Roeboater Thoughts

There are 3 areas I think we should all take some time to review to take a real assessment at to see where we soared and where we can focus on for next year. Our best asset to our business' is ourselves and those around us. As we get better, so do our surrounding and results.  How did your team/home branch evolve over the past year? We are only as strong as the team(s) that drives us forward. People have diverse strengths, weaknesses, and motivations that are often unpredictable. Assessing the evolution of your team over the past year can provide you with valuable insight into the dynamics of the office, as well as provide insight into what the future holds. What went well, and what didn’t? Every business has its ups and downs; the important thing is to learn from every situation. We need to be intellectually and emotionally honest about what went well over the past year, and what didn’t. How -or- why did your strategy change over the year? Our ...

...different. At the end of the day the product that we have to sell is title and escrow services which is a commodity. Most are priced fairly the same and provide fairly the same coverage. The difference is our people, products, tools and services. This is how we differentiate ourselves in the marketplace, on a daily basis with those that are partnering with us already and those that we would like to work with in the very near future. When we are talking to targets and they let us know what they like about their current situation we have to not just be better then who they are currently with but different.  Intriguing enough that they are curious about the change and are willing to give you a try.

The small details can make the biggest difference in our days, relationships, presentations & soo much more. The large parts of our days are easy to focus on, but many time its the little details that are the tipping point to winning the meeting, client or day. Much like the rudder of a ship is small in size, the impact it make changes the course of the whole ship. The sail can be full of wind moving the ship, but the rudder dictates the direction to the destination. Let's keep focused on every step on our path to growth and success. That one, seemingly small thing that you do, or not do can make the the largest impact.  Make it a great one! -Colin

The quote above is an illustration of the information below. We've all see the chart below and it motivates us for a short while to make sure we are following up. The key is persistently following up, dependably every time. Having a system of follow up in place helps this to happen. When there are steps laid out all we have to do is follow them. Do you have framework for your follow up? If not, let's develop it. You may be soo close to the conversion from prospect to business partner,  but just didn't make that seemingly insignificant 5th call to the prospect. Don't be the bottom miner....soo close.  We are all great achievers that are truly capable of INCREDIBLE achievements....strategic targeting & execution will help us all get there! Crush it today!

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."  -- John F. Kennedy This is a very simple one this week. Let's remember to approach each day, meeting, moment with gratitude & thanksgiving.  We live in a truly blessed country, work for an incredible company & get to enjoy life with those around us.  Have a truly wonderful Thanksgiving!  The action/challenge for this week is to work & live in a state of thanksgiving; all will be better & we will accomplish more. 

Good Morning! What are we achieving today? Not, what are we doing, but what are we achieving? There is a fundamental difference here. We can 'do' a lot of things that may not get us closer to the goal or achievement that we desire. Our goal is not just the activities of having meetings to share products, tools & services with their best practices. Our goal is at the baseline is to drive revenue through market share growth by growing our business partnerships...getting more escrows for our teams. We achieve this by doing the activities above with those that can move our needle.  Let's crush it today by beginning with the end in mind and pursuing that! You're the best in the biz...it's a privileged. Let's finish 2016 strong and keep the momentum into 2017!

Let's all take TNT to our business. Getting things done now, today instead of tomorrow is key. At times we say "We'll do it tomorrow" and tomorrow becomes next week and so on. The Today Not Tomorrow mindset means you don't put it off, but get it done now.  Action for today: What is one thing that you've been putting off that you need to do? Those prospecting calls, follow up, etc... Act today...do it.  Make it a great day! 

Do you surround yourself with anchors or engines? In life there are engines who propel us forward, believe in us and are supportive. Then there are the anchors who weigh everything down. It's important to stop and think; are you surrounding yourself with anchors or engines? Are you an anchor or an engine? We all have the abilities within us to be a great engine to those around us as well as to ourselves. We can be engines of motivation & inspiration to our families, our co-workers, friends, business partners or even somebody chance puts us in front of once.  Make today GREAT!

This speaks to the limiting believes that we all allow to set up camp in our mind. Our job is to break through those limiting beliefs, grow and conquer what we have out ahead of us. Everything we can do now was one something we couldn't do so breaking through barriers is something we do on a daily basis.  Do we ever think I can't make that call? They won't be responsive? Or I don't know how to do this? If those are questions that we face push through them. Simply make the call. Simply ask. If you don't know how there is someone around you that does or resource that will help you achieve that goal. Let's always look to be highly resourceful and kick some butt this week!

