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Oct 08 2010

Need a change? You don’t have to look very far to begin …

Posted by Joel Pate in Auto Loans, Banks, Business, credit cards, Credit Repair, Leads, Management, Mortgage Loans, Sales, Uncategorized. Tagged: ,

To make the changes you need, you can begin by looking in the mirror. The good news is that you're in control of making many of the changes you need.

Everyone always asks, “When will this change?”

But it is the WRONG QUESTION to ask.  The correct question is: “When will I change?”

The good news:  You’re in control.

To me, this is very good news. At least it’s up to me and I won’t be waiting around for somebody else to find the time to help me.  I can do it myself.  Of course, we are talking about issues like money, credit, lifestyle, people, etc. Some things you just have to accept and the acceptance of them will determine how you deal with them so then we are right back on topic. You can change so many things that at this moment are causing you a great deal of difficulty so there is no reason not to take action.

Several years ago, when I was going through my first financial crisis, my first unofficial mentor gave me some advice that I would like to share with you now.  Over the years this advice has served me well.  His words never left me and I’d encourage you to remember them too: “You are earning exactly what you are worth. If you want to earn more, become worth more.”

For example, if you are looking at the market and saying to yourself, “I should be able to close more loans because…” and you don’t have a sound reason then you need to digger deeper and ask yourself several tough questions (more about that in a moment). First, let me give you a couple examples of what I mean by a sound reason:

  • I have realistic plans to add to the number of referral partners that send me business; or
  • I am going to increase my marketing efforts that have already proven to work.

If you can’t give reasons like those then you need to dig deeper and ask yourself questions like:

  1. How many contacts with new referral partners will I make this week?
  2. On what day and at what specific time of the day will I make these contacts?
  3. What am I going to say?
  4. How will I follow up?
  5. What is my USP (Unique Selling Proposition)?

And then you actually execute on the actions!!!!

Your past can dictate your future

To have more, to accomplish more, to keep more, you must accept the fact that you have exactly what you have because and only because of your past thoughts (the way you chose to see the world with you in it). Your  past actions are a direct result of those thoughts. Now, I am only speaking of real and actual sustained actions that have sufficient energy and not those things that most people call actions.

An example:  When you work out, if your shirt is not very wet with your sweat you have not worked out with sufficient effort to have made a difference.  If your muscles do not hurt from time to time, you have not placed sufficient demand upon them to cause improvement.  Instead, you have simply gone through a process that resulted in self deception.

We all must accept the fact that we are only accomplishing up to and not beyond the level of our own worth. To have more, you must become worth more. Worth consists of a number of things not the least of which is…

  • Effort
  • Energy
  • Knowledge
  • Time

So often when problems are “all around us” it is hard to define the truth. The truth is that you are going through a problem and YOU will get through it.  But that’s not the whole story. The rest is that you  have to change yourself, your actions, your thoughts, and the amount of energy you apply, to break free of the problem.

Are crises self-inflicted? Decide for yourself…

From my experience, I find that unwillingness to change is not only what prolongs a crisis but most often  what caused the crisis. Over the years, I can recall a number of crises that were self inflicted. Nearly every one of them was caused by my unwillingness to change, accept the truth, and do something about it.  How about you?

What change must I make?  That is the question.

The lesson:

-          Embrace change before you are forced to

-          Unwillingness to change can causes a crisis

-          A crisis causes a loss of control

Admitting and embracing this truth will diminish the number of crises and will help you stay in control.

It really is a good thing that you have the power to change your circumstances and that you do not have to rely on anyone else.

To your success,

Joel

Joel S. Pate, Founder & Chairman

Ox Publishing

Joel Pate is an entrepreneur and founder of multiple successful companies in the mortgage, real estate, and marketing space.  For more information on Joel, contact him joel@oxpublishing.com

Sep 29 2010

Here you go … my ultimate referral system

Posted by Joel Pate in Auto Loans, Banks, Business, credit cards, Credit Repair, Leads, Management, Mortgage Loans, Sales. Tagged: , , ,

To help you finish strong for the month and to increase business as much as possible during the coming months, I’m doing something a bit different. I’ve included a link to a very informative webinar hosted by my friend Mike Citron earlier this month.

During the call, Mike and I go into a great amount of detail on the techniques used, and lessons learned, when I built from scratch a referral network of over 5,000 loan originators that sent my company over 68,000 home buyers in eight years.

This massive success can be replicated by you in this market place and I want to show you how.

I’ve NEVER shared some of this advice before.

