By Todd Duncan

Why does this business have to be so confusing and stressful?  The answer is because most of us have made it that way. The best way to increase your income and your time off is to make your business simple-and keep it that way.

The Law of the Broom

In my book, “High Trust Selling,” I teach the Law of the Broom. This law says: “To build your business up, you must first clean it up.” That’s the secret. That’s how you make life easier. That’s how you make business more pleasant and successful. 

The problem is that most originators try to take their business up without first cleaning it up; and that creates tremendous stress, adds hours to the day, and ultimately produces dissatisfied customers. Why is this true for so many? 

Why in over 50,000 surveys over the last ten years have there been three resounding truths?

• Most originators want more consistency in their business.
• Most originators want to earn more money.
• Most originators want to work fewer hours.

The answer is simple. 

Most loan originators do not see mortgage origination as a business. 

In fact, the large majority still see this as a job. Let’s see if we can solve that by the time you get to the end of this article. 

Jim Rohn said, “Everything that is happening or not happening that you don’t want to or want to have happen is your fault.” At the foundation of all success is personal and professional responsibility. And, every loan originator desiring to be successful must stop thinking of this as a job and start thinking of this as a business. 

The Law of the Shareholder

In my book, I discuss another law called the Law of the Shareholder. 

This law states: “Successful sales professionals buy stock in themselves.” Here’s how the two laws come together to help you simplify your business. 

Most originators will not clean up their business unless they start to view it as their business. If you continue to view mortgage origination as a job, you may continue to work hard but you probably won’t work smart. But once you start to view mortgage origination as a business, and begin to “buy” stock in yourself, you will begin to take steps to clean your business up.

The following question can change your life: 

“What would your business look like if you could do the one or two things every day – for the majority of the day – that would have the greatest impact on your bottom line?”

Let’s look at this carefully. After all, if you are the business, then it stands to reason that most of what you do each day should add to the growth of the business. 

Specifically, what would your business look like if all you did every day was have face-to-face consultations with strategic partners and borrowers to understand and solve their needs? What would happen if you talked to six borrowers a day, converted 25 percent of them to loans, and did that for 40 weeks per year? It would be incredible. 

If 90 percent of those loans closed, and you averaged $1,000 commission per loan, you would be making an outstanding $1,080,000 per year. And that is what should happen.  If you buy into the Law of the Shareholder, then you must buy into the possibility that most of the things you do every day don’t produce economic value for your business.

Here’s the bottom line: If you are being reactive, you cannot be proactive.

Both the Law of the Broom and the Law of the Shareholder have to be understood thoroughly to reconcile this issue. The following tips will help merge these two laws together and give you sturdy handles to simplify your business.

To employ the Law of the Broom, you should:

• Track your inefficiencies.
• Determine where you are wasting time.
• Frequently review your referral sources.
• Be thorough and complete with the loans you take.
• Build proactive communication systems and email templates.

To employ the Law of the Shareholder, you should:

• Get trained to be an expert in the mortgage origination business.
• Invest a portion of your revenues in client retention after closing.
• Focus on the 1 to 2 activities that will make the largest impact on your business and spend your time on these.
• Don’t expect your company to share in your assistant expense, unless they offer.
• Hire a coach.

Ask yourself the 1 question and follow these steps to sweep out the chaff and replace it with choice actions that produce profit, and you’ll be on your way!

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