Today, I was begged by my daughter to watch my five month old grandson for awhile. This meant putting my mortgage business aside, which meant less phone calls, less visits, less running around to open houses, less of a chance to prospect for loans. I wondered why eveyone thought MY JOB was the expendable one and felt pretty sorry for myself.
So I decided to be productive anyway and I laid this little baby on the floor on a soft old blanket with my big Scotsman Guide www.scotsmanguide.com/mtg beside him.
I alternated between checking fingers and toes and blowing bubbles to reading up on new mortgage products and various articles about whats new and whats hot in the marketplace. And wondered about my role in my family's life, my personal life and my business life.
After a couple of hours of baby play, and reading the pictures, big print, you know, the Browsy stuff. It was nap time.
This use of my time was productive after all. It moved me to ENJOY myself, just abandon all else to the love of this little child. And in that moment, I had to think about every single person out there who is looking for a refinance or looking to buy a home. How human are they? How much does this transaction mean to them? Is it really a numbers game, or is it a human interaction, maybe a human intervention? Your loan is with SOMEONE who probably has family, children, grandchildren, husbands, wives, parents, brothers, sisters, even pets as well as close friends that he/she dearly loves. We need to know so much about a person to do a loan. It really is an invasion of privacy and space that can't be helped. But my reminder today, was to be gentle, and understand how this large amount of money will influence a person or a family's life.
This brings me to the articles I have read about GORILLA SALES TACTICS:
"...Holding back thoughts of financial types stealthily creeping through the deepest, darkest African undergrowth trying to surprise our elusive forefathers, I was all ears..."
African guides on safari tours cannot guarantee meeting gorillas, you see, but they do have a very high success rate. And while gorilla sales tactics can't guarantee new clients, it could put a mortgage lender in touch with thousands of prospects, and might very well provide a high success rate.
And the end destination of this jungle activity might be a gorilla whose positively thrilled, but then again, maybe, it just might, turn around and attack you.
Previously, I blogged about optimism, now I'm on a pitch for treating people like people.
In the Scotsman Guide, the tip of the month read:
...A smile is the foundation of any sales pitch It must be genuine and a natural expression. It should even be felt over a telephone or via e-mail. Great mortgage brokers smile to welcome their customers. Most important, the smile must be honest and should portray integrity... "
STAY WITH ME HERE, THE MOST IMPORTANT ACTION IS STILL TO COME!!!!
The smile should be followed up by FOLLOW UP. The famous FU word takes a new turn! No matter how friendly, how optimistic, how ungorilla like you might be, if you fail to stay with your client, and let them know the rate, the lock, the changes, the close date, yeh, I'm talking TILA and GFE, with a personal touch, you are still at risk for making the deal but LOSING your customer's future business with all of his friends and family.
The Follow Up Condition of the Sales Meeting actually lasts quite a long time. It sits at the closing table like a real live person, with a smile. One who holds the baby (or puppy) as needed. It is still active two or three weeks after the CLOSING, when the Follow Up is a call to say, "I'm just following up. Did your loan work out for you? Are you completely satisfied? Was there anything I could have done differently?"
You see, I'm ready to take a risk here and there myself. Well yes, quite a few. And for those who care, while I don't leap from boulders at the Grand Canyon. I have hiked rim to rim.....
But when it comes to my customers, I want to treat them like old friends, or family, I don't want them worrying about their financial situation, or taking scary risks,. 
I want them to sleep like a baby at night.
Lastly just a post note here about the Scotsman magazine. It really is a wealth of information. Lots of great articles about keeping the industry honest, diversification, managing risk and as I look ahead in the index, I even see waiting up ahead: "How to be no. 1 in Web Searches." Plus many, many more great articles. Its almost as good as ACTIVE RAIN.
Renee Kokoszka, Park City, Utah, Mortgage Lender, 435-962-5656
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