Never, Never, Never Give Up

“Never, never, never quit.” –Winston Churchill

I spent much of my Sunday watching the Super Bowl. I didn’t really care who won but I was fascinated with the human drama and how people respond on the biggest stage. This is why I also enjoy watching the Olympics. These athletes train for years in virtual obscurity and a few seconds on a given day they challenged to perform at the highest level under tremendous pressure with the eyes of the world watching them. We can learn a lot about grace under pressure and even against the odds we can succeed and overcome.

Midway through the third quarter (8 minutes & 31 seconds left in the 15 minute quarter) of Sunday’s game the Atlanta Falcons were ahead 28-3. The New England Patriots scored 31 unanswered points and won the game in overtime 34-28. As I was watching the early part of the game I was disappointed because it was a blow out. I thought that there was no way the Patriots or any team could score 25 points in the remaining one and half quarters to tie the game. That would require the Patriots scoring four times in 22 ? game minutes after only scoring once (3 points) in the first two and a half quarters (37 ? minutes). As we all know the Patriots stormed back and turned the game around and eventually won in overtime. 

There are a lot of lessons we can apply to our lives and our careers from this game and others like it. I

would like to share a few of them with you;

1.  It’s never over, until it’s over. I watched an interview with Patriots running back James White who said that even down 28-3 Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was cool, calm and collected in the huddle. He was methodical and business like in his approach. He led with confidence and reminded his teammates to take the game one play at a time. He never lost focus or quit. As Loan Originator’s we must do the same. Every day is another opportunity for us to move our business forward by doing the things we know we have to do.

Football and Loan Origination have a lot in common. Both are a grind. Both require great focus, determination, self-confidence, consistency and discipline. We never know what the next play or the next outbound call will lead to. Never give up. Do what needs to be done and little more every day. Strive to be great. 

2.  Do your Job: Do your job is a quote attributed to Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick. For LO’s that means staying true to daily, weekly, monthly and annual non-negotiable disciplines. These include:

a.  Building and maintaining your database.

b.  Marketing consistently (weekly) to your data base.

c.   Building and growing relationships with referral partners, potential referral partners, your sphere of influence and borrowers.

d.  Knowing guidelines and what borrowers qualify and which don’t.

e.  Deliver what you promise (program, rate and fees) in a timely fashion.

f.    Communicate clearly before, during and after the transaction to Realtors, borrowers, escrow etc

3.  The little things are the big things.  Some of the little things I believe in doing include;

a.  Write handwritten notes to referral partners, potential referral partners, borrowers, your sphere of influence etc… Topics of the notes include; thank you, please forgive me, I miss you, great job, thinking about you etc… 

b.  Make the extra phone call to over communicate.

c.   Show your heart to your referral partners, potential referral partners, borrowers and your sphere of influence. “People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.” 

d.  Learn about your referral partners, potential referral partners, borrowers and your sphere of influence. What are their interests in hobbies? How can you help them develop and grow their business?   

4.  Have Faith in Yourself and The Market.

a.  Don’t panic when things are slow. Evaluate your career not on what loans you have originated this week but rather on a quarter by quarter basis and a year by year basis. Many of us get caught up in how many loans have been originated today or this week. This can lead to getting down on ourselves. Work as smart as possible every day but evaluate on a quarterly and annual basis.

b.  Being behind at halftime means there is another ? to win. After watching Sunday’s game it should be clear to all of us that no matter how dire a situation appears there is still time to execute our business plan and come our victorious.

c.   You have succeeded in the past, thus you can do it again and again and again. 

5.  Lead your team with confidence even when things aren’t going well. As I stated earlier, Tom Brady was cool, calm and collected in the huddle in the face of tremendous adversity on the worlds biggest stage. He showed his team that they could still win even though they were behind by a wide margin. You team (assistants, processors etc…) sees you in every situation. They feed off of your energy and attitude. Keep them inspired and motivated. Stay positive and be a leader they want to follow.

“Never give up. Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.” -Jack Ma