How much do you like ice cream?
Why is it that some people close 5 or 10 loans a month and look frazzled, exhausted, and on the verge of a breakdown; and others close the same number of units or more, and make it look effortless? I know most of you are going to say, they have an assistant, or a better processor, or stronger company support! While some of that may be true; I know many originators that close 10 or more units a month and do it in less than 40 hours a week. I have some who do have help, and seamlessly close 15, 20, or more units per month in the same time frame.
It’s all about your system, your process, and where and when you do the work. My favorite example is pretty funny, but will make a great deal of sense. Imagine you want an ice cream cone. You know that if you eat an ice cream cone it will mean hundreds of extra calories. If you have one ice cream cone a month, you really don’t need to worry about gaining weight. Eat three a day and it’s a whole different story!
So what if you wanted to eat more ice cream cones and didn’t want to gain weight? You could exercise and burn of the additional calories you have consumed, but it isn’t likely that the more ice cream you ate, the more you would match the exercise, and even though you were doing some work, you weren’t doing enough work to prevent the weight gain.
But what if you worked out first? You couldn’t get the ice cream until you burned the calories first? Maybe you would do enough work every day to get the ice cream you wanted, but maybe you wouldn’t and not be allowed the ice cream! That would certainly work better.
But what if YOU HAD to do the work at some point in time that would allow you to have the ice cream but there was a specific deadline at which that work HAD to be completed? Some would do the work first and get it out of the way so they could enjoy the rest of their time, while others would be scrambling furiously to get their work done by the deadline, driving everyone around them into that whirlwind of activity!
My point is, the calm and collected originator has learned the value of doing the work upfront and by setting and managing expectations to a timeline, so there isn’t a huge rush at the end. The added benefit is, by doing the work first, any issues appear early in the process so they can be dealt with without a lot of drama and disruption!
The work on a loan is going to be the same no matter what! Isn’t it better to set the expectations and the timeline up front, so there isn’t any drama at the end? Isn’t it better to kill a deal before people are involved and contracts are signed and expectations are set than to have it fall apart at the end?
The choice is always yours to make! I will tell you, there is only so much drama anyone can handle! Reduce the drama and have a plan. Do the work upfront and avoid the rush at the end! In your spare time, you can go to the gym, and then go for some ice cream!
Questions or comments: [email protected]