Also, Mike and I discussed during the first part of the call the importance of using personality profiles in the hiring and management process. This 30 minute teaching will provide you with the basic insight needed to improve your hiring and management process today.  Not knowing these basic techniques have cost me millions of dollars over the past twenty six years in business. Even if you are not ready to hire someone right away, you need to listen to this recording today.

Listen as Mike and I discuss how to:

  1. Immediately increase your personal power with others
  2. Improve your relationship with your wife/husband, children, employees and referrals sources
  3. Make more money by hiring the right person for the right job

Save this link for future reference. Every time you go through the hiring process, you should listen to this valuable recording.

Click Here to get download this webinar. And don’t forget, the training on recruiting and maintaining referral partners is on the second half of the recording.

If you have any questions about the systems discussed on the call, please email me. I will respond to you as quickly as possible.

Click Here to download it now.

To your success,

Joel

Joel S. Pate, President

Ox Publishing

Sep 22 2010

What you don’t know can be a killer

Posted by Joel Pate in Auto Loans, Banks, Business, credit cards, Credit Repair, Leads, Management, Mortgage Loans, Sales, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , ,

As a result of my ignorance my dog Buddie almost died last month.

He had been eating the stalk of a palm plant on the back porch after it died from the winter freeze.

I had no idea that some plants, especially palms, have toxins that will harm a dog’s liver and other organs. And I should add Buddie was no help either – apparently he never read the studies either showing that palm plants can be lethal to dogs.

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For several hours afterwards, our entire family was very saddened by what appeared to be the bad news. Fortunately, old Bud has attention deficit disorder and never ate enough of the stalk to kill him. I guess ADD runs in the family because I certainly have it too.

Here’s my point: I really care about Buddie and plan to read a book on 101 things dog owners should know so they don’t kill their best friends.

What are you going to read and study? How are you training your mind to move your career, relationships, business, marketing, along?

Why don’t we discipline ourselves to learn all that we need to know?

The main reason is that no one ever calls you up and asks you, “Did you develop a new marketing plan today?” No. Instead the phone rings with “Hey, you’ve got to get some more business or we’re going to go broke.”

So, in a fit of reaction, you run out to try to find new business the same way you have been doing, which truth be told hasn’t been working very well and caused the problem to begin with.

My advice: Make it your purpose to implement one change with one new book, audio series or seminar at a time.

A lot of information that has been very beneficial over the years is probably in your inbox right now. Take a few minutes to read those things you said you would look at later – and delete those things that aren’t useful. (Hopefully, this is one of those emails you keep!)

Consider this your jolt of the day to go do something to help yourself for a change.

To your success,

Joel

Joel Pate is an entrepreneur and founder of multiple successful companies in the mortgage, real estate, and marketing space. For more information on Joel, contact him joel@oxpublishing.com. If you want to learn how Joel created over 5,000 referral sources in eight years, click here: http://www.leadmachinesecrets.com/

Sep 15 2010

My best tip for setting goals – try it

Posted by Joel Pate in Auto Loans, Banks, Business, credit cards, Credit Repair, Leads, Management, Mortgage Loans, Sales, Uncategorized. Tagged: , ,

Is goal setting like making a wish? It doesn't have to be. Read on to find out how to set realistic goals and actually achieve them.

I recently overheard a business associate make the statement:  “Goals suck!”

Why, I had to ask, do goals suck?

My visibly upset friend said, “I missed my numbers again. I didn’t bring in or close as much business as I had planned. My goals never come true,” he said. After a few minutes of investigating the method that he utilized to establish these important and necessary fundamentals of his business, I said to him, “You mean your wishes suck?”

Real goals do not demand luck or hope. Nor, can it be said that they “come true.” By the way, this same associate had stated previously that he had set a goal to make $1 million in the next twelve months. Understanding the size of his current business opportunity I asked, “How long have you had that particular goal?”

His answer: “I make it every year.”

This was not a goal but merely a wish. A wish has no energy; where as a real goal contains the energy that you will need to accomplish it. Instead of providing energy a wish diminishes your energy and devours opportunity. Why? It causes you to lose tangible focus and serves to demoralize you when the “wish” does not come true.

So, how should you set goals?

Real goals start with you.

Real goals ask:

  • “Do I have the knowledge and ability necessary to accomplish this plan?
  • Have I identified the resources needed?
  • Are my liabilities too great to accomplish this plan or do I need to adjust?
  • Do I understand the Process of Improvement?”

