Five things to do before Christmas to increase your sales

Odysseus lashes himself to the mast to avoid the temptation of the sirens (Greek mythology)

Believe it or not, we’re in the final push to the end of the year. If you swallowed hard and said, ‘already’, you’re not alone.

The final weeks leading up to Christmas and the new year can often become the doldrums where sales get stuck in windless waters. It’s in these still waters that the sirens of apathy call to us ‘no one is working or wants to hear from you”. Like the legend of Odysseus, we must lash ourselves to the mast and plug our ears lest we are tempted to believe the sirens’ deception that resurfaces each holiday season.

With that in mind, here are five things reverse mortgage professionals can do in the 26 days before Christmas to build their business and lay a stronger foundation for 2023.

  1. Call each of your professional contacts. Secure a time you can meet in person before Christmas or in January. Your goal is to see how each of you can provide mutual value to your respective businesses. What are the concerns their clientele share that could be potentially met with a reverse mortgage? How can you drive qualified referrals to them?
  2. Call those who didn’t get a reverse mortgage but may need one now. Inflation hurts all Americans, especially those living on a fixed income. Call and/or email each homeowner. Ask how they’re faring with inflation and rising interest rates. Are they experiencing a cash flow crunch? Are they drawing more money from retirement savings to make ends meet and if so what impact with that have on their nest egg’s longevity? Do they feel their current home equity is safe when it’s not?
  3. Schedule a public workshop in 2023. Begin planning to host a public seminar in January or February. The research, marketing, and planning you begin today help ensure you can hit the ground running in the new year.
  4. Mail New Years’ cards. Consider sending happy New Year’s cards to homeowners who may have qualified but decided against getting a reverse mortgage. Include your new years’ greeting, and offer your time to discuss how some homeowners may fight back against the increased cost of living by using their home’s value. Be creative but keep the message short and on point.
  5. Plan ahead. Take advantage of the slower holiday pace to strategize, define, and create your 2023 business plan. How many outbound sales calls will you make each week or day? What tools will you use to better prospect, nurture, and close more reverse mortgage loans? What relationships will you strengthen in the new year, and which will you let go of the wayside?

There are only 18 working days until Christmas that we can maximize to increase our odds of success in today’s challenging mortgage market.

 

15 Epigrams to live by

Epigrams- they were engraved on statues, the walls of homes in Pompei, and even on the rock of the Temple of Apollo. Think of them as the ancient predecessor of today’s memes. An epigram is a pithy saying often packed with wisdom or humor – it’s often written in verse. Just as many on social media find memes irresistible, epigrams still carry weight in the twenty-first century. As the famous poet and playwright Oscar Wilde puts it, “I can resist everything but temptation”. So let’s indulge our appetite for some famous, insightful, and irreverent epigrams.

  1. “An economist’s guess is liable to be as good as anybody else’s” – Will Rogers
  2. “The best revenge is not to be like that.” -Marcus Aurelius
  3. “Character is fate.”- Heraclitus
  4. “Action expresses priorities.” -Mohandas Gandhi
  5. “If you can’t be a good example, you’ll just have to be a horrible warning” – Catherine the Great
  6. “This is not your responsibility, but it is your problem.” – Cheryl Strayed
  7. “You never know who’s swimming naked until the tide goes out.” – Warren Buffett
  8. “Live as if you were living a second time, and as though you had acted wrongly the first time.” – Viktor Frankl
  9. “Justice delayed is justice denied” – Unknown
  10. “Expectation is the root of all heartache.” – William Shakespeare
  11. “Be curious, not judgmental.” – Walt Whitman
  12. “Education isn’t something you can finish.” – Isaac Asimov
  13. “We are all broken- that’s how the light gets in.” – Ernest Hemingway
  14. “You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” – Margaret Thatcher
  15. “And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good.” -John Steinbeck