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Ahh, had I only known 10 years ago what I learned 5 years ago.  Incredible growth can come from what appears to be total failure.  I’ve been a firm believer that the only thing we can control is action, not outcomes.  The following illustration exemplifies this theory.

In 2003 I ran a marketing campaign in a select condominium complex in Brookfield, WI designed to help condo buyers steer their adjustable rate mortgages into a fixed rate loan.  I spent all of $53 printing and delivering a very simple flyer and closed a whopping 1 transaction as a result of my efforts.  But it wasn’t the closed transaction that netted me the rewards…It was the one that I didn’t close.  Having just come back from a Brian Buffini Turning Point Retreat, I leared the power of an intentional relationship business model.  What was once a “lost deal” now became a new relationship which would yield future opportunities.  Mr & Mr.s “X” were a gracious and friendly couple I happended to call on one afternoon in my follow-up campaign, but Mr. & Mrs. X had already restructured their loan to a fixed rate.  I asked to stay in touch via my Client Appreciation Program.  They obliged.

Shortly afterward, I received a call from Mr. “Y” who had been referred to me from Mr. & Mr.s “X”.  Mr “Y” did structure a loan with me and subsequently referred me to 3 of his friends, one of which has referred me to 27 of his nearest friends.  All in all, I have secured well over 56 referrals….from a client I have never done business with.  I’ve never received another referral from Mr. & Mrs. “X” but rest assured, they get a note of appreciation from me every year.  Plant your seeds of opportunity whether you “land the sale” or not.  If you do, your seeds will flourish…..and you’ll never know where your tree of life will grow.

Happy Planting!

Brian blogs when he feels like it at http://www.mortgageplanning.typepad.com Check it out for more sage wisdom from an “old mortgage man.”

I was at my early 20-something cousin’s wedding this past weekend and experienced yet another example of what the future holds for the service industry as driven by technological advances.

Thanks be to my fellow Gen X’ers, long gone are the days of the wedding band woefully screaming out horrific version of Proud Mary. The CD brought the DJ business to functional mobility. Yet still, the service element was required to “man the mix”.

This wedding was a new twist: nothing but an in-house sound system and an Ipod. It struck me how simple and profound it was. I’m sure the Father of the Bride was happy spending his $1500 on something other than some cheesy tuxedo-clad cummerbund bound self-proclaimed party inciter who looked to lure anyone to join in on yet another gut bomb version of “Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.”

It got me thinking about the service industry. In years past boomers and X’ers alike were looking for the one “in charge” of the information and willing to pay top dollar for their services. The information revolution has produced a new breed of consumer empowerment.

Back to the wedding: Everyone under 25 somehow knew the new custom – Search and play, giving courtesy to the former requester to allow their song to play out in its entirety. What was interesting to watch was the way the Gen X’ers responded. No one over the age of 25 knew who was “in charge?” A new generation gap was formed before my very eyes.

Did the DJ business see it coming? With very little effort, the consumer empowerment revolution took on a new (and I would argue MUCH improved) twist. And it occurred to me how yet again a new product had displaced another industry.

Thanks to the Ipod and digital revolution, we are no longer subject to the distribution of music someone else thinks is a good idea. We are empowered as consumers to make decisions for ourselves and save mightily along the way in order to consumer products and services that engage us in a meaningful way.

Like watching great retro movies and spinning vinyl…

We’ve all heard it said that “All Roads Lead to Rome.”  It’s actually a fascinating bit of study to understand how the Roman transportation system was built for military, commercial, and political reasons.  The Roman roads, “viae (the Latin root “via” or “by way of”) were literally the thread that held the Roman Empire together.  Without the viae the Empire collapses.  Stay with me here – there is a point.

So what did cause the eventual downfall of the Roman Empire?  Many things have been cited and I’m sure it was a plethora of reasons, but a compelling case can be made for the stagnation of creativity, especially as it related to technology.  In the early stages of the empire, roads, viaducts, etc. paved the way for the development of an interior support system never before seen in ancient society.  The Empire was on the move, expanding through the expression of their military might.  But productivity waned as few new technologies were developed to sustain the continued population growth of the ever expanding empire.  And as a result, the demands of the empire as whole could not be met as efficiency dragged them down.

Additionally, the celebrations, rituals, and traditions of so many unique cultures of an ancient era were crushed by the Roman Empire in an effort to “Romanize” their cultures.

Here’s where the parallels take place:  What was once a fresh face and voice to the grassroots originator community is now smelling and looking strangely like Rome all over again.  Recently a rapidly-rising market player that was so instrumental in developing cutting edge new ideas and community culture was gobbled up by the multi-headed conglomerate which seeks to build their empire on the same old technologies and platforms as we saw 10 years ago.  Rome has once again imposed itself upon the new culture quickly squelching the voice of the new and fresh

to be quickly replaced with the stale and recycled content from 1998.

All Roads unfortunately once again seem to lead to Rome.  But you know what? I don’t want to go to Rome anymore.

Funny how things have changed literally overnight. The media and purveyors of reflection wisdom have pointed their accusatory fingers at the housing bubble, loose lending standards, etc. but I think a longer look-back is in order.

In 1998 when I entered the industry we were coming into the age of DU, DO and LP. Automated Underwriting launched “Speed lending” as lenders clamored to race quicker to the consumer, touting the advantages of the 5 minute loan approval. Could it be that “Automated” became synonomous with “Automatic”? Surely we saw the professionalism of the past fall off the edge of the proverbial cliff. Spawning a new wave of originators, the Automated age provided simplicity and certainty. The archaic nature of (gasp) a MANUAL underwrite and it’s antiquated “denials” was a thing of the Victorian era. Its antiquated subjectivity, which created a plague of denials in years past, was replaced with the utopian panacea of the “Approve/Elligible”. The art of the originator shifted from properly structuring a deal to manipulating the automated underwriting engines.

History is doomed to repeat itself, or in this case, to make a re-appearance. At last check, the PIW and drive-by appraisals and streamlined underwriting findings have been replaced with their pollar-opposite brethrens. Manual reviews are creeping their way back into the equation and the new picture of chic is the originator skilled in writing LOX’s….Eat your heart out, Hemmingway. It’s about time we brought back the word “professional” into the industry. Long-gone are the days of the quick-talking rookie, armed with nothing more than a laptop and a paper approval.

That sounds you’re hearing is the voice of wisdom of a bygone generation of seasoned professionals.

I spotted a few more grays in my morning mirror this morning and I smiled.