Have you ever had your day end and wonder where it went? Have you ever been frustrated by how reactive you have been to "emergency" situations that significantly reduced your productivity?

Many of us have experienced this to an excessive degree in our business practices. One of the greatest ways to eliminate the reactive state we find ourselves in is to practice the art of Time Blocking. Time Blocking is about scheduling your day with purpose, making sure the things you need to get done DO get done. This applies to work and personal activities. Remember, the more proactive you are with your day, the less reactive you will be.

Dedicate yourself to the following exercise for 2 weeks. Each morning, start off by blocking your entire day in ½ hour increments. The result might look something like this:

8:30 - 9:00 Check emails and voice mail
9:00 - 9:30 Return calls
9:30 - 10:00 Prospect for new business
10:00 - 10:30 Staff meeting
10:30 - 11:00 Check voice mail and return calls
11:30 - Noon Strategies new business planning
Noon - 12:30 Return calls
12:30 - 1:00 Break for lunch
1:00 - 1:30 Return calls
1:30 - 2:00 Meet with client

The key to this type of planning is to check your voice mail and email each hour and return messages promptly. The reason is simple: If you let too much time lapse before you respond to your client, it will tear you away from your time blocking schedule. The temptation to check the red light blinking on your phone, or respond to that electronic voice saying, "You've got mail," will be too great to resist. Remember, time blocking is about commitment. The more you live your days proactively, the more work you will get done.

In order to obtain a home loan, a borrower is usually required to have a homeowner's insurance policy in place. Experts agree that the most important question homeowners should ask when shopping for a plan is the A.M. Best rating of each company. New companies pop up all the time, and homeowners need to be informed about what a company can offer in terms of protection against potential risk.

Consumers should also become familiar with the liability portion of their policy. ACV (Actual Cash Value) policies pay claims based upon the depreciated value of the item or items lost. However, replacement cost policies will pay the full cost required to actually replace the items.

To ensure that the right amount of insurance is purchased, homeowners should obtain an appraisal every five years or so. If additions are made or remodeling takes place, homeowners will need to revisit and possibly upgrade their plan as well.

Experts say there are several important mistakes homeowners should be especially careful to avoid. The first is being dishonest on an application. This is absolute grounds to reject any claim. Secondly, if the property contains a detached structure - such as a guest house, a barn, a workshop, or a garage - be sure to include each one on the insurance policy. Finally, do not over-insure. Homeowners can save a little money by insuring only those items and structures that need to be replaced.

Email or call me at 678-648-5626 for a referral to a local, professional insurance agent.

Remember to set your clocks back one hour as Daylight Saving Time will end on Sunday, November 1st. And when you adjust your clocks the night before, you'll be right on time Sunday morning!

If you or someone you know needs assistance with a purchase or refinance loan, please email me or call 678-648-5626.

Information marketing infuses free information about a product or service along with the regular sales pitch. Unlike the decoder ring in abox of Cracker Jacks, info-marketing provides the free prize before any purchase has taken place. It appeals to consumers much more, because they don't feel as though they are being approached by a pushy salesperson. For this reason, info-marketing can be a great vehicle for cementing new relationships.

Here are some examples of information marketing that will inspire the potential client to think of you as a credible resource, even before they meet you in person.

The How-to-Sell-Your-Home Booklet
Real Estate agents can place an ad in the Real Estate section of the local classifieds offering the public a free booklet on how to sell their home quickly, which includes personal techniques that work. This will attract FSBOs and other potential sellers. People greatly underestimate the complexity of selling a home, and through info-marketing the Real Estate agent can become a knowledgeable resource. This is a terrific conduit for establishing new relationships.

The How-to-Diversify Document
Financial planners can place an ad in the Business section of the local paper, offering a booklet that educates consumers on how to properly diversify their portfolio, explains what dollar cost averaging is, and clarifies the difference between fee-based financial planners and transactional-based financial planners. Providing information through free literature encourages the consumer to call for a personal appointment to go into more detail. This also works well in radio spots, by adding a friendly voice to the equation.

