Eliminate Inefficiencies ........... A Key To Success

We all have inefficiencies in our business, but what separates us from one another is whether we are identifying those inefficiencies, and identifying ways to eliminate them.  This is not something that we do once and then forget about it.  It is something that we have to constantly be evaluating, and always trying to identify ways to make us more productive and efficient.  This has become so embedded into me that I do it automatically, and because of that, I had not given much thought to what I constantly do to eliminate inefficiencies until ActiveRain established their present contest "Eliminating Inefficiencies in your Real Estate Business". Eliminating inefficiencies in our business is a must, and a key component in achieving success.

I have be in sales for a long time, 37 years to be exact.  In those 37 years I have had to change the way I do things as technology becomes available.  I was one of the first in my field (Material Handling Sales Engineer) back in 1978 to incorporate the use of a computer into my work.  That was followed by a fax machine, which then was followed by the use of one of the first car phones, mobile phones came after that.

I learned back then that technology was my friend, and if I wanted to progress in my business I needed to incorporate it into every aspect of it as possible.  That is a policy that I have followed to this day.

In my present line of work, Mortgage Loan Originator, I have had to make many changes in order to maximize my time and production.  I am not going to go through everything that I have done to accomplish that, but I will focus on the one aspect of my business that is a constant challenge, staying in contact with my Borrowers, and identify which ones I need to be in contact with that today.

As my book of business gets larger and larger, staying in contact with my Borrowers, and identify which one I need to be in contact with that today, becomes more and more of a challenge.  I use to put Borrower information into Outlook, and have Outlook notify me on dates that I wanted to contact my Borrowers.  This process worked to some extent, but it was time consuming, and not as efficient as I needed it to be.  Also I would then have to go to several files to gather the information that I needed, I actually did this up until fairly recently.  I searched for ways to improve this, but none of them did what I really wanted them to do. 

However, I have recently found a program that gets me very close to what I have been searching for, it is called Mortgage Returns.  Mortgage Returns downloads all of my Borrower, Prospect, Realtor, and other Referral Source information, and lets me manage the information with very little effort.  Mortgage Returns, automatically sends out birthday cards, anniversary cards, loan anniversary notices, monthly news letters, as well as other things when the date to do so accrues.  Mortgage Returns also sends me a daily notice telling me which of my Borrowers I should consider contacting that day based on the parameters that I have given it.  For example it will search my data files daily for Borrowers that I can save at least $100 a month on their monthly payment, and when the interest rate on my past borrowers drops 1% from the Borrower's current interest rate.

Each and everyday I am sent an e-mail with a link to my data base where these files have been sorted and identified.  From there I make the determination if it makes sense to notify these Borrowers at this time, and the appropriate letters to do so are only a couple of mouse clicks away.  The letters are personalize with my signature and the specific information for that Borrower's Loan.  Mortgage Returns also attaches to each file the contact information for each Listing and Selling Realtor on Loan, as well as the contact information for the Referral Source on the loan in case I what to send them something as well.  I can also run several reports from Mortgage Returns that further let me track my Borrower's and Prospect.  Also since I am a Sales Manager, I can track what my Loan Originators are doing as well.

Mortgage Returns has made me far more efficient than I have ever been before, and has already paid for itself many times over through my increased production.  There are features of Mortgage Returns that I have not utilized yet, but I will be as I become more proficient with this program, and further using it to continue to eliminate inefficiencies in my business.

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  Info about the author:

George Souto is a Loan Officer who can assist you with all your FHA, CHFA, and Conventional mortgage needs in Connecticut. George resides in Middlesex County which includes Middletown, Middlefield, Durham, Cromwell, Portland, Higganum, Haddam, East Haddam, Chester, Deep River, and Essex. George can be contacted at (860) 573-1308 or gsouto@mccuemortgage.com