Yesterday I talked to you about identity. Deciding who you are. Today I want to talk about what that person does with the number, because here's what I know: a loan officer who's made an identity decision and knows their daily numbers becomes unstoppable.
One without the other still leaves you guessing, still on that roller coaster, up and down.
You Can't Manage What You Don't Measure
My buddy Ron Lemon mentored me for years. He passed away several years ago, and I still remember him grabbing my cheeks, telling me, "Son, you can't manage what you don't measure." I didn't let many people touch my face. Ron Lemon could.
I used to resist it. I just wanted to go out, have conversations, sell, close loans. I didn't want to track anything. But meeting with him every other week at a barbecue joint, bringing in my numbers each time, the numbers started building patterns. And those patterns started showing me how to build a predictable business.
"Outside of identity, I didn't uncover identity first. For me, it was the number. I saw the patterns, and when I coupled identity with the number, it was game over."
20,000 Outbound Calls, and the Math Holds Everywhere
I've personally tracked over 20,000 outbound calls. I've collaborated with loan officers on the east coast, the west coast, mountain time, central time. One-stoplight towns and major metros like Houston, New York, California. The number held true everywhere, within a 5 to 10% margin.
Once I started tracking, I realized identity without a number is just frustration. You can build this whole framework of who you're becoming, and then ask yourself, great, now what do I actually do? There's a loose consensus on what to do generally. I needed a specific number.
25 outbound calls produce 10 real conversations. Asking for the business on those 10 produces about 2 relational referrals. I can't guarantee an income number, but based on my team's activity and what I'm seeing across the loan officers I coach, this math holds.
"I Tried That Once and It Didn't Work"
I hear this constantly, and it goes right back to identity. You tried it once and didn't do it long enough to see the consistent result. Practice doesn't make perfect. Practice makes you a little better. Perfect practice, over time, keeps making you better. I don't know that you ever get perfect. I do know that getting 1% better, repeatedly, is the deciding factor.
Your goal isn't perfection. It's progress. That's why the greater-than symbol is my brand mark. Progress is greater than perfection. Anything worth doing is worth doing badly. Just get started.
It's Not Even Cold Calling
If I'm trying to close 10 loans a month, my number is 25 outbound calls Monday through Friday, producing 10 real conversations. And I'd bet 99% of you listening won't even have to make a cold call to hit that number. On Day 3 of the Challenge, I help you build your list because you've already got people in your life who know, like, and trust you.
The gap most loan officers face isn't motivation. It's measurement. Some of you are having two conversations a day and wondering why it's not working. Others are calling plenty of people, just the wrong people, ones who don't actually have the ability to refer you. That's a list problem, not an effort problem.
Day 2 of the 5-Day Challenge is built entirely around finding your number.
You'll walk away with the exact daily activity number that achieves your specific goal, written down, ready to put on a sticky note on your monitor.
Start the Challenge. $297 ›When You Know the Number, the Emotion Disappears
I started a 5 AM workout routine a few years back. I committed to five days a week, every week, for a year, unless I was traveling. When I made that decision, something switched inside me. It didn't matter if I slept badly, if a kid was sick, if the dogs were barking. I woke up, I had 20 minutes to get there, and all I had to do was show up. I didn't even need to know what the workout was. I just had to be there.
It's the same in this business. When my calendar tells me what to do every day, same way every time, I don't negotiate with myself on Monday morning. I show up. I do the activity. I get the result, regardless of how I feel walking in.
I just talked to a loan officer who reached out a couple weeks ago, completely unprompted, to tell me his business was up 70% year over year after applying this. That validation matters to me, not just because of my own results, but because I've coached thousands of loan officers through this podcast and through calls, and I keep seeing the same thing. Knowing the number removes the emotion from the equation.
Go find your number. Put it on a sticky note on your monitor. You're a predictable producer.