Price. Service. Technology. Efficiency.
I don’t care what order they are in. I don’t care which one is valued the most. I don’t care how many different synonyms you can come up with that fluff up the meaning of these words.
The reality is… EVERY mortgage lender touts these 4 words as their “differentiators” in some form or fashion. Look, even we did it. We took the words service, technology, efficiency… bundled it up and presented it as “The Effortless Mortgage”. The way in which you market yourself in this industry is so very important. It’s your way in the door, but the truth is it doesn’t actually mean anything if you can’t back it up. You can spend every waking hour marketing your company and yourself. You can have the coolest videos, sleekest colors, craftiest wording… all types of bells and whistles like the newest 37.5 day locks… whatever, but it doesn’t mean anything. I’d like to use a quote from Matthew McConaughey during the epic scene between he and Leo’s version of Jordan Belfort:
“It’s… Fugayzi, fugazi. It's a whazy. It's a woozie. It's fairy dust. It doesn't exist. It's never landed. It is no matter. It's not on the elemental chart. It’s not [expletive] real.”
The ONLY truth in this business is that you’re only as good as your last loan. It doesn’t matter if you’re a broker, a loan officer, a bank, a retail lender or a wholesale shop… you can close 200 loans perfectly, but if number 201 goes poorly you WILL be judged on that loan.
Now, the question is… how do we mitigate that judgement? How do we ensure that when number 201 falls off the rails, that broker, borrower, realtor… sticks with you and sends you deal number 202? I personally think two things can help you mitigate the judgement of your failures. I think it’s your people. I think you have to hire and train individuals into a culture built on transparency and service. Your employees must have sugar dripping from their lips at all time, because it’s the relationships they build both internally and externally that will allow for forgiveness. The second thing is consistency. You need to be consistent. Even if you’re consistently bad at something at least the expectation is set. Knowing your flaws up front and succumbing to them is better than pitching a skeleton sale and being exposed for something that you’re not.
At Princeton Mortgage we’re not perfect and we know it. We make mistakes. Our technology isn’t refined, but our people are. We’ll always go to bat for you. We’ll always pick up the phone and we’ll never back down from those uncomfortable conversations… no matter how hard they are. Our commitment to you is that we’re here to build a relationship and we know that our success is solely predicated on yours. We will only go as far as you take us.
Look there is no secret sauce. There is just us. A group of individuals that will break their backs for you… every step of the way.
So… our differentiator? It’s our people. And, unlike rate adjustments, tech updates and flashy marketing, we’ll never change.
Talk to you soon,
MJ
Photo by Amie Johnson on Unsplash
The opinions expressed in this post are the sole view of the writer and do not reflect the opinion of Princeton Mortgage Corporation.