5 Tips for Annual Review & 2016 Planning

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A Once a Year Opportunity

The holidays being at the end of the calendar year give each of us the unique and limited opportunity for both retrospective insight and strategic planning. The question is will you take time this month to lay the foundation for the coming year? Welcome to Friday’s Food for Thought brought to you by Reverse Focus.reverse mortgage news

Unfortunately none of us have a Delorean time machine that allows us to go back in time to fix the world’s woes and ensure our future success. What we do have though is the opportunity to reflect on the past year and apply the lessons learned to the coming year.

Here are just a few ideas to help you plan for success in 2016.

1. Review your calendar. If you kept a good record of your time go back and review just where you spent your time in 2015. Look for meetings that yielded business referrals, conferences attended, marketing efforts and more. Write down what activities you wish to continue, enhance or discard in 2016. You may be surprised just how you actually spent your time.

2. Track your 2015 sales. Go back and look at your sales metrics by month. For example, the number of…

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Tips for a Productive Holiday Season

5 Tips for a Productive Holiday: Friday’s Food for Thought from Reverse Focus on Vimeo.

5 Tips to Avoid the Holidays Sales Slump

The holidays are upon us. Christmas parties, company get-togethers and other events fill our calendar. Pastries, rich foods, and irregular schedules are all part of the American ritual of celebrating the holiday season. As a result, our productivity can slow to the pace of thick eggnog being poured into our favorite reindeer glass.

 

Let me say I am all for enjoying the holiday season. What should be avoided however is squandering this once-a-year opportunity for greater professional growth. Here are a few tips for each of us to put into practice in the coming month.

1. Don’t buy the lie. As salespeople, we often convince ourselves that our prospects don’t want to hear from us during the holiday. Sure, that’s the case on Christmas eve, Christmas day, or New Years’ but not necessarily the case for the entire season. For many of your potential customers, the holidays are a stark reminder that their financial situation is not all they wish it was. During this time at least engage your prospects, send out a quote or schedule a time to meet during or shortly after the holiday season. Don’t let your sales pipeline collapse unnecessarily.

2. Put a bow on organization. Springtime is often when we clean out the garage and organize our homes. The winter holiday season is your opportunity to ‘wrap up’ your…


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Are You in a Rut?

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7 Keys to escape a rut


The nature of life is repetition, patterns and routine; all which can easily lead us to personal or professional ruts. What are the symptoms? Feeling stuck, helpless and constantly frustrated. The question is how do we get out?

Here are a few ways to escape your own personal rut:

1. Accept the reality. Embrace the fact that you are in fact stuck. Helplessness leads us to often say “what might have done?” Rather than fixating on regret we can ask a more important question, “when x happens again I will do Y”. This leads us to acceptance of what has happened and resolve to act differently in the future.

2. Look for negative comfort zones. It may sound strange but for some the ‘norm‘ is unhealthy…

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Thankful: Why We Are & You Should Be Too

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reverse mortgage newsGratitude: Why it is important and what it unlocks in our lives

Thank you for your continued support of Reverse Focus and HECMWorld. Reverse Focus was created by originators for HECM originators and lenders. That has been and will continue to be our mission. Please accept our wishes for a safe and happy holiday.

*There is no transcript of this week’s episode

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Why Should They Trust You?

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The Principle of Social Contracts

reverse mortgage newsTrust. It is the foundation upon which all sales must be built upon. Consider for a moment the level of trust required for the homeowner to get a HECM loan. In most instances they have just met you, yet ultimately they sign several pieces of paper in the promise that their existing mortgage will be paid off or that they will have access to a considerable sum of money. No widget or tangible product on the shelf to take to the register, just an intangible product, concept or benefit.

In the art of sales we can fall into the trap of second-guessing why people should trust anyone, or more precisely us. Perhaps this is not a struggle yet we should revisit the concept of trust as it will strengthen our confidence to effectively approach, communicate and ultimately close more loans. At the core of trust in today’s society is the concept of what I call a social contract…

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Stopping the Insanity

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Mental Overload & How to Stop the Insanity

Mental sludge. It’s the stuff that gums up our though process leading to a mental vapor lock or worse, the paralysis of being overwhelmed. Quite honestly this is something that I have strove to master for years and even though I’ve won several battles I have realized it’s an ongoing war.

