Happy Sunday Everyone:
Crazy to think the first half of 2025 is already in the books!
Our team had our regional monthly call on Thursday. We’re trying something new which is having a quarterly theme for our division. This call was the perfect opportunity to introduce the concept. 16 of us went around the horn and talked about 1 single thing that was going to be the primary focus for q3 for each of us. It’s not one thing for all of us; it’s one thing for each one of us. This might be too simple of a concept for some to grasp. One of those ideas where you might say you learned this when you were in sales 101, or management 101, or whatever. My only question to anyone reading this, is how many people have 1 thing they’re intentionally focusing on in q3 because its relevant to their business?
When we have the discussion out loud with our teams, we have the opportunity to hear what is on everyone’s mind. One of the regionals said he had changed his 3X because of what the other 3 regionals before him said i.e. everyone is sharing very relevant intel about our collective business and their specific role inside of it. This exercise forces us to consider what is important right now. It not to suggest everything else falls at the wayside, it simply means there is one thing you’re focusing on day in and day out for the quarter. We then captured them in writing and sent them out to the whole group with what everyone’s 1 thing was. I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to drive everyone nuts and send it out by email everyday as a reminder.
I wear two different hats. I have my own personal production as a loan officer and team lead, and I help lead our division with these other folks. Being in a sales meeting last week, a topic of discussion was how laxed buyers are right now. I’m probably stating the obvious when I say the market has shifted a bit. I’d have to agree that a lot of buyers seem to be on the fence. It’s not a time to be transactional, it’s a time to be relational. My 1 thing as an LO this quarter is to speak to every buyer I can before making an offer about how excited they are about the home they’re writing on vs. providing a pre-approval letter w/ numbers from an email requested by the Realtor or buyer. If I ask them how excited they are and they say 7, and the house has been sitting, maybe we work to negotiate a 3/2/1 buy down with the seller. Maybe that gets them to a 9. If they’re a 10 out of the gates and the house has a lot of interest, maybe we review going 50K over with the understanding that the extra 350/month is going to have no relevance vs. them getting the home they’re excited about. Again-basic stuff, but I have a daily mindset right now of how many buyers am I talking to about the specific property they’re writing on. Did I see the house? Am I excited for them? Are we strategizing as a team? OR am I transactional numbers person sending a letter? It matters. So, every weekday, that’s my highest priority as an LO.
On the divisional side, all we want to talk about daily as a leadership team is a solution focused mindset. I believe our division is doing better today than at any point in the last couple of years, but a healthy paranoia of never taking our foot off the gas of what our team members need is important. This can only be done through understanding what our people need daily and creating solutions for them. Make no assumptions. This is a message that should never leave our thought process but talking about it every day for 90 days will ensure a “solution focused mindset” is intentionally integrated into our language on a going forward basis.
I’m excited to have something to focus on for 90 days at a time. Keeps it fresh and also long enough to see the impact and create a habit that will last well into the future.
Might you consider your 1 thing?