Forget The Flowers

In todays day and age of social media, it is very easy to get caught up in things. We see all of the moments in peoples lives that they want us to see. Fancy trips, big announcements, and all the ‘ things’. How many times have you witnessed people post a hundred pictures of the new bobble that a husband gave his wife? How many times have you seen people post pics of their latest warm climate vaca? How many times do you see the big beautiful bouquet of flowers that someone got for Valentines day?

However, what we don’t see is all the things that go on day to day. Some may call them the ‘ little things’. I am talking about the day to day things that you do in a marriage or relationship to survive. Doing the dishes after dinner, switching the laundry from the washer to the dryer, or taking the kids out for breakfast to allow your spouse to sleep in. You know, the ‘ little things’. No flashy or glamourous nor even sexy – but they need to be done.

In our business the flashy things are exactly the things that don’t matter. Billboards, signs, social posts, and all of the ‘ big things’. They draw a lot of attention, but they really don’t mean shit. All the posts we see on social media these days for our business are all the fancy vaca trips, the flowers, and all the things that really don’t matter. However, the things that matter in our business and to our clients are all the ‘ little things’. Going over their monthly budget, making a payment affordable, customizing the mortgage to the lifestyle, talking through and educating our clients. Too many people view these things as the foot rubs of the mortgage business – not sexy, or glamourous, or even noteworthy. However, these are the things that make the agent / client relationship work and last.

In your business are you only worrying about the glamourous things, or are you doing the day to day things to make the relationship with your client last? Are you simply showing your client what you think they want to see, or are you giving them what they need to fight another day? Too many people are worrying about the wrong things.

Every single time I see a Tik Tok, or a social post it is talking about interest rates, the BOC, and bond yields. News flash – your clients don’t give a shit!!!. Yep, the really don’t care. No one gives a flying f*ck what interest rates are!! You don’t live in interest rate terms. you live in money terms. People only care about tangible things. Can I afford my payments? Can I afford my lifestyle? How do I save for a rainy day? What will make my family happy and comfortable? Interest rates are only a symptom of this, not the root problem. Interest rates will determine a payment, but shouldn’t determine a lifestyle. Case in point, people are more miserable now than at any point in the post war era, yet interest rates are nowhere near the highs of the post war era.

As we approach the June 5th BOC meeting please take this advice. Will he or won’t he on June 5th? Everyone seems so damn wrapped up in it. Who cares? Is a 25 bp cut or hold really going to change anyone’s life? Fuck no!!! It is semantics at best. It is a distraction from the things that actually matter. If 25 bps in either direction will change your clients financial life then you failed as a mortgage advisor. Your client should not own a home whereby a 25 bp change in rates is the difference between success and failure. The only reason realtors and mortgage agents spend so much times talking about the BOC meeting is because they have nothing else to talk about – no value to add. The good advisors are talking about long range planning, and ensuring their clients are set. They sure as hell aren’t talking about a BOC meeting where the odds of rates moving are the same as flipping a coin.

Learn how to do the ‘ little things’ in your mortgage business. Learn how to pick up the phone and check in on your clients. Listen to their concerns, walk them through the next few months, explain the options, and surround yourself with a professional network you can refer your clients to for advanced help. Be the difference maker in your clients life – not because interest rates went up or down 25 bps, but because you were a trusted source and advisor that walked alongside of them during the tumult and got them out the other side.

Doing the ‘ little things’ right will ensure that the future will be bright for you and your client. Forget the flowers now, and you will have a lot of time to stop and smell the roses later on in your career.