Focus Questions to Achieve Your 2021 Goals

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Go check it out right now. Visit LOKestudy.com and download your free copy today. Hey, everybody, what's up, Jeff Zim? For welcome, happy New Year, happy New Year. Welcome to 2021, the year that everybody couldn't wait for, because we couldn't wait to get out of 2020, I guess, right? So anyway, welcome to New Year. This is me, just me again, just kind of spitballing here, throwing out some ideas and concepts as I'm having a lot of calls right now in the first few weeks of January, you know, coaching calls with loan officers across the country. We're getting business plans in place. We're getting focuses in place and action items. So I kind of want to start with this. I'm sure some of you are already engaged in your own version of business planning setting out your to-do's and your action items and stuff like that for the New Year. So I just wanted to go through a couple of questions that I find helpful when I'm having these conversations and creating clarity around what we want to achieve this year. And so typically when I'm in these conversations, I start off by trying to get a 90-day burn. So let's just start there. As you look out at what you want to achieve this year in terms of business, units, production, family served, things like that, income earned, start with where are you at right now as you come into this year? Like obviously, let's do an inventory. One of the exercises I take people through is like, okay, so how many loans do you want to close this year? What's the volume? Great. What's your average loan amount? And then how many loans do you need to close per week, per month, per year to reach that goal? So do some simple math for you, right? Like if you want to close 100 loans in a year, let me get out my handy-dandy calculator. What's that? I'm not great at math, right? That's basically eight loans a month. So of course eight loans a month, that's two loans a week. So what we want to do is identify the gap. And for most people I'm talking to is they actually want to grow their production. Not everybody necessarily listening to this will be in that boat, although I would like to learn more about why that is. I know you may be overwhelmed and stressed. I also want to make the point here is that be careful. Be careful of falling into the trap of saying, I don't want to grow. I'm too busy. I'm too overwhelmed. I'm too stressed. I don't have the capacity. Listen, I get that, right? But we have an incredible opportunity this year in 2021, probably going to be the best, not the one of the best years ever on record for purchase business. And while I know 2020 was really heavy on the refides, right? All indicators are pointing to the fact that that's going to drop off and be replaced by purchase business as the significant portion of business this year. Now, I'm not, you know, I don't have a crystal ball, can't predict the future, but let's just assume that that's true. So the question then becomes is how are you going to get in front of that? Factor that into, yes, you're busy. Yes, you may feel overwhelmed from the past year, but what do you need to implement? Who would you need to hire? What systems or process or technology would need to be put in place to allow you to scale, to be more efficient, to be more effective, to not have everything be on you? So you may have heard me talk about it before, that the three areas I like to focus on in a business is the people, the process and the technology, right? Those are the three core pillars, if you will, for virtually any aspect of any business, right? In growth and market share and efficiencies and systemization and impact that you want to have, you know, and so forth. So that'd be the first place I encourage you to take a look at your business, you know, through the lens of of people, process and technology, where's the gap? Maybe it's time you hired that assistant finally, right, or that biz dev person, or you hired that virtual assistant to take care of those low, low paying tasks. Maybe it's time to sync up and tighten up the process you have between you and your ops team. Maybe you need to finally implement those weekly or several times a week pipeline review meetings. Maybe there's certain technology need to put in place like a CRM, like a conversation engine, like some automation, I don't know, that's for you to decide. So let me get into a couple of questions and I'm just randomly going through these in a book. This book is called Coaching Sales People Into Sales Champions, a tactical playbook for managers and executives by Keith Rosen, ROSEM, I can put a link to Amazon for it in the show notes. But again, let's start with this in terms of getting some clarity for 2021. So this is about accountability, right, and being responsible in self-management because if you want to achieve a goal, right, I don't care if it's losing weight, quitting, smoking, having a better relationship, growing your business, having more success with realtors, referral partners, whatever, right, it comes down to accountability. It comes down to being responsible and how good are you at self-management, right? Because awareness will uncover the level of ownership and accountability you have around your goals, right, your challenges as well. So one of the questions I think, this is very, all right, let's come at you fast, let's come at you fast and hard with a good one. As you look back over the last year, last quarter, whatever it is, however you want to do, right, let's take this in the business context first. Where have you been most irresponsible? Where have you been most irresponsible? Is that in the area of follow-up? Is that in the area of certain systems, people, communication, patience, caring, empathy, your family, have you been irresponsible with your health and your dedication and commitment to balance, aha, balance, right, funny word, looking back on last year. We may have been quite a bit out of balance for quite a period of time last year. I get that. And sometimes that's just the way it is, however we can't remain like that forever, right? But you might want to write these down for yourself and also ask them of your team, hey, how have I been irresponsible in supporting you as a leader, as a team leader? And as you look back