Communication, Consistency and Reliability

“Tell me what YOU did. How did you do it?” I have been asked that question so many times. The answer is simple. Much more simple than you would think.

Before I share it with you, let me tell you why people ask me. I will tell you what I have done. Now, I am not saying this to brag or puff myself up. Rather I am just giving you an example of what I have done in my career within the last 15 years.

I moved to San Antonio in November 2005. The only people I knew was my family that lived here. I had been an originator in Southern California and then in management in Dallas for years, but this was the first time I truly had to rebuild my business. I had none. Back then, all I would hear from other peers was that the SA real estate market was “clicky” and that everyone already had their established relationships and they weren’t going to be expanded or broken. I called BS on all of that.

My first year here, I closed like $12M and then every year after that, the numbers continued to increase. It took me about 5 years to start making the San Antonio Business Journal Book of Lists for Top Mortgage Professionals. For the past 3 years, I have taken the #1 spot. I have moved up to one of the top mortgage originators in the country (Top 200 for 2020 and 2021). Our numbers now top $250M per year. That’s a lot of loans.

I get all of the accolades, but I could not do it without the best team in the industry. We are a very small team, but we work very well together. We are like family. The amount of business that us 5 (myself, 3 assistants and my loan partner, Ryan) close is typically done with a much larger group. When people find to that I don’t have a team of like 20 people, they are astounded. Our competition might, but we don’t.

Furthermore, we don’t work weekends or super late hours like most people in real estate. 

Alright, enough about me…back to my lesson here. Now at least you have the context.

If you are just starting in business – ANY business – and you are trying to build your brand, read on…

You don’t have to be the cheapest. You don’t have to have the best array of products. You just have to be the best at the products that you do have. Remember that.

At the end of the day, I believe that it comes to doing 3 things great: communicate, be consistent and be reliable.

Communication: Good news, bad or ugly – you need to be an effective communicator. Be clear and precise with plans, expectations and advice. Don’t keep it all to yourself. Reach out to people before they have to start calling you (for updates etc.). If people know what they are getting into, then the journey will be a smooth one. NO ONE likes surprises. Surprises = no future referrals and pissed off clients. 

Communication is also as simple as calling people back. One of the things that I do is leave a message on my voicemail that says that I will call you back between the hours of 1-5pm. And then I do! It is not that difficult to do no matter how busy you think you are. If someone calls you, call then back, dang it.

Consistency: The background or base of this stems from first knowing your stuff. Know your guidelines, your product, your competition.

Consistency is the opposite of chaos. People need to know exactly what they are getting into. You should develop and tweak a process I which you do things so that it is pretty much the same every single time.

Clearly defined expectations and executions that can be replicated over and over. And then do it. KEEP doing it again and again. Your customers and referral partners should know what to expect every single time.

Reliability: Simply put – Do what you say you are going to do. Your customers should not have to wonder if you are the person to get the job done. They should never have to worry. They need to trust that you will get the job done every single time.

They need to know that you will get it done like you say and that comes with the consistency portion of the formula. You can’t build reliability without consistency.

Communication + Consistency + Reliability = Business Growth