Mortgage pros, quit overcomplicating the task at hand

“Dominate The One’s” was born out my appreciation for a tactic that was taught to me some 32 years ago and my frustration with how we in sales try to overcomplicate the simplest tasks in business.

The year was 1990. And in my sixth-grade English class, I learned one of the most important business lessons I still follow and teach. This is where I was introduced to K.I.S.S. 

No, not the band. K.I.S.S. as in, “Keep It Simple, Stupid.” 

I have followed the K.I.S.S rule since the sixth grade. It helped me learn to write. It assisted me in becoming successful in sales. K.I.S.S. even allowed me to stand out in a crowd of frustrated fathers when I made my team of 4-year-old T-ballers first learn how to effectively compete in kickball before they were ever able to put on a glove or swing a bat. 

These days, well beyond the sixth-grade English classroom, I spend less time personally selling and more time teaching, mentoring and coaching sales professionals; mostly LOs and producing branch managers. But K.I.S.S. is still alive. It just goes by a different name. 

Now, K.I.S.S has become “Dominate The Ones.”

 “Dominate The Ones,” simplifies business. For example, ask a mortgage loan originator what they do for a living and see how many different answers you receive. Do the same thing with a real estate agent. Then note how few told you they were professional lead generators. 

Ask a professional salesperson to provide you with a business plan and then notice the plethora of varied responses that are offered from vision boards to elaborate PowerPoint presentations to complete radio silence. Then take note of those who did submit a business plan and how many actually included measurable daily actions versus pie-in-the-sky lofty achievement goals. 

“Dominate The Ones” is the solution to ultimate sales success while also keeping it simple, stupid. It is rooted in measurable daily actions. Here’s how it works. Each day, you must complete these three tasks in order to know you have done your job:

• Schedule one meeting with a prospective client/referral source
• Attend one meeting with a prospective client/referral source
• Speak with one person who is in need of the product or service you offer

If you are really feeling froggy, you can add these two tasks for bonus points:

• Write and send one handwritten thank you note 
• Call one past client to check-in

Sales success really is this simple. Quit overcomplicating the task at hand. If you are in sales, make sales activity your priority. “Dominate The Ones.” If you want greater results then double up the effort and rename the exercise, “Crushing the Two’s.” 

Whatever you do, don’t make what you need to do hard or complicated. Because if you do, you just won’t achieve what you set out to accomplish. And I know this because Mrs. Pittman told me so.

Dustin Owen is Vice President, East Division Sales at Waterstone Mortgage Corp. and the host of “The Loan Officer Podcast.”