at last year on your intentions, or if you look forward to this year, you have certain intentions this year for things you want to achieve, right? So as you look out at this year and your intentions behind reaching your goal, right? Be aware of do your activities demonstrate your commitment to your intentions? I'll say it again. Do your activities demonstrate your commitment to your intentions? See we're all guilty of this, I think, at various points and at various times throughout our lives. That intentions that I want to follow through on and be congruent with, and if I was being truly honest with myself, there's probably certain activities that don't demonstrate my commitment to it. Like if I told you that I was committed to losing 20 pounds, but you came in and observed me for a day and saw me eating bags of cheetos and drinking beer, sitting on my couch, watching Netflix, do those activities demonstrate my commitment to it? If I wanted to add five new quality referral partner relationships to my roster this year, but I hadn't made a single call to a real estate agent, I hadn't had a single conversation with a real estate agent, I hadn't hosted a virtual class, I had done nothing of an activity that would demonstrate my commitment to it, would you question my commitment? So you can have the intention, but do you have the commitment, and how do you know you have the commitment? Activities, activities, even when it's difficult, even when there's resistance. That's the secret there gang, is everything we want is typically everything we want that we don't currently have or if we want to go to another level or if that requires something more of us, with that comes inherent resistance. So the question is, can you break through the resistance? Do your activities help you defeat resistance? Because resistance is not a one time event, resistance is a recurring thing. You can beat it, you can wear it down, and it will become a smaller monster over time, but you must continually demonstrate with activities, your commitment to your intentions. Does that make sense? All right, let's ask another question. What is currently on your plate that will get in the way of you meeting your goals this year, your intentions? What are you taking on too much of, I talked about this on a previous episode, what are you not saying no to, that's getting in the way? Again, I want to write these down when you're not driving, okay, and start to just contemplate them. Just let them marinate for a little bit. What's on your plates that's going to get in the way of your intentions and your goal this year, right? Are you spending too much time with low profit, high maintenance, people, could be on your team, could be referral partners, I don't know, right? Are you spending too much time in activities that aren't generating the results you want, but you're romantic about the past, or you're romantic about the idea, right, or in love with that thing, yet have you really taken a look at it? So what's on your plate that's going to get in the way, what do you need to get off your plate? Are you bloated with too much, all right, let me dig a little bit deeper right here. Back to the 90 day burn, I like to keep it simple, focus, bring it into focus, 90 days, in the context of the revenue and units goal that you have for this year, what is your number one source of business, right, and how's that doing, how's it working, is it working well, what areas need to be improved or short up, and what other sources of business might be underutilized, under optimized, that if you simply put the right amount of attention and focus on it, either directly or by outsourcing to another person you hire, to technology, whatever, what of those areas that aren't yet optimized to the degree they could be, would they be an additional source of business for you? I know that's a little bit long-winded, let me just say it this way, what's your number one source of business, how you doing there, what do you want to do with that this year, and then secondly, what are the other sources of business for you to hit your goals this year? Is it going to be all past clients, database, you know, referral partners, maybe, I don't know, if you want to grow like a lot of people I'm talking to want to grow, want to add volume and units to their business, right, they may or may not be able to do that with the current people and sources they have, you with me? So they may need to add a few realtors to their referral partner base or financial planners or divorce attorneys, they may need to step up their consumer direct social media game, they may need to step up how many conversations they're having per week with in their sphere of influence, they may need to start creating more of a brand on social media on YouTube or whatever, you know, organic content that draws people to them, I don't know, that's for you to decide. But what are the three activities, here's the question, what are the three activities you can commit to doing this quarter that will move you closer to your goal for this year? So for example, I've talked to people this week who, you know, have something brewing with a builder and they want to get more engagement from that builder and become one of the preferred lenders for that builder. Cool, that's a, that's a big activity, right, that's one of three activities we could do this quarter that would help us reach our goal. Other people I talk to very often, it's, yeah, I need to add, you know, three realtors to my referral bus, I need to get rid of these two and make space on the bus because you only have so much space, right, if you're, if you're going deep versus wide, other people wanted to start a YouTube channel and leverage YouTube in a big way so that they could drive organic business, especially if you're living in an area where people moving to, like for a lot of people moving out of California to Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington, whatever, right, what are three activities you can commit to doing this quarter that will move you closer to your goal? Next question, perhaps even more important, who do you need to become, who do you need to be or become in order to generate these results? Because remember, what generates results, activities. And we typically act in congruency with our identity of who we are, who