This assessment must be honest. The fact is that you currently have the knowledge, assets and ability to accomplish A goal but you may not possess the ability YET to accomplish THE goal you prefer. If not, this little test will help you assess your needs.

Then ask the same questions regarding the business opportunity. Consider the weakness and strengths, assets and liabilities, employee depth, and don’t forget the market. Sometimes we establish goals that are unrealistic due to the market conditions. The market does matter.

Only when all of these components are honestly measured and categorized will you be ready to begin to understand enough about you and your business to even consider the establishment of a goal. Real Goals require considerable effort before you are ready to say; “By this date – I want X.”

For example:

In my business www.oxpublising.com we initially said, “The market is X big and by X month we should have X number of affiliates sending us X number of customers.” It didn’t work that way. Instead we found that setting goals for volume was the last thing we needed to do. Only after we began to focus more on ourselves, the organization and our customers did we see real improvement of volume.

Every business is the same. You too can focus on these basic questions:

  • “How can we improve customer satisfaction?
  • What systems do we need to improve affiliate training and product knowledge?
  • What do we need to know that we do not know right now about the best practices and systems to run our business?
  • What do we need to know about the market?”

Only when you understand these areas of your business will you be prepared to form an action plan.

“Yeah,” you may say, “but I want to set goals of X number of additional closings per month by X month now!!”

Okay, go ahead. Make a wish but the real progress for your business will only come after you have implemented the Process of Improvement in enough areas of your business to make a difference. Until then, you are only making a wish.

To your success,

Joel

Joel S. Pate, Founder & Chairman

Ox Publishing

Joel Pate is an entrepreneur and founder of multiple successful companies in the mortgage, real estate, and marketing space.  For more information on Joel, contact him joel@oxpublishing.com

If you want to learn how Joel created over 5000 referral sources in eight years, click here: http://www.leadmachinesecrets.com/

Sep 08 2010

The difference between success and failure comes down to just ONE thing

Posted by Joel Pate in Auto Loans, Banks, Business, credit cards, Credit Repair, Leads, Management, Mortgage Loans, Sales, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , ,

Just like a runner relies on endurance to finish the race, we too must persevere to continue to move forward if we want to be effective in our professional and personal lives.

For some time now I’ve been talking about ways to take action, but not just any action – EFFECTIVE action!

That is really what you must demand from yourself (most importantly!) and those around you.

But what often gets overlooked is something else I’ve found just as important that can mean the difference between success and failure.

I can sum it up in a single word: Endurance.

If you are working on a project/business that is worth working on, the only kind right, then you must to determine to endure and to adjust until you win. If your proclamations end with phrases such as:

  • “right?”
  • “at least I hope so”
  • “don’t you think?”
  • or “that’s what should happen”

Then you’re not “sold” on the idea yet and the reservation in your heart and mind is spilling out of your lips and tripping up your feet.

You must get the “reservations” out of the way before you invest time and energy. And I mean really get them out of the way. Don’t move past “Go!” until you are determined that what you are doing is really worth doing.

When you determine that what you are engaged in is worth your effort, and I mean really determine it, then it is up to you to maintain and protect that vision.

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Many times, the failure to commit is your spirit telling you that this project or business is not right for you. But, most of the time, the people that I see that never commit and never pay the price. As a result, they never really accomplish anything.

Since I believe that everyone can accomplish great things, it cannot be that some of our spirits stop us and continuously cause us to vacillate. NO. It is just our own fear that we have not overcome yet. It is the fear that we will not succeed; thus, we never start anything or instead we dream of accomplishment so great that “any human being would have failed at that!!! So it can’t be my fault.” Self Sabotage.

Let me give you an example: I am trying to help a young man build a business. The market is nearly unlimited. The offer is perfect. He has financial backing-mine. He has training-mine and my friends.

But that is not enough.

Success will only come to this venture if he determines, and I mean really determines to take enough accurate effective action with the fortitude necessary to overcome every hurdle that he encounters. You must jump over them, push them down, find another way but he cannot and you cannot quit.

In addition, he must determine to learn, become relevant, and remain relevant by continuing to learn, meet new people, and overcome objection.

It is hard to build a business or to go to the next level in your business. It is hard but it is possible and worthwhile.

But back to fear and to commitment. If he cannot-if you cannot-determine way down deep inside of you that this idea/project/business/marriage/relationship is worth having, fighting for, crying about, and spending just about all of your time on until it is DONE then you are not ready to start.

The question for you today: What are you doing that needs adjustment, improvement, more effort, more accuracy, and more endurance?

Find it. And change it and then commit to it or stop.

