American icon Dick Clark died recently at the age of 82. He is best known for hosting the television show “American Bandstand” as far back as the 1950s to three decades at the helm of “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” all the way up to this past Dec. 31.
But what many people don’t know is that Clark also created and hosted several TV game shows and owned a chain of restaurants. He produced record albums, radio broadcasts, award shows, made for TV movies and managed a powerful media empire during his 56 years in the entertainment business, winning nine Emmy Awards along the way. Dick Clark, ever positive and eternally smiling, survived and surpassed his counterparts for one defining reason: He stayed relevant.
The mortgage industry has its share of “Dick Clarks” it can be proud of. These men and women are continually reinventing themselves and staying on top of the game year after year. For example:
• An originator I know in North Carolina just implemented video-based email messaging into his contact management system. He records short, 60-second loan status updates using his laptop and emails them to his borrowers. They get a fast, fun “talking head” update of their loan and the chance to actually see their loan originator’s enthusiasm for his business. He says the feedback has been far more positive than he ever expected.
• An originator I met in Cincinnati just got certified by the State of Ohio to teach continuing education courses for real estate agents through their local Board of Realtors. She plans to deliver from 10 to 20 financing classes each year, exposing herself and her expertise to hundreds of new agents and opening doors to potential new referral relationships. To her surprise, not a single other loan originator in her market is doing this.
• An originator I am now coaching in Arizona started mailing audio CDs to people living in apartments. The 20-minute CD (she recorded this at a local studio for $75) talks about the right steps to take in buying and financing a home. She highlights first-time buyer loan programs and how to contact her for a free prequalification phone consultation. After she mailed her first wave of 25 CDs just last month, she scheduled five prequal meetings and already has three loans in process.
There is nothing all that extraordinary about any of these examples; anyone could do them if he or she wanted to. What makes them noteworthy is that all of these loan originators have been in the mortgage business for more than 20 years and are all over 40 years of age. They are simply emulating what Dick Clark was successful at doing over his long and successful career: They are staying relevant.
I’ve been managing, coaching and training mortgage loan originators for about 20 years. It seems that when most young folks start in the business, they are “gung ho” and enthusiastically open to new ideas and willing to try just about anything.
After about five to seven years, their passion peaks and they start coasting. Like so many other originators before them, they build their business to a certain level of success, and they keep going but are done growing. Maybe it’s complacency. Maybe they want to stay within their comfort zones.
Or maybe as one mortgage manager put it to me just the other day: “A lot of my old dogs here aren’t interested in doing any new tricks. They say they want to make more money, and some very much need to. But it seems at this stage of their lives and careers they just want to sit back and rest, hoping the business keeps coming in.”
Could his observations apply to you? Answer these three short questions:
1. What are you doing significantly different today than you were doing two years ago?
2. What are you implementing in your business right now that you’ve never tried before?
3. What do you see as the next major “evolution” for your loan origination practice?
You may be a good loan originator, and you may be experienced and knowledgeable as well. But are you relevant? Do you possess the contemporary skills, knowledge, attitudes and approaches to keep you on top of your game today, tomorrow and up until the day you retire?
We are coming to the halfway point of 2012—a good time to look back at what you have accomplished so far this year and an equally good time to look forward into the future. How could you become more relevant? What systems, procedures, new concepts and fresh ideas would help you move your year and your career onward?
We know that this industry experiences about a 25% to 30% turnover every year. Some folks retire, others move on and some can’t quite make it work. But we lose many loan originators—mostly experienced ones—for the simple fact that they become obsolete. The business moves past them, and they are left behind.
Aside from the obvious benefits of keeping yourself relevant (maintaining strong referral relationships, continually streamlining your loan origination process, appearing to clients that you are informed, etc.) there is a by-product of being pertinent, and that by-product is fun.
It’s fun to implement new ideas. It’s fun to test concepts and experiment with your business. It is fun to watch a new way of doing something take hold and pay big dividends. Staying relevant means returning back to the time you started in this business with all the wide-eyed optimism of someone eager and excited about success.
Some seasoned veterans—like those I mentioned earlier—who have been writing loans for 20 years or more are still making great money, and they are still having a lot of fun along the way. Why? Because like our dear friend Dick Clark, they are staying relevant.
