Great Discussions Yesterday

Thanks to those able to make either of the Dallas Round-Tables yesterday. I enjoyed hearing what you had to say about Best, and Basic, Business Practices. In particular, with the constant changes in our industry, it is always good to think about “what could I have done 6 months ago that would have made today better.”

Even better, to ponder on the commonalities of those loan officers that have lower lows even in the down-times; what do they do month-end-year-out that gives them steady business.

One question I asked the participants was “what 3 things could you do to improve your business?” Here are some of the responses:

• Time Management
• Patience
• Return phone calls
• Training on DO/LP
• Product Knowledge
• Follow-Up
• Organization
• Punctuality
• Farming for new business
• Follow-Up after closing
• Web site usage
• Customer Service
• Marketing
• Communication
• Knowing the client
• Be a better technician of the business
• Change management
• Focus on vision/goals

By far, the top 3 points of discussion were on Time Management/Organization, Training, and Marketing.

The last few minutes of each discussion was spent talking about how one can increase their productivity by learning to extend Smart Trust.

So, instead of me rambling on, I’ll let the participants post their comments (or criticisms) and we’ll continue the discussions below.

(Note: it can take a few minutes for the comments to clear and be posted.)


Danny

Alethes' Vision

I’ve been lax in not posting our corporate vision for Alethes. We have our Mission Statement and our Statement of Values posted, yet we’ve failed to post our Vision.

Alethes’ Vision is:

1. To be a top 10 place in America to work,
2. To be the premier lender in the markets we serve, and
3. To have the right to go public if we so desire

We set this Vision 2 years ago and have been working and praying our way to that end since. I’ll talk more about each of these in future blog postings.


Sincerely,


Danny L. Smith
CEO/President
Alethes, LLC

Credibility

I really want people around me that are credible. Don’t you? What a difference it makes when you know, without a doubt, that a job is going to get done and get done correctly. It happens faster, easier, and with less emotion. It’s also more profitable and it just plain feels good.

This past week, with some time-off, I thought a great deal about what credibility means to me and wondered about what experts had to say about it. Three of the five books I picked up from my desk had the word “credible or credibility” in their indexes.

Chet Holmes, The Ultimate Sales Machine, mentions numerous times the importance of credibility with customers and potential customers and co-workers.

John Maxwell, in his commentary on Proverbs 17:2, says that “credibility is a victory, not a gift. We gain credibility when our life matches our talk and when both add value to others.”

Stephen M.R. Covey, in The Speed of Trust, writes about Self-Trust and the Four Cores of Credibility; Integrity, Intent, Capabilities, and Results. Think about how much better you feel when you're working along side someone whose walk and talk match up (integrity); their agenda works with yours (intent); they have the ability to do the job (capability); and past performance has produced results (results).

With the changes in the business the past year, you’ve probably had a hard time trusting most anything or anyone, but did you stop trusting yourself? Many of us did because we weren’t sure what was ahead and some, if not much, of the past has proved to be a mistake. Yet, by still being around to read this likely means you’ve weathered the storm well enough to at least survive. So, how about this summer? Are you staying in the game? How’s your “self-trust?” It was a wise man who said “we can’t talk ourselves out of something we behaved our way into – but, we can behave our way out of it.”

This is in part what our Round Tables are about, learning Self-Trust and its effects on building Best Business Practices. We’ll have two Round Tables in Dallas on Thursday. A separate announcement will go out later today. Hope to see you there.


Danny


Read more about credibility and how it relates to our company’s values at http://alethes-values.blogspot.com/ .

Best Practices – Round Table Discussions Last Week

The three Round Tables to-date have been good. At least I have felt so!

One rule we’ll establish moving forward in these round tables: we only talk about a best practice from a first person point-of-view.” Meaning; in a discussion group such as this, it is not good to be talking about what someone else should be doing better. That is counter-productive to the discussions and is really nothing more than a gripe session.

Let’s all remember that we can only make changes in which we can control.

As I expected, each group had different content. Some of that content has been;
• New standards for uploading a file to the underwriter by the submissions desk – Alethes Wholesale has implemented MGIC’s 2 hour standard
• Underwriters making phone calls during underwriting decision
• Less layers of management
• More measurements being put into place in Alethes Wholesale (expanded scorecard)
• Declination notices
• Disclosures
• Tighter controls that can be checked and monitored (I call this robust evaluation and correction)
• Good loan applications
• Hiring practices
• Self-Trust and 13 Trust Behaviors
• Discussion about stakeholders, vs clients, vs associates, vs partners, vs employees. How do we perceive each other? What is the best terminology?
• Technology uses

My intent is to not only discuss items such as those listed above, but to bring all of these discussions around to Building Trust within our entire organization and especially “across” normal segmentations. It is through building trust that we achieve the teamwork necessary to achieve the results I believe we all want to accomplish.

I hope that you are all able to join me in a future round-table discussion about Best Business Practices.