Today is a simple reminder that we can't do things/activities occasionally and expect success to be consistent. It's imperative that we practices consistency in order to achieve consistent growth and success. As we are reviewing our own business plans look at the goals that you set our to achieve and if you are on pace to meet them. If so, what were the activities that you did? If not, where did we lack & how can we improve upon them to change the game for Q-4 & 2017? Crush it!!  

What have we learned from our past? Have we grown from it? Learned, applied & succeeded because we learned from a lesson in time? Think about it today. Our past experiences prepare us for what we face today, tomorrow and beyond so let's strive to learn every day to be better every day forward.  How great would it be to be able to look in the mirror every morning and truly say " Today I am better than I was yesterday!" Go out today and #CrushIt !! 

What are we busy about? That is a great question to ask ourselves as we get busy. Busy and productive don't have the same definition. It's important for us to look at our activities and tasks to see where we can better optimize or make best use of our time, resources and talents. As we go into the 4th quarter it's more important than ever to know what we are busy about and evaluate our activities that we are doing to get there.  Challenge for this week: Look at your calendar/schedule and your goals. Is what you have booked and your structure getting you there? Can it be improved? You all are the best and the best only get better by challenging themselves to grow.  Let's win it!

This week I wanted to remind us all on the importance of offense. Driving forward with the intent to achieve your goal & using the resources/team around you in order to achieve that goal or goals. No one in the history of sports has won with the score of Zero. While some may be just looking to maintain we are all looking to move that line, grow or score if you will.  Today's challenge is to look at your day and see what your planned offense is. Do you have strategic meetings or activities where their outcomes are to achieve our goal of bringing value to our partners/targets and in return to get new escrow partnerships and deepen current ones? Think about it, act on it and look at the tools, resources & people we all have access to help you achieve your goals.  Crush it team!!

It may not be glamorous, but gee it sure is effective. In the end consistency beats intelligence, raw talent & skill.  Our goal in the field is to  "Get More Escrows". We do that by bringing value through products, tools, services & a high level of service. Once we get that escrow and client in the door the deeper goal is to keep the client with us. Client  acquisition  is much more difficult than client  maintenance . It's important to strive to excel at both &  consistency  is a HUGE key to  achieving  this.  Crush it team!!

Today is a very, very simple reminder. Don't forget to smile and smile big and smile often. No matter if we are in front of somebody or talking to them on the phone they can easily tell if there is a smile on our face and if it's coming from inside of us. Think about when we come across somebody unexpectedly joyous and how that makes us feel. Let's do that today to the people we come across. From our clients and prospects to the escrow teams in our offices to and we get home tonight. Make it an amazing day!

Happy and loyal producing customers is what we are always shooting for. We purposely bring them things of value (products, tools, services & more) to keep them with our team by providing high value as a strong partnership. One of the highest benefits that we sometimes forget about is asking them to share the good news is there partnership with us to those around. Having their third-party endorsement from a peer goes along way in our industry. You can open a door that previously said maybe been shot or very tough to get through.  Todays encouragement and challenge for today to make sure if we have earned the right to ask for an endorsement for referral to another business partner to do so. It could lead to new partnerships and more growth at a much more rapid pace. Make it a great one! 

You got this! Whatever it is, you got it. That is usually the encouragement we give others, but at times it's the opposite of what we tell ourselves. Excuses are easy to make, but don't pay off. It's the times that we push through with determination that we remember and celebrate the outcomes of, not the times that we decided it wasn't for us or that we'll do it later; many times later never comes.  Our action for today: Believe you can & pursue "it". Be blown away that you did it, because here's a secret.....you CAN! Make it a great one!

Last week I was meeting with the founder of a local mortgage company and as we were touring his office I noticed this on the wall. He and I chatted about it and he let me know these were three things that his mentor shared with him that he continues to instill in everyone of his employees. From the originators to the front desk and everyone in between. Today my encouragement and motivation is simple. If we do these three things success will always be at our doorstep. Do the right thing. Do your very best. Show people you care. Make today great!

