Being a loan originator can be tough. Staying on top of industry compliance and rules, learning new programs and keeping up to date on investor and loan guidelines are time consuming activities. Then there is the part of your business where you have to find new business. Marketing, relationships, networking; wash, rinse and repeat.If you don't take care of this then you don’t get a paycheck. Puts a little pressure on, doesn't it?
Managing your marketing and staying focused on these important tasks should be 50% of your day. The other 50% is file management and
There are a variety of ways to accomplish accountability and keep your business growing. Here are a few suggestions:
1) Yourself. This is only going to work if you are pretty rigid in your time management and if you create systems to hold yourself accountable. Set specific tasks that you are required to accomplish daily, weekly and monthly. For example: 10 phone calls a day, two lunches a week and two networking events each month. Create a system to track these tasks. Here is what one loan officer uses:
2) Team member. This could be your processor or another loan officer in your company. Meet often to discuss goals and tasks. If doing this with your processor, set goals together for both of you. Working to get loans completed quicker with less conditions and stress will help everyone on your team. If working with another loan officer then consider throwing in a book club as well where you discuss a few chapters from a business building book. Here are a few suggestions: "Success Principles"; "The Ultimate Marketing Machine"; "The Slight Edge"; and any of Jeffrey Gitomer's books.
3) Non-competing loan officer. You can create a mastermind group. I have done this in a few formats over the years and found it to be very helpful. You can do it with just on other loan officer or several. This can be loan officers in other states that work for your company or you can browse around Facebook to find someone that might be similar minded. The trick is to find other loan officers that are dedicated to their business and excited to work together with you.
4) Manager. Your manager wants you to succeed and is hopefully available to help with accountability. This doesn't need to take a lot of time, but does need to be a set appointment that you both take very seriously. Decide on what tasks, how often and your estimated results and then meet regularly to track your progress.
5) Coach. The above options are free. Free is good, but sometimes won't produce the results you are looking for. An experienced coach can help you reach goals you are unable to do on your own. A good coach pushes you to try new things and stay consistent in your marketing and networking activities. The problem I see after eight years of coaching is that many think just having a coach is the answer to higher production.
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen without the loan officer being willing to work on tasks daily, weekly and monthly, even when they don't see immediate results. A personal coach is on your team, but it is still a team and requires you to put in much effort before seeing return on investment.
How often should you meet with an accountability partner or coach? I've experimented with weekly, twice monthly and monthly and have found the twice monthly seems to work best for one on one coaching. With a recent mastermind group I was involved with, we met monthly and one person was responsible for the meeting and agenda.
2015 is coming quickly and now is the best time to set up your accountability to help you reach your goals and excel. Working with others that have your best interest at heart is the best way to grow your business.