Danny

Open Round Tables – Best Practices

Today’s Round Table is full but we will have another Round Table tomorrow at 2pm and Friday @ 10:30am. These Round Tables are scheduled for an hour each, but I have blocked out 2 hours of my time for those that want to stay and discuss.

My general agenda is “building up a best practices business from a foundation of trust,” this is intended for overall group discussions. As with past Round Tables, the open discussions will cause each to be a bit different. I expect there will be some interesting discussions and hopefully these will help bring us all to a new level of understanding about conducting business in such a way that breeds success.

The Round Tables are generally open to all corporate and branch stakeholders. Ideally, each Round Table will have a mix of individuals; loan officers, administrative, underwriters, closers, processors, accounting, IT, management, etc. They will be held weekly in Austin and once or twice a month in Dallas.

To reserve your spot in either session (Thursday or Friday), please email me at danny.smith@alethes.biz .

Thanks, and I look forward to these discussions

Danny

Best Practices – Processing

A couple of postings last week created sincere passion in a few people. If you haven’t gone back and read the comments, you’ll find them interesting; you might note that you can comment at any time after a posting is put up, not just that day.

In particular, the comments some of you had about Loan Officers were particularly passionate and really good. It was enjoyable to read. I’ll come back to those in a few days. This week, we’ll discuss the rest of the loan process (processing to funding) and then move on into other aspects of running a mortgage lending business. In case you are wondering, we are considering all you have to say, putting it up against industry standards, common practices, profitability, long-term success, etc. It will all then be put out in a Best Practices Guide.

Today, let me know your thoughts about the “Basics of Loan Processing.”


Sincerely,

Danny

Best Practices – Starting with the Basics

Wednesday’s posting has created some good comments. If you haven’t been back to that discussion, please do so and give us your input.

I’ve written and had comments the past couple of weeks about communication, listening, disclosures, values, trust, audits, software, hiring, underwriting, processing, loan officers, do’s and don’ts. There have also been a few concerns about my management, or leadership, abilities; thank you – I welcome the comments and know I have blind spots that need to be pointed out.

Today, and over the weekend, I’d like to hear from you on what you believe to be the “Basics of Best Practices.”

Have a great weekend,

Danny

Best Practices – Definition and an Example

I apologize for the delay in getting back to these discussions. I’ve had some questions poised in reference to Best Practices and its definition, and why I’ve been talking about “soft” subjects such as communication, listening, mission statements, values, core ideology. There have been some good emails and even a couple of phone calls about this subject and I appreciate the conversations; email and phone. Any phone calls and emails will be kept confidential if at all possible, but if the subject matter is not private, please respond via the blog comments below.

Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia defines Best Practice as: “Best Practice asserts that there is a technique, method, process, activity, incentive or reward that is more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. The idea is that with proper processes, checks, and testing, a desired outcome can be delivered with fewer problems and unforeseen complications. Best practices can also be defined as the most efficient (least amount of effort) and effective (best results) way of accomplishing a task, based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time for large numbers of people.”

Over the past few months we’ve been looking within Alethes, but also outside the company for what are Best Practices; culturally, but specifically to departments, areas, branch operations, companies, individuals, and leadership/management styles. We are looking for those practices that meet the standards of integrity, intent, capabilities, and results that can sustain a company through good and bad times. In particular to culture, we’ve been considering those companies that have survived 10, 20, and 50 years to determine their commonalities.

As we continue with this analysis, we’ll discuss three distinct processes: people, strategies, and systems. Through these processes, it will help to remember that we never get far from the foundation of our mission and values (core ideology).

A specific reference material for these three processes is “Execution,” by Larry Bossidy & Ram Charan. Another helpful reference on how to properly establish, implement, and continue to carry out the three processes is ”The Speed of Trust,” by Stephen M. R. Covey.

While Alethes has performed well over the past 9+ years, many parts of the industry have changed and this is a great time to take a look at how we are conducting our business and in what areas we can achieve better results.

So there is no misunderstanding, establishing Best Practices is a constant process, though we also know there are many Basic Business Practices that are consistent through our industry. We’ll be discussing those in particular in the coming days and weeks through this blog, round table discussions, conference calls and general Best Practice postings on our web site.

Best Practices will be recognized and written for every aspect of our business; hiring, loan origination, processing, underwriting, closing, funding, post-funding, general administrative at the branch and corporate levels, human resources, benefits, and leadership/management.

So, moving on from theory, what how does Best Practices come into play in our daily lives? Here is an example of a conversation I had yesterday;

Chas – “I need some help in where this LO fits best with a processor? He has 5+ years of mortgage experience, but no FHA experience. She is in North Houston.”
Danny – “What is her compensation split arrangement on FHA loans and who is her manager?”
Chas – “Well, that’s the problem. Best Practices have not been followed very well because He is on a 100% split. He claimed experience and his references checked out he had FHA experience, but it turns out his previous processor did all the work, and he can’t even do an FHA GFE very well (which means he can’t qualify the borrower properly.)”

Obviously, Best Practices have not proven out in this situation and now we have a problem. What do you think is the appropriate “Best Practice” at this point?

Please reply via comments below,

Danny