Happy Sunday Everyone:
This market is a challenging one. Have we heard that before? New news? Tired of hearing about it? There are aspects of this market that are not fun but there is also massive opportunity for growth. For many of us, the last couple of years have been crazy. My personal production tripled. I was just that good. To triple my business in a 2 year period of time is nothing short of massive kudos to me for being that good at my job. Had nothing to do with market, conditions…just me being amazing. So clearly-I’m joking. This market feels like a hangover. The refinance boom was the equivalent of eating our young. We’re all left looking at each other with a “what now” look in our faces. It’s almost funny….almost.
I’ve been having bigger conversations with some of my great business partners. We’re strategizing on data/content/messaging. Taking facts about numbers, comparisons to year over year, quarter over quarter, rate comparisons vs. new loan amounts, impact of values dropping and what that looks like in a payment. Understanding the needs of our clients, the questions that need to be asked to identify their “why” for buying now. I was having a conversation last week with one of my favorite partners about numbers she’d like to see, and in what format, then she jokingly said “Hunter-Help me, help you, help me”. As soon as she said it, I thought, GENIUS…”help me, help you, help me”? What does this mean? It means for me to think bigger, to ask better questions to provide more intel, to help her provide content to her clients, to help her be better. She was asking me to keep asking questions that drill down into details that help her uncover numbers and info to help her clients make decisions based on more data than more emotions. Our team is having more fun working to be better. Dialing in our P & L, dialing in our new CRM, simplifying our messaging for our clients, easy to use calculators for our clients (2/1 buy down costs etc…). There will be 2 camps in six months from now, those that got better and those that wish they had. I fully recognize what got me the last 2 years of business is not going to get me the next 2 years of business (i know “got” isn’t a real word but I like it, MOM). Right now requires being better. This market requires all of us to be better. My favorite quote of the year is from Dave Savage, saying “Hunter, lenders have never been this out of shape”, and I agree. Question is what are we all doing to get back in shape. Me having bigger conversations w/ business partners who are pros and plan to be here two years out and beyond, holding me accountable to execute on being better, is helping me get back in shape.
I don’t take it as a criticism, I take it as a wakeup call “help me, help you, help me” is my business partner saying “be better for me”.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!