Don't Rush Me - What do you read?
“What are you doing?”

Don’t rush me please. She countered.

Well, why is it taking you so long to get through the door. I don’t see anyone in front of you?

I’m looking at the menu. And if you push me too hard, I’ll waste a lot of time with the waitress having her repeat everything here. Why do you think its here? For their health, or yours? Go a little slower, please. She was nice about it, I was just being a bit anxious because of what I knew was coming inside those doors.

Ok. Well, after you read the menu, you can let me know what I’d like. But after all the times we’ve been here, I can’t imagine there will be anything to pull me away from my favorite oysters.

I went in the door, through the entranceway, and what wafted into my whole being was the mellifluous odor of crabs boiling in a special sauce, overdone with garlic. But my senses were delighted, snapping just like a live crustacean..

Sawdust on the floor, tables covered with heavy paper, nothing fancy at all. Fancy is so far from this place that the last fancy thing they did was allow a prospective bridegroom to have his bachelor party here. Not in the back room, but right out front. The only attendees besides the actual men were crabs, the kind that grow in the ocean and back bays of the waters off the Atlantic coast.

 And oyster crackers, the kind you can only get in the Philadelphia region. Hard crackers about the size of a quarter, round like a ball, toasted. Oh my God, with horseradish on them it is heaven. Or broken in an oyster stew. Wow.

 It was a Friday night, and my wife and I were going out to dinner. Nothing fancy, just a local place that serves great oysters on the half shell. Maybe you don’t like them, it is an acquired taste, but smothered with cocktail sauce and tartar sauce, a special mixture of mine I’m betting you might overcome your reluctance.

The lady standing at the podium greeted me with an accustomed grin, knowing what would follow.

So how are you tonight? A familiar greeting made easily because of the time we’ve spent together over the years, here at my favorite restaurant.

I’m great Sara, but what is important to me is how YOU are. Its not important how I am. I’m hoping that you’re great tonight, cause I’ve had a fabulous week and looking to share it with you and your staff. Is Lisa here? Can we sit at one of her tables? Kathy is reading the specials, just like every week. Is there anything special I should know about? Almost every word is repeated every week we go in that place. Familiarity is not strong enough a word. But they always seem to enjoy it.

I’m not sharing that with you, you’ll have to ask your wife. What do you think she’s reading it for, her health?

Ralph, anything for our best customer.

You flatter me, but I accept it. I know its not true, but what the hell.

After Kathy came through the door herself, loaded with information, she did what she is great at: letting me know what she had read. I really could not do without all the banter, but having her read the specials is an unimpeachable way to be informed. She reads, I listen. She reads more, I listen more. She is like a machine, able to repeat exactly what she has read. What a talent. I struggle with every word. Dyslexia has been my devil since I was a tot. Worse in college. But reading is a fundamental need that we too often avoid. Avoid like it was some plague, some way to contract a disease that will destroy life as we know it. But reading is a must in this fast paced world.

So, here are a couple of questions for you. Serious questions. Questions that are meant to tax your mind. Make you think. And with a thought, hope that it will cause you to take some action that you probably haven’t made before.

What do you read?

What do you read?

What do you read?

What do you read?

According to a recent study by the National endowment for the arts, not much of anything. According to that study, for people between the ages of 15-24, the DECLINE in reading literature declined by 55% over the twenty years between 1982 and 2002. it makes me wonder why Amazon is so popular, but they’ve seen the statistics and that what drives them to get into other businesses. So the question is asked again.
What do you read?

I read to gain knowledge……………………..

According to an online research site, www.parapublishing.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

81% of the population feels they have a book inside them.
27% would write fiction.
28% would write on personal development
27% would write history, biography, etc.
20% would do a picture book, cookbook, etc.
6 million have written a manuscript.
6 million manuscripts are making the rounds.
Out of every 10,000 children's books, 3 get published.
  --Jerrold Jenkins. 15 May 99.
www.JenkinsGroup.com

Who is Reading Books (and who is not)

One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. Many do not even graduate from high school.

58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school.

42% of college graduates never read another book.

80% of US families did not buy or read a book last year.

