Over and over I witness mortgage professionals sabotaging their own success.  When they lose a prospective client or a Realtor partner, they tend to point out surface level reasons (i.e. excuses) for the loss.

To succeed, and convert at a much higher level, and to stop playing the numbers game and the “ABC” game (Always Be Closing) we must begin to understand the fundamental behaviors that we all have as humans.  Knowing and understanding them is the first step to leveraging them properly and no longer allowing them to work against us.

The First Mistake

Let’s begin with the human behavior:  We tend to chase things that move away from us.

Reading this, and now thinking about your approach to getting business…are you making clients “chase” you?  OR, are you typically chasing clients and referral partners?  Be honest.

I can tell you from nearly 20 years in this business, and being a student of business development and sales, most people are constantly chasing clients.

You make 25-50 calls per week, hoping to get 2-3 appointments.  You call 30 agents every Monday.  And once at the appointment, you spend your entire time chasing the money.  Your mindset is “close this deal”.

I’ve been there.  I find myself doing the same thing sometimes, only to stop and remind myself:  “If I’m the one chasing, the natural human reaction by the other person is to move away!”

So what’s the solution?  We still need to make calls and have appointments, right?  We still need to market ourselves.

I don’t claim to have all the answers.  But I can tell you what’s worked for me, and I’ve seen work very quickly for those who have the commitment and courage to change the game:  Create something they want and need, so ultimately they want to chase you.  Build an experience that is interesting and intriguing.  Change your conversation AWAY from mortgages to something bigger…something deeper.  In my case, and those I coach directly, our conversation centers around money and life…minimizing the conversation around the mortgage.  Mortgages suck.  Everyone can provide a mortgage.  Every loan officer they talk to is “chasing” them with a stupid mortgage offering.

No, I must take the mortgage component away, and create something much more meaningful to offer and talk about.

Keep in mind this:  there are millions of prospective clients.  There are thousands of prospective Realtor partners you can do business with.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of Loan Originators I could hire to work at Sierra Pacific Mortgage.

But there’s only one of me.  Who will chase me?  I don’t have time to help everyone, nor do I want to.  I don’t have time to chase people.  I’d rather spend that time building something others would like to chase.

There’s only one of you.  Who will chase you?  What will you do to make yourself worth “chasing”?  And when will you stop chasing prospective clients, thus allowing human nature to kick in and cause them to chase you?