The Tax-Law Pamphlet
Certified Public Accountants can offer a free pamphlet on tax law changes, tax ramifications for Living Trusts, and the laws that govern Estate Planning. This provides a great opportunity to become a Trusted Advisor right out of the gate, and start the relationship with a level of deep respect.

Another great way to distribute info-marketing is to make it available through your website. Make sure your prospects fill out a form that allows you to capture their contact information. Make it clear that the information they requested will be delivered by email, so their correct email address is required for fulfillment. Then you can add them to your regular marketing campaigns.

Let me know if you have any more creative ideas for info-marketing strategies!

It's important not to assume to know what is relevant to your clients. You must ask intelligent questions, run reports on this information, and then proactively meet your customers' relevant needs. This completes our analysis of Bill Gates' quote regarding managing information, and brings us full circle.

We've talked about gathering information. Here are some things that you can do to BUY BRAIN CELLS! Remember, marketing is about being in the forefront of your clients' thoughts, and the only way you can buy their brain cells and make them work for you is by marketing to what is important to them. That is why we strive to ask questions that give us these insights.

If you know your client doesn't have a college education fund set up for their children because you took the time to ask that question, then you could turn around and recommend a 529 Planthat would allow them to establish a tax-deferred account to put those funds in place for their children's future educational needs. Things like this put you far ahead of your competition, and you become your clients' friend and confidant.

Another suggestion is to have your personal assistant send out some item of relevance to members of your database every month. If you've gathered information intelligently and you know what your clients' hobbies are, use it for this type of communication. Let's say your assistant finds an article on herbal remedies that work effectively on children under ten years of age, and you are in the midst of the cold and flu season. Run a report to identify the clients in your database who have children under ten years of age. Send them a copy of the article via email, with a quick note that says, “I saw this article and thought you might find this information interesting. I certainly hope that you and your family are well.”

This will have a tremendous impact on your clients' opinion of you. Don't you think you will be the first person to pop into their mind when they overhear a co-worker saying they need a professional who offers the services you provide? This is what customer relevancy is about: BUYING BRAIN CELLS. Remember, your marketing doesn't always have to be about your vocation. Believe it or not, in many cases your vocation isn't evenrelevant to your client. They just want someone they feel comfortable with.

Think about the way you shop for products or services. If you wanted to buy a new pickup truck, there's a good chance you could go to 4 or 5 locations within a 30-minute drive of your home and purchase the exact same truck. But you will buy the truck from someone you trust. This is human nature. People are shopping for someone they can trust; someone they like to work with. They also like to be the shining star, the person that is “in the know,” who refers your good service to their friends and family!

This may come as a shock to many borrowers, but it's absolutely true. Mortgage interest rates are not set by the Federal Reserve and, contrary to popular belief, mortgage rates are not directly tied to the yields of US Treasury bills, bonds, or notes – including the 10-year Treasury Note. That's right. Despite what you might hear in the media, mortgage interest rates are actually set by lending institutions, and are based solely on the performance of mortgage-backed securities.

For years now, the media and inexperienced loan officers everywhere have suggested that the 10-year Treasury Note, a government-backed security, is directly tied to mortgage interest rates, that the two are separated by a specific interval – which is simply not true. The graph on this page, which shows interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages and the yield for the 10-year Treasury Note for 13 months, clearly demonstrates this fact.

At a quick glance, yes, it's easy to see why the mistake is made. As you can see, for 11 out of the 13 months recorded in the graph, the yield of the 10-year Treasury Note and interest rates for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages did follow a somewhat similar long-term path, despite obvious short-term divergences. However, take a closer look at the drastic change that occurs from January through March 2008. What's interesting about this graph is that, during this period, the Federal Reserve had cut interest rates six times, from September 2007, to March 2008, and yet mortgage rates were actually higher in March 2008 than they were a year before. Not only does this demonstrate that the yield of the 10-year Treasury Note is not pegged to mortgage interest rates, it also reveals that mortgage interest rates are not set by the Fed either.