To your success,

Joel

Joel S. Pate, Found & Chairman

Ox Publishing

Sep 02 2010

Are you ready?

Posted by Joel Pate in Banks, Business, Credit Repair, Leads, Management, Mortgage Loans, Sales. Tagged: , ,

Believe me, spending time preparing and planning is never easy. But they’re critical.

As residents of the Gulf Coast we know this all too well. Why? Because this is hurricane season and we’re constantly making sure we have plenty of flashlights, batteries, water, plywood, duct tape, easy-to-fix foods and plenty of wine (no sense in not being comfortable)!

Seriously. Days of preparation are never wasted. Even in business, planning and preparation are two keys to success that you absolutely cannot discount.

But so often we are too busy to prepare. (Isn’t it funny how we suddenly find the time when we have to and a hurricane or is bearing down on us?) We are too busy to plan appropriately. Instead we do a lot of wishing. Right? If that’s you, today is the day to arrest yourself from that stratum of success and begin to get ready for the next level.

How do you do it? It’s not easy but it can be done. One of the things that I have used to break free from the bondage of “sameness” is to make a list of what I do, determine what can be eliminated and then immediately fill that time space with a preferred activity.

For example, instead of reading the paper while on that particular “throne like space in the morning,” I have purchased the book “The Daily Drucker”. Peter Drucker is one of the world’s most renowned management experts. Each day, I read a two-minute “devotional” taken from this writings. I am amazed at what I don’t know.

You too can change your life by substituting two or three minutes per day of profitable reading.

Another is to receive a Monday morning recap of last week’s mortgage and financial news. This news service gets you ready for the upcoming week.

  • Where are rates likely headed?
  • What happened in the bond market?
  • What are the unemployment numbers?

This basic yet extremely valuable free information can be used by you to enhance your conversations with your referral sources and besides that, you need to be aware of what’s going on in the market in words that are easy to understand. At least you’ll sound smarter!

If you would like to receive this valuable information on Monday morning from me at no cost, send me your e-mail to joel@oxpublishing.com

To your success,

Joel

Joel S. Pate, Chairman & CEO

Ox Publishing

Aug 26 2010

Nothing But Awful Economic News

Posted by Joel Pate in Auto Loans, Banks, Business, credit cards, Credit Repair, Leads, Management, Mortgage Loans, Sales. Tagged: , , ,

USA Today decided that this news was worthy of the headline in the Money Section the other day. My response?

Ignorant bastards!

I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t matter. The economic news aside, you must figure out a way to make a living for you, your family and your business.

You must keep your head up. You must look for the opportunity that does exist in your area and make yourself sufficiently valuable that someone is willing to pay you for what you know, what you can do, and what you accomplish.

Or, choose another profession.

So how do you keep your head up when “Awful” news is all around? From where do you find the energy to overcome?

Let me remind you of a little story:

The story of the farmer and the donkey

See, there was this old donkey that had been a part of a farmer’s life since birth. The farmer loved the donkey and the donkey was a valuable part of the family. One day, the donkey got too close to the well and fell in. The farmer was very dismayed. He knew if he didn’t get the donkey out of the well, the much beloved donkey would die and ruin the water well at the same time.

The donkey was thinking the same thing. He wanted to live. He wanted to live another day to pull the plow, see the world, enjoy his life.

After several hours of contemplation, the farmer called in some of his friends. Within a few minutes, they had all concluded that the only thing to do was to bury the donkey in the well and at the same time loose the water well by filling it in with dirt. So, they all grabbed shovels and started throwing dirt in the well.

As you can imagine, our old donkey realized what was happening.

He understood his beloved master had few choices but he could not resign himself to die in this way. So, he decided (and you must decide too) to use every opportunity he had, even this one, to his advantage. He wanted to live.

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Determined to live, despite the dire conditions

So, with the determination required to overcome even these current economic times, the donkey began to shake the dirt off his back with every shovel load intended for his demise. But that was not enough. He determined that in addition to shaking the dirt off of his back that he would have to jump at every shake. As the shovels full of dirt where thrown into the well, to bury him, he developed a pattern of shaking and jumping, and then shaking and jumping and then shaking and jumping. As tired as this constant activity made him, he knew that it was working and that it would eventually lead to a positive outcome.

… But it was too much

About half way through, he became exhausted. He decided to rest. (He probably read too many front page headlines.) As the dirt from the shovels began to overtake him, he realized that if he stopped now, he would surely die, and all of his past efforts would be in vain. He jumped as hard as he could.

