Align Yourself With Quality

Think about how dependent you are on your strategic referral partners. Your loan volume, your job, and your livelihood are determined by your real estate agents, brokers, builders, CPAs, financial planners, attorneys, and other customer relationships. If you plan to earn $100,000 this year and 75% of your business flows from these partnerships, you are making a $75,000 investment in these relationships!

In this situation, a powerful question to ask yourself is: "Can my partners take me where I want to go?" It is important that you have the right strategic partners. If you don't, you'll never reach the production and income goals you want to achieve.

Start by identifying the difference between the "right" type of partner and the "wrong" type of partner. For example:

"WRONG" PARTNER

• Unprofessional
• Part-time
• Unethical
• High maintenance
• Too demanding
• Poor quality referrals

Once you develop that list, ask yourself if any of your current strategic partners fit any of your descriptions of the "wrong" type of partner. If so, FIRE THEM! It is impossible to run a high quality, successful mortgage business with the wrong partners.

Next, develop a list of what you would consider to be the "right" type of partner.
For example:

"RIGHT" PARTNER

• Productive
• Professional
• Experienced
• High energy
• Motivated
• Goal oriented
• Respectful
• High quality referrals

Set your sights on filling any vacant slots on your strategic partner roster with the right type of client. They are out there! They may be a little harder to find or more intimidating to approach than the low-producers, but you know they are out there!

So many good mortgage sales professionals are going to have a bad year this year because they are afraid to jettison the wrong clients and replace them with the right ones. Don't be afraid to make positive changes to your business because it is YOUR business! Only YOU can decide who you want to work with. Working with the right clients means getting the right results.

About the Author

Doug Smith is President of Douglas Smith & Associates and a 21-year mortgage industry professional.  Doug is a nationally-recognized speaker, author and sales trainer.  For more information, please visit www.DougSmithOnline.com.