Here are a few tips I have put to use in recent years that have freed up my mental capacity for greater efficiency, productivity and happiness.

1. Restrict decision making: Have your ever come home to say “I don’t want to have to make another decision today”? Perhaps you’re on to something. Every small decision we have to make in our daily routine taps our mental energy reserves needed for major decisions. Some examples are: what should I wear? What am I having for dinner? Am I working out enough? Planning, structure and routine can eliminate these unnecessary daily quandaries…

 

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5 Tips to Prepare for a Conference

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Preparation is Key to Maximizing Your Conference Experience

Conferences or annual meetings. Most of us enjoy the opportunity to break away from the typical workweek grind, expand our horizons, learn and network with other like professionals. The question is are you prepared to maximize the value you take away? A good question as many of you will be attending NRMLA’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco November 16th – 18th.

Here are 5 tips prepare:

1. Tie up loose ends. You may have to work harder the week prior to your conference. Get a handle on unfinished projects, call borrowers with pending applications and clear as many conditions on your loan pipeline as possible. That last thing you want is to be distracted when you finally arrive.

2. Email autoresponder. Use your email’s vacation autoresponder during your absence. Let those emailing you know when you will be out of town and the response times they should anticipate.

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4 Traits of Successful People

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Practical Lessons to be Learned

Success. Webster’s Dictionary defines success as having the correct or desired outcome. The trick is our desired outcome is highly subjective and personal; yet in the business of originating reverse mortgages we do have some general benchmarks by which we can measure it.s-jobs-next

In observing and working with highly-successful individuals, I have observed several key traits that often are overlooked. Here are just a few for each of us to consider as we sharpen our minds, attitudes, and daily activities.

1. Successful individuals focus on improved performance. Quality over quantity. A diligent employee or salesperson is admired in the short term but what quality do managers and business owners look for in the long run? Performance.

2. Embracing uncertainty. If you primarily seek stability and predictably you have …

3. Lesson learned. Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 1,000 ways that won’t work.” Failure is not a verdict of our value but rather a teacher…

4. Trailblazing. Opportunities are rarely handed to us. Successful individuals understand this and create their own opportunities…

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Leveraging Social Media for Free Publicity

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reverse mortgage newsLike him or not Donald Trump has mastered the art of free publicity. In the past six months the powerful connection between social media and local news outlets sprang to mind as I advocated for safer driving, cyclist safety and abuse of power by local government. What began as a simple Facebook post expanded into front page coverage and television interviews. The squeaky wheel gets the oil and most media outlets are now culling through local social media pages for possible stories.


As mortgage professionals our interactions on social media are either prohibited or heavily monitored and restricted. While you may not be able to setup your own reverse mortgage page you can leverage social media which can lead to free local media coverage expanding your influence as a HECM expert and solution provider.

1. Find local Facebook pages that you can leverage. Some examples would be your local newspaper, local television stations, radio and opinion pages. Like or join these pages so you can post your thoughts in the future.

2. Engage before posting. Read comments from group members and like, comment and respond. Always stay professional yet show a warm and personable side. After you have been active on the page fo

 

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Message Sent Not Received?

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We apologize for the audio issues. Apple’s latest software isn’t rendering our videos so wonderfully.

If you are married or are in a relationship you well know that the message sent isn’t always the one received. When the wires get crossed misscommunication can lead to unnecessary conflict, strained relationships and lost sales.

Each of us has an internal voice which we understand perfectly. We make a statement and we know precisely what it means, implies and the tone which we intended to deliver it. Unfortunately good communication requires both the sender and receiver to exercise care in delivering the message and how we interpret the implications. As salespeople both responsibilities rest solely on our shoulders.

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Initial engagement

Before you say word one about the reverse mortgage ask this open-ended question, “What made you inquire today about the reverse mortgage?” Stop and listen. The trick is not to pull the information from them but to let them push it out to you. Interject empathetic comments like “I see”, or “I understand” throughout to let them know you are engaged. Remember, they reached out to you so don’t miss this most important step.

Active listening (fact-finding)

Initial fact-finding doesn’t have to be a formal process of moving through a checklist. You will gather a wealth of facts by simply…

 

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