70% of US adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

57% of new books are not read to completion.
  --Jerrold Jenkins.
www.JenkinsGroup.com

Most readers do not get past page 18 in a book they have purchased.

I really enjoy challenging you. It makes my creative juices flow. I’m always finding things that should make you guys and girls. feel inadequate.

So, how about it? Reading is what you need to do to learn.

Many times I’ve told people that I have three sales principles.

1- Give away information

2- Ask for business

3- Be persistent

Even with al of the things I’ve learned over my lifetime, I still hold these principles as absolute truths. All sales centers around these three principles.

But how can you give away the right information if you have no basis of reference? How can you give away what you don’t have?

Knowledge is what I’m talking about. Knowledge of ways to help those you seek to have business referred from: the realtors, financial planners, builders, insurance brokers, attorneys and CPA’s. The help you need to offer people is how to help them make more money, be more effective, make a better impact into their market, advertise better, market better, be more organized, understand the ways the computer can change their lives, target market their services, and on and on and on.

But you can’t give away what you don’t know. And the only way for you to learn what you need to know is to learn what you need to know…………… by reading.

I never want you to sell rates, programs and points. That is a complete waste of time. You need to convince people that you can be a valuable asset to their sales effort. That you can help them generate more business. But you can’t give away what you don’t have. Oh, wait a minute, I already wrote that. Well it was so good, I wrote it again.

I’m in the middle of training a group of salespeople that have never really had anyone like me in their lives. Their learning a lot, but it is not without a little angst on both parts. My angst or in my native language, agita. (Agita: Heartburn, acid indigestion, an upset stomach or, by extension, a general feeling of upset. The word is Italian-American slang derived from the Italian "agitare" meaning, "to agitate.)

This week, we’re doing a book report on one of the first motivational books I ever read. “the greatest salesman in the world by Og Mandino. It was one of the things that changed my life. It can change yours. Cause in many cases, what you’re doing ain’t working. So what should you do? Change, and the first thing you need to change is yourself. And one of the first things about yourself to change is to READ!

Ah, but there’s the rub. “Profession,” I say. Boy, do I have nerve! Profession, ha! To most of you, it’s just a job. A place to plunk your butt every day, get info spoon-fed to you, and hope that you’ll make money to spend on a Friday and Saturday night with your main squeeze.

Well, life doesn’t work that way. Life is hard, and earning money takes work. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll actually earn enough to be able to retire by the time you’ve reached the age of reason. What age is that? Well, for most of you, that will be about 80 years of age.

When are you going to take what you do seriously enough to learn every facet of the mortgage industry? What do you know about secondary marketing, warehousing, funding, payoffs, PMI and much more? And what do you know about generating business other that what your first boss taught you? What magazines do you read and what papers do you spend time perusing for hints to make the life of your potential clients more pleasant?

I’ve assembled here on my desk the various publications available in the mortgage business. Some of them are better than others, but all of them have a place in your life, or should have.

Mortgage Press- it is filled with useful information that helps Loan officers and managers improve their effectiveness. Published monthly it is sponsored by about 40 state mortgage broker organizations. Call your state mortgage broker organization to find out how to become a member and get the mortgage press delivered to your door. You’ll find their number at the first couple of pages of this issue.

Scotsman’s guide: a publication that has rates points and programs for a large number of lenders who seek to help you finance a loan for one of your customers. Published monthly, you can call them to receive free copies at 800-297-6061.

Secondary market executive, a publication that is directed to those who work in secondary marketing, servicing, technology, capital markets and regulations.

If you call 800-325-6745, you be able to add your name to their free circulation.
Magazines like Mortgage originator are just simply the best thing you can read to get new ideas for improving your business.

Origination news is a publication that will keep you informed of changes in the mortgage industry, nationwide.

Broker magazine is a fairly new venture that will also help you to know moree, and improve your knowledge of the industry.

And have you seen mortgage technology magazine. I’d bet money you know what’s inside those covers.

Kathy and I often discuss my articles. But if you didn’t read this one, you’ll have nothing to discuss with your co-workers, spouse, significant other, child, parent or friend.

So read, read everything you can get your hands on.

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