Happy Sunday Everyone:
Where’s waldo is in San Diego dropping off Thomas at college. Empty nesting is right around the corner. I feel like I’m 30 (kind of), to be at this stage of life is a bit surreal. Thought I’d share for no particular reason.
We are six months into 2024. Our division is doing a review of the first half of the year and goal planning for the 2nd half this coming Thursday. We’re providing all our team members exact numbers around their closings, their commissions, their credit pulls, their pre-approvals, etc…Goal here is to help people understand what their activity has looked like the first 6 months of the year. As the saying goes, numbers don’t lie. Dealing with facts creates clarity on the level of accountability we want to hold ourselves to. It’s like me with my weight. I can have all excuses I want but when step on the scale, the number is reflective of the facts, nothing else.
I find the idea of goal planning interesting. For most of us in sales, the simplest form is income based. I need to know my avg. commission per loan, my desired income, how many loans I need to close to hit that, what my conversion ratios are, which helps identify how many leads I need etc…It’s a formula. This part is simple, then the next day comes, and you need to figure out how you’re actually going to make it happen. The answer to this is more of a book than a Sunday Thoughts but one thing that crossed my mind on a run last week is “what’s my theme for the next six months?”. Theme’s help. I’m a big fan of purpose vs. process. Process is in knowing numbers and what it takes, purpose is the fuel and daily reminder as to why you’re getting it done. Answer to myself “be helpful”. One of my favorite quotes was Peter Drucker giving advice to Jim Collins, he said “stop focusing on being important and focus on being useful”. I’m a fan of “useful” but I’m going to replace it with “helpful” for the next six months.
Definition of help: To give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist:
So, my thought is I have my numerical goals. How many leads, create how many apps, create how many pre-approvals, create how many locks, create how many closed loans, create how much income. When I flip that into asking myself daily how do I “help” my business partners, my clients, and other loan officers execute on their goals based on the definition of help, the purpose and the process become explosive together. Think about what “helping” others means. It means you have to look inward at yourself, at your business, at your execution, at your communication, and determine if you’re truly helpful. I believe this thought process will get you a lot closer to where you want to be vs. where you currently are.
Have a great rest of your Sunday and wish me luck saying goodbye to Thomas in 5 hours.