But the dirt piles on his back was too heavy and he was stuck — much like businesses become stuck from not marketing to referral partners, not developing new plans to combat these economic times and not looking for ways to change professions.

…A valuable lesson learned

As a matter of fact, the first shakes and the first jumps seemed to be to absolutely in vain. But, he was determined. And he shook some more, and he jumped a little harder. He was determined but more importantly, he got his focus back. (He stopped reading all of the headlines.) With all of his might, he determined, it was now or never and he shook and jumped as hard and deliberately as his more focused mind and body would take him. And with that focused effort, he overcame.

Over and over and over and over again, the donkey shook and jumped. He took what was intended to be the dirt that made his grave and with determined effort, over and over and over again, through his focused action, he turned the burial dirt into foundation dirt.

Eventually, as his foundation grew, he began to rise higher and higher in the well. Finally, the foundation was great enough that he just crawled out of the well. The farmer and the donkey were ecstatic.

So back to the “Awful Economy.” It doesn’t matter. You still have to make it so you should just determine to find a way to turn the bad news of the day that was intended for your death and stand upon it to find a way to overcome.

To your success,

Joel

Joel Pate is an entrepreneur and founder of multiple successful companies in the mortgage, real estate, and marketing space.  For more information on Joel, contact him joel@oxpublishing.com

If you want to learn how Joel created over 5000 referral sources in eight years, click here: http://www.leadmachinesecrets.com/

Aug 18 2010

This could be the jolt you need

Posted by Joel Pate in Banks, Business, Credit Repair, Mortgage Loans, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , ,

We’ve all heard this statement: If I just knew then what I know now…..blah, blah, blah.

How about this updated version? Just do it.

If you know you need take action then just do it. And if something is holding you back from taking action, such as not having enough information to act, then identify those hurdles and start addressing them. Don’t wait! Do it NOW!!!

If you KNOW you need to make a change, determine to make it now.

This is life and business transforming positional statement includes: Starting, Stopping, Adjusting, Hiring, Firing, EVERYTHING is covered.

Now, that doesn’t mean necessarily that you walk into you’re the bosses office and quit today. But, if know you need to find another place to work, start the process now.

  • If you know you need to separate yourself from bad actors, do it now.
  • If you know you need to start a marketing program, learn how and start now.
  • If you know you need to cut your spending-do it now.
  • If you know you need to call a customer or a referral partner-do it today.

Hey, I didn’t all this Joel’s Jolt for nothing!

Again: Just do it.

Hope you enjoy the article. By the way, are you using the services of a credit repair company? Is it working? If so, send me the name and contact information to joel@oxpublishing.com

Make it a better day by making it a better day.

All the best,

Joel

Joel Pate is an entrepreneur and founder of multiple successful companies in the mortgage, real estate, and marketing space.  For more information on Joel, contact him joel@oxpublishing.com

If you want to learn how Joel created over 5000 referral sources in eight years, click here: http://www.leadmachinesecrets.com/

Jul 08 2010

When is it going to change?

Posted by Joel Pate in Business, Credit Repair, Mortgage Loans, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , ,

Over the years, I have given advice to a number of friends and associates who have gone through some trying times. Everyone always asks, “When will this change?”

The word “this” has come to mean just about anything – a struggle to find a job … earn more money … better balance family and work … the list goes on. No matter what the circumstance may be, the refrain is always the same.

“When will this change?”

Always remember nothing will change until you change it! To me, this is the good news. At least it’s up to me and I won’t be waiting around for somebody else to find the time to help me. I can do it myself.

Of course, we are talking about issues like money, credit, lifestyle, people, etc. Some things you just have to accept and the acceptance of them will determine how you deal with them so then we are right back on topic. But, you can change so many things that at this moment are causing you a great deal of difficulty. Here’s how…

First, let me give you some background.

Several years ago, my first unofficial mentor gave me this advice when I was going through my first financial crisis. I say first because there have been a number of them over the years. Every time I go through a problem or have a crisis, I remember his words: “You are earning exactly what you are worth. If you want to earn more, become ‘worth’ more.”

For example, if you’re looking at the market and saying to yourself, “I should be able to close more deals because I have referral partners and marketing that I know works” then nothing will change.

“You are earning exactly what you are worth. If you want to earn more, become ‘worth’ more.”

You must change your “worth” in order to change the result. Worth consists of a number of things not the least of which is:

  • Effort
  • Energy
  • Knowledge
  • Time

So often when problems are “all around us,” it’s hard to define the truth.