Stop being misled. If you or someone you know is thinking about buying or refinancing a home, email or give us a call at 678-648-5626. We'll give the facts you need to make a truly informed decision

The second part of Bill Gates' famous quote from Business at the Speed of Thought deals with the subject of reporting and managing the information you've gathered. The unfortunate reality is that many people have databases full of useful information, but they simply don't use the information effectively. Many people think of a database as an electronic Rolodex®, when it is really so much more than that. A database is a living, breathing, proactive platform that can generate predictable results and keep bringing in new business for you.

The only way to turn your data into useful information is through reporting. The more you know about your customers, the more you will be able to market to their relevant needs. In Part II of this series (Gathering Information), you were provided with a list of questions to ask your client.

Let's look at the question of "What are your hobbies?" and see how we could use that information to create a better relationship with our clients. Wouldn't it be terrific if you had notes on all of your clients, and knew if they were fans of the Atlanta Braves, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or Cleveland Cavaliers? If you knew that information and could run a report listing all the people who fall into those categories, you could send those groups of people a congratulatory email whenever their team wins big, and connect with them on their level.

If you knew the timeline up front when a client stated they were expecting an increase or decrease in pay, or any expected change in their financial situation, you could run reports on that information and proactively be ready to service them. Wouldn't this constitute terrific service? Don't fall prey to the never-ending cycle of gathering information over and over again and doing nothing with it. Remember, stagnant data does nothing to help you build your business. You need to be able to compile intelligent reports and use them effectively.

I like to use drop-down menus in my database management software because, for reporting purposes, it is extremely important that the data you input is consistent. If you list some of your clients as "Bucks Fans," some of them as "Buccaneers Fans," and the rest as "Tampa Bay Fans," then your statistics would not be correct if you ran a report on how many "Buccaneers Fans" you had in your database. But, if you use a drop-down menu that allows you to select one option that is consistent (e.g., "Tampa Bay Buccaneers Fan") then you will have consistent results as you run your reports. This is called normalizing your database, and it solves a lot of these problems.

While it might be tempting to borrow whatever amount of money your lender is willing to give you, it's important to think carefully about how much you'll actually need to borrow in order to purchase a new home. From the down payment to taxes to insurance and interest rates, there are many factors to consider when making this important, life-changing decision.

Contrary to popular sentiment, there is no standard formula for accurately calculating the specific dollar amount you should borrow when purchasing a new home. Many websites do offer special borrower calculators that claim to factor in important variables, and yet final results vary vastly from one site to the next. Other websites offer general rules of thumb, suggesting that you should never borrow more than 2 1/2 to 3 times your gross annual income, or that 28%, 32%, or even 40% is the maximum amount of debt you should ever take on.

And, while these insights may be helpful as you begin thinking about the overall borrowing process, meeting with a reputable loan professional and getting yourself pre-approved (not pre-qualified) is really the only way to know the exact amount of money you can and should borrow. By getting pre-approved, you not only increase the chance of finding the perfect house for your needs, you also become a "cash buyer", instantly increasing your bargaining power.

As a mortgage professional, I see my role differently than a traditional loan officer. While my job is to match you with the best mortgage available for your specific needs, I feel that it's also my duty to make sure it's the most responsible product as well. After all, what if something unforeseen or unexpected were to occur? What if you have an accident or you lose your job?

Whether you choose to work with me or not, be aware. A lender will often offer you the maximum amount of money that you qualify for, whether you actually need the full amount or not. Because of this, it's vital to sit down with a professional you can trust to figure out your complete financial picture.

If you or someone you know could benefit from this type of free consultation, email or give me a call at 678-648-5626. I would be happy to assist you!