Ben Franklin said it very well: " An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." Over the weekend I was thinking about how I have started many books, still yet to finish or downloaded podcasts that just sit on my phone to be listened to. I prepared to grow by using those resources but hadn't put them to use. That's not to say that growth isn't happening, but it could have been at a whole other level. I want to challenge all of us this week to find something that feeds our minds for growth. I have a few that I do listen to, subscribe to or read daily that I have found really put me in a better place. (driving back from Napa Sunday while Danielle slept was able to listen to 4 podcasts on my phone & they were all great...better than listening to the same songs on the radio again) :) Make it a GREAT one team!!                                  Subscribe to Darren Daily (Da...

Fear. It is one of those very short words that can have a huge impact on her life if we allow it to. Many times it will keep us from doing the things that we really want to do and more importantly the things that we are equipped to do. Today my encouragement is to push it to the side and take the shot. Go for it! What ever you're "it" may be seek it, find it, achieve it! 

Trust me...I know that a lot of work goes into on-boarding a new client/business partner & you guys are amazing at purposefully prospecting & converting. This is a simple reminder to us all that getting them to choose us is just the beginning. A few transactions is nice, but becoming their go-to, long term is what our goal is. As they are leaving their previous provider they will notice the loss & try to retain them (if they are good), so it's up to us to remain diligent & complete the on-boarding process. After they have opened up numerous orders over a few months period of time then they are in the business "relationship" with us. Their first few orders are the "dating" period.  Rock it team!!! "If you do what you did in the beginning of the relationship, there won't be an end." -A. Robbins

How do we feel when Monday rolls around? Are we sad because the weekend is over or are we excited for what we get to go do, the people we get to see and what we get to accomplish throughout the week? One of the greatest things that makes the impact on our week is one word and that is our attitudes. It not only affects us but it affects our offices and all those that we are around as well. Below is a little challenge for us all to get a little bit out of our zones compliments of Darren Hardy.  Action for today:  Today, perform (at least)  5 acts of positivity . For instance, you can: – Be friendly to those you don’t know. – Tell someone they did a great job (and mean it). – Use the power of a smile to reverse the tone of a situation. – Enjoy the unexpected, even when it’s not what you originally wanted. – Be a source of energy that lifts those around you. – Show happiness for someone else’s success. – Pay a compliment, even to a total stranger. – Vocalize the beauty of the...

It's Possible!  Whatever it is, it's possible. What do you want to achieve in life & business...it's possible! Envision it and pursue it!  Make today great by focusing on your goal(s) and pursuing them. Celebrate victories, learn from defeat & grow it into a future victory.  Never Give Up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opcCUpCxtE8 Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. - Steve Jobs You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. - Wayne Gretzky The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The energy that we bring to every day every meeting in every circumstance is always noticed by the people around us people. It works to either draw them closer to us or push them away. As we are out there making sales calls to our current business partners and farming for new ones we always need to remember to smile and truly be genuine with the excitement that we bring. There is a huge value that each and everyone of us brings to the people we meet.  Let's be the good news ambassadors to those outside of our office and especially to those inside of our offices.  Have an amazing Fourth of July with all of your family and friends celebrating the great joy that it is to be in America. 

I found this quote to be very inspiring and true. When we get a new escrow from a new client that is AWESOME! We now have the opportunity to grow it from just an escrow to a win-win reciprocal relationship that can provide revenue and value for years to come. We all work very hard to get the first deal in the door or opportunity so it's important to do all that we can to maximize it by bringing value to them & their business.  Today let's celebrate the new order, but maintain the focus that it's the beginning. The relationship is now open and it's up to us to nurture and grow it.  Let's crush it team!

This is something new that I wanted to roll out for the team. Each week we will have a thought delivered with a call to action. We do this to help to continue the fostering of staying lifelong learners and growth. Formal education will end, but we must always keep learning and looking to become better than one person every day; that person is the person we were yesterday. Each one of us has had incredible accomplishments personally and professionally which is awesome! We want to keep it up not just in the rear-view mirror, but in our futures as well. We know what got us started, now let's remember why we keep going; our "WHY" is huge!  As Aristotle said "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, isn't an act, but a habit."  Let's do something this week that makes a positive impact & make it a habit! What habits do we have? Are they getting us closer to our goals? Best team in the Biz! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpRf9p...