The truth is that you are going through a problem and you will get through it. But that’s not the whole story. The rest is that you will have to change yourself, your actions, your thoughts and the amount of energy you apply to break free of the problem.

From my experience, I find that unwillingness to change is not only what prolongs a crisis but most often it’s what caused the crisis. Over the years, I can recall a number of crises that were self-inflicted. Nearly every one of them was caused by my unwillingness to change, accept the truth, and do something about it. How about you?

3 lessons learned

What change must I make? That is the question you need to ask.

The lessons learned:

  1. Embrace change before you are forced to.
  2. Unwillingness to change causes a crisis.
  3. A crisis causes a loss of control.

Admitting and embracing this truth will diminish the number of crisis and will help you stay in control. It really is a good thing that you have the power to change your circumstances and that you do not have to rely on anyone else.

To your success,

Joel

Joel S. Pate, Founder & Chairman

Ox Publishing

May 26 2010

Good advice from my dad you’ll appreciate

Posted by Joel Pate in Auto Loans, Banks, Business, credit cards, Credit Repair, Mortgage Loans. Tagged: , , , ,

Did you do it?

When you had an issue to think through did you do what I suggested last week? Do a data dump in a Word document … print it out to review … reduce it to a small list … tape it to a wall. Did you try it?

We’re going through the process of naming a new company right now and that’s the same process we’re using as I speak. Why? Because it works!

The process is technically called Continuous Process Improvement. It begins with the concept that a plan – or a process – is needed in most areas of our business and our life. Process simply is defined as the way to accomplish a business plan and even a basic task, but we all know that the key is to find the “best way” to achieve our goals.

Stay with me for a moment and I’ll show you how to use this process to fix what I’m betting is probably the biggest problem you’re wrestling with in your business right now …

Father knows best…

But first, let me give you a very basic example of what I’m talking about. When my older brother began to drive and maintain a wallet for his driver’s license, I heard our father say, “Make a habit of ONLY placing your wallet and keys in one location and you will never lose them. If you don’t, you will constantly lose them and waste time trying to find them.”

Makes sense right?  As a result of this good advice, I learned by example and followed my father’s advice. The best lessons are lessons that someone else learned at their expense that you can put into practice. Do you agree?

In the mortgage business, any business for that matter, there are a number of basic processes that must be developed for the business to become a business and not a complicated job. Same is true with how your car operates. Imagine for a moment the axle, the spoke, the tire, and for simplification the engine providing power for the movement of the vehicle, Now imagine yourself the person benefiting from the system that generated the advancement that began with the engine that transferred power to the axle, etc.

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This example asks you the question: Would you prefer to be the device that spins the most (the axle) or at the other end of the spectrum, the person benefiting from the system/process that allows you to accomplish a goal without spinning around like crazy?

If you’re like me, you really only want to wake up every day, open your bank account online to see money that was deposited directly into your bank account without you doing anything. But, since that doesn’t work without a process that has been put in place to accomplish that goal, you must develop a system that allows you to create the most money with the least effort.

So how do you do that? Last week we discussed the concept of listing all of the areas of your business that need a process. Try it if you haven’t already. Seeing these items taped to your wall will allow you to begin to prioritize and visualize the next steps. These details must be placed in writing in order to be placed into the process. Don’t skip this step.

Yes, but you say, I work alone. It’s just me. Well even more you need a process for everything too. That may be why you are working alone and can barely afford yourself (something to consider?).

How to fix your biggest challenge…

I want you to begin the development of process with the most basic element of your business.

  • How are you going to communicate with your consumers and your referral partners?
  • Will you force all calls to a voice mail?
  • Will you return calls when you get around to it?
  • Or will you develop a process that notifies these critically important callers of your plan, your process for communication? Or will you set expectations that you can deliver?
  • What can you agree to? Return calls between this hour and that? Return calls by the end of the next business day?

Regardless of the plan you put in place, you need a plan – any plan. Calls that are not returned, within the expectation of the consumer/referral partner is the number one complaint I believe that you have. Most likely, it’s the number one reason your business is not as successful as it should be.

Homework: Determine your policy for communicating with your consumers/referral partners. Then by Monday communicate the policy, set the expectation for the caller that he can expect. And then, do it.

 I recommend establishing specific times, phone appointments, for 50% to 90% of your calls. In this way, you and the caller have an appointment to speak at a particular time.  This process communicates to the consumer/referral partner that you are a person of significance and you take your time and their time seriously.

You will be surprised by the response. This simple basic process will improve your life and increase your business.

More next time,

Joel

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