we perceive ourselves to be. Hey, I'm a smoker. That's just who I am. Hey, I curse a lot. That's just who I am. Hey, I am somebody who takes care of myself. I eat well, I work out. That's just who I am. Hey, I'm a top producer, hey, I'm a 30 million dollar producer. Hey, I'm a 100 million dollar producer. See, another question, what shift do you feel you may need to make in your thinking to achieve this next level of goal? See how the stacks on top of one another, right? First of all, we get clear on what's working. We get clear on what's our goal or objective for funded volume and units, our main source of business, what's working there, what other sources do I need. And then we get clear on the activities that you can commit to, right, the three activities during this quarter. And these, by the way, are recurring activities, right? It's not just a one time thing because you want to build momentum. And then we need to get clear on the next question is, who do you need to be or become? I know personally that for me, oftentimes to have something before I can have that thing, whether that's that increased income, whether that's the better health, the better relationship, money in the bank, oftentimes it's the being or becoming that person that precedes having the thing, are you with me? Because if you look at the, like, if we lined up a bunch of top producers across the country versus, you know, lower level bottom tier producers, here's what I know for a fact after interviewing over 200 top producing loan officers, right? The first and foremost, their identity is typically different than that of somebody who performs at a lesser level. Does that make them a better person or the other person a lesser person? No, it's not about that. Your identity is what shapes your belief and your behaviors. And that's why the question of what shift in your thinking, in your mindset or at your identity, do you need to make and your thinking to achieve the goals you've set for yourself this year? Does that make sense? You guys with me? So it's not about just the doing, it's about who are we being? Are you with me? And then the last question is, what do you need to give up or abandon in order to achieve this, these goals? Let me clarify for you for a moment, what do you need to give up or abandon in order to achieve your goals this year? And I say, when I say abandon or give up, this could be in your thinking, how you think in actions or in actions and habits. That's where the resistance lies. It's this hidden force of virtual wall, if you will, of resistance that gets in the way. And the resistance is usually found in our thinking, our beliefs, our identity, our habits, our self-talk. And if you can start with some awareness there, you'll begin to understand and you begin to be aware of how that little monster of resistance can grow into become a huge brick wall that's unseen physically but is real mentally and emotionally. And so maybe take a little bit of time this weekend or whatever, 20 minutes, 30 minutes of quiet time and just start to evaluate with these questions and ask yourself, right? What are the three activities? Who do you need to become? What shift do you need to make in your thinking? And what do you need to give up or abandon in your ways of thinking or action or habits? How do you feel about realtors? Is that getting in your way? Do you have habits or actions that are consistently keeping you average? I do. But I want to break out of those. And in order for me to break out of those, I have to see myself as different. Something better, something different, not what I was or have been being. So that's kind of the quick focus session for this podcast. I'd love to know what you think. What are you working through? What are your goals this year? If you wouldn't mind, jump into our Facebook group, just go to Facebook and type in mortgage marketing radio. We've got a private group there just for podcast listeners. The minimum requirement is you have to be a mortgage professional in the mortgage related industry field. And we're going to be doing some really interesting cool things coming up in the Facebook group for podcast listeners in the coming week. So I'd love to see you in there and be part of what happens. But I'd love to know what you're working through and how I can better help you this year. And then lastly, of course, if you're looking for help in, you do want to grow your realtor relationships this year. You do want to quickly and easily capture more realtor referrals without ever making a cold call, never chasing, never begging and having realtors come to you and ask you send you referrals and deals. Well, then go check out this website, mortgagemarketing.pro, where we've set up an educational platform on demand for you with zoom ready, friendly classes to teach on all the subjects, realtors are hungry to learn recently just updated with new content for 2021. Go check it out and see if it's for you. We'd love to have you part of our community there as well. And also look forward on the next coming episode. We're going to be bringing back the interviews with notables and highly intelligent people way smarter than me, which makes this podcast all that much better. So I appreciate you listening and tuning in until the next one. Make it a great day. Bye for now. Hey, guys, what's up real quick? You've heard about the mortgagemarketing pro membership before and I just want to quickly remind you of that you're in a place in your business where you simply need more purchased loans. You need to fill your pipeline with purchase business. Let's just face it, agents are still a solid pillar of business and sources of purchase business for you. Well, good news. Our mortgage marketing pro membership helps loan officers like you close more loans without the hassle of chasing agents or cold calling done for you agent classes, expert training videos, a marketing automation platform that automates the entire process for you, everything you need to build your personal brand in your local market, attracting convert agents into referral partners. Plus done for you proven marketing materials and plug and play content to make promoting your class, getting agents, butts and seats, partnering with affiliates, real easy, but that's not all. 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