Building and sustaining momentum in your life and business starts and finishes with you. It isn’t always easy, but nothing of value ever is, says Joshua Vecchio.
Director of Discovery Finance Group, Joshua Vecchio has written over $250m, using techniques and tips being shared on his website Top Broker.
How often do you read about a sports team struggling at the start of the season but finally hitting their straps in the last few games towards the end of the season and magically seem to be carried through to the financials with momentum?
Speaking with other brokers and even in my own business I’ve noticed as brokers get busier (that is the good type of busier) business seems to start raining in – and recently this made me look deeper into the psychology of perceived momentum. Do you feel like business is a little patchy and how do you generate momentum? And why does it seem to have such a significant impact on teams both in a business and sporting sense?
Here are my top 5 tips on gaining momentum, what I’ve found and how to apply it in your own business.
Rule 1: It’s in your head
The very thought of thinking business is raining in is what is referred to as perceived momentum which is basically a state of mind where you or your team feel like they are completely unstoppable – you see this all the time in sport. According to American Psychological Association’s Review of General Psychology, 92 percent of football coaches believe their performance is crucially determined by momentum.
Although it might seem a little absurd the study showed perceived momentum leads to increased confidence which in turn leads to more activity and better performance – So what activities are you doing every day to keep you busy, are you meeting new referral partners and engaging existing customers to that pipeline brimming over? Maybe it’s time to review your 90 day plan and daily activities to fill that day.
Rule 2: The ‘as-if’ principle
An awesome book I’ve recently read is The As If Principle by Richard Wiseman. In short Wiseman talks about a simple principle – it is not your emotions that control your behaviour, but it is your behaviour that controls your emotions.
Ever heard the saying don’t dress for the job you’re in, dress for the job you want? Practically this might mean you need to think about how you are dressing for appointments, your body language and how your customers perceive you. Ultimately as mortgage brokers we are professionals and not door to door salespeople, and need to have the right mindset to present as such.
Rule 3: Focus on the positives
It is easy to get a deal declined and dwell on it, but realistically everyone is going to face set backs. I remembered when I first started in banking 7-8 years back I asked one of the senior managers what he thought was the key to the top performing brokers that worked with the bank, he said ‘It’s not a case of who will and won’t fail, but success is determined by who will pick themselves up quickest and continue to move forward’.
It is easy to become negative around the recent the changes imposed by APRA and lending policies, but remember these can be seen as positives and opportunities to learn and improve your customer offering. If you do get a deal declined and it would normally get you down, just take a 5 minute walk to think about how you will pick yourself up and either find another that is more suitable or move on.
Rule 4: Celebrate Victories
Teams celebrate tries, goals and points and I believe it really doesn’t matter how small the victories are, but a win is a win in anyone’s book and should be celebrated. Even if a team member gets a difficult deal approved, gets positive client feedback or you settle the biggest deal of your career you should celebrate and take time to remember what you have achieved.
With my own team we have regular coffee and cake catch ups and a long lunch every quarter to celebrate our successes. I see this as an important part not only to create morale in the team but to have something to look forward to.
Rule 5: Don’t give up
Keep grinding. If you’re feeling like you are short of success at the moment don’t get yourself down. It takes determination to build momentum, just keep pushing and it will come to you. Focus on one small improvement to your business daily and keep pushing forward.
Remember if business was easy everyone would be doing it. There are so many stories of businesses struggling for years until they finally hit their straps and the momentum kicked in – did you know Air B&B went for 4 years scraping the barrel for funding, not able to get the exposure to get listings and now has raised over $1.50 Billion this year and currently holds over 500,000 listings in 33,000 cities?
The task of building and sustaining momentum in your life and business starts and finishes with you. No one can do it for you, and unless you take the initiative and start today you will forever be the victim of circumstance. It isn’t always easy, but nothing of value ever is. All you can do is continue to punch forward and create your own success.
This article originally appeared on Top Broker, a growing online space where tips and strategies are shared by Australia's top mortgage brokers.
