January 25, 2005

• I Rock

  
  

  Okay - maybe it's more that my boss rocks.  Here's what I've figured out, find someone who knows more than you, someone you admire and respect, someone who doesn't mind if you hang around and ask a million questions, and then dedicate yourself to learning what that person knows. 

  
  

  My boss at Service Mortgage is a man to admire.  And he has in spades qualities that I lack.  He grew up in Chicago where his family owns a huge advertising agency.  He's worked on national campaigns for companies that are household names.  And he's very very good at it.  I'm not very good at what he does automatically.  The man can market in his sleep, and in fact I'm sure he does. 

  
  

  I however, have nothing on my side except enthusiasm and the confidence that I can do a better job servicing my clients than anyone else in town.  Which can easily be misinterpreted as arrogance instead of my determination to work harder and go further than anyone else.  I think that my approach to marketing has been like trying to kill a fly with a sledge hammer.  I don't know when I'm giving too much information and when to quit.  In the end, the fly may be dead, but the destruction around pretty much ensures that I won't be killing any MORE flies that day. 

  
  

  I don't like debt.  In fact, my friend has pointed out that it's rather odd that I've wound up in mortgage lending because I am so set against debt.  But I recognize that no one just goes out and writes a check for a house.  We need mortgages and we need lenders who have OUR best interests in mind rather than being focused on their own bottom line.  That's where I come in.  I want to feel good about what I do and that means that I'll make the extra calls, shop to the obscure lender, and basically do things that are beyond what anyone else does to make dead certain that the loan program I put you in is the one that is best for you. 

  
  

  Now - how do I communicate that to people?  I don't know.  And even worse, the people that I primarily market to are not the people who will be getting the loan.  See, my customers are the real estate agents in town.  They are the ones who bring me business or not.  They are the ones I have to convince.  So I not only have to get you the best loan, I have to work quickly, efficiently and effectively for the real estate agent.  And I have to obey the number one rule of the game - don't waste their time. 

  
  

  But in order to begin that process, I have to do what seems like exactly the wrong thing.  I have to "waste" their time listening to my presentation.  Ay yi yi. 

  
  

  Dave is helping me get better, faster, and more effective.  And I'm a lucky person to be working with a boss who can guide me into understanding something that I've never known how to do. 

  
  

  Thank you for your prayers and white light yesterday.  Please keep it coming.  I am WAY out of my comfort zone and putting myself in a position where rejection is a daily vitamin.  But I have to do this if I'm to be successful, and I HAVE to be successful. 

  
  

  Hugs
  Terri

  • 9:41 am
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