achieve this, these goals? Let me clarify for you for a moment,
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  what do you need to give up or abandon in order to achieve your goals this year?
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  And I say, when I say abandon or give up, this could be in your thinking, how you think
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  in actions or in actions and habits. That's where the resistance lies. It's this hidden force
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  of virtual wall, if you will, of resistance that gets in the way. And the resistance is usually found
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  in our thinking, our beliefs, our identity, our habits, our self-talk. And if you can start with
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  some awareness there, you'll begin to understand and you begin to be aware of how that little
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  monster of resistance can grow into become a huge brick wall that's unseen physically but is real
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  mentally and emotionally. And so maybe take a little bit of time this weekend or whatever,
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  20 minutes, 30 minutes of quiet time and just start to evaluate with these questions and ask
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  yourself, right? What are the three activities? Who do you need to become? What shift do you need to
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  make in your thinking? And what do you need to give up or abandon in your ways of thinking or
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  action or habits? How do you feel about realtors? Is that getting in your way? Do you have habits or
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  actions that are consistently keeping you average? I do. But I want to break out of those.
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  And in order for me to break out of those, I have to see myself as different. Something better,
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  something different, not what I was or have been being. So that's kind of the quick focus session for
• 19:23
  this podcast. I'd love to know what you think. What are you working through? What are your goals
• 19:26
  this year? If you wouldn't mind, jump into our Facebook group, just go to Facebook and type in
• 19:30
  mortgage marketing radio. We've got a private group there just for podcast listeners. The minimum
• 19:35
  requirement is you have to be a mortgage professional in the mortgage related industry field. And we're
• 19:42
  going to be doing some really interesting cool things coming up in the Facebook group for podcast
• 19:45
  listeners in the coming week. So I'd love to see you in there and be part of what happens. But
• 19:50
  I'd love to know what you're working through and how I can better help you this year. And then
• 19:54
  lastly, of course, if you're looking for help in, you do want to grow your realtor relationships
• 19:57
  this year. You do want to quickly and easily capture more realtor referrals without ever making a
• 20:01
  cold call, never chasing, never begging and having realtors come to you and ask you send you referrals
• 20:08
  and deals. Well, then go check out this website, mortgagemarketing.pro, where we've set up an
• 20:13
  educational platform on demand for you with zoom ready, friendly classes to teach on all the
• 20:20
  subjects, realtors are hungry to learn recently just updated with new content for 2021. Go check
• 20:25
  it out and see if it's for you. We'd love to have you part of our community there as well.
• 20:30
  And also look forward on the next coming episode. We're going to be bringing back the interviews
• 20:34
  with notables and highly intelligent people way smarter than me, which makes this podcast all
• 20:40
  that much better. So I appreciate you listening and tuning in until the next one. Make it a great day.
• 20:45
  Bye for now.
• 20:47
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• 20:56
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