From Friday after 5PM through Sunday night I received ten call capture pages. I set eight appointments out of ten. One was a curious neighbor (not a buyer) and another was too chicken (guessing) to answer the phone or return the message I promptly left. Eight out of ten is phenomenal, but it’s not the point of this post. The point of this post is working weekends.
I use the term ‘work’ loosely. Digging ditches is work. Being ‘on call’ to answer a page from a would-be homebuyer is not work. At least it’s not hard work.
“Excuse me honey, I have to return a page. I’ll be back in fifteen-minutes”, says the non-ditch digging real estate professional.
I make myself available or ‘on call’ until 8PM on Friday, from 10AM to 8PM on Saturday, and 1PM to 8PM Sunday. I fully understand if people want to take either Saturday or a Sunday entirely off. Or block two hours a day out for dinner, an appointment (hopefully a loan ap), etc. That’s cool! I don’t have a problem with that. I understand people have a life, a family, etc. Here’s my issue and please tell me the error of my ways.
On Saturday I set an appointment for my LO to prequalify a buyer from one of the call capture pages. She called the buyers and they qualify. She then calls a Realtor she recently met to refer the qualified buyers who desire to buy in his area. All of this takes place within the same hour. Now, here’s the punchline…
Realtor says he’ll call them on Monday.
Too bad it’s a true story.
It’s not a surprise to me why many non-ditch digging real estate professionals have no deals in their pipeline. Maybe they should spend a week digging ditches so that they can appreciate how thankful we should be that we do what we do. Then again, maybe I’m wrong. What do I know? I’m just a mortgage broker on call.
Posted by Paul - Florida Mortgage Broker
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15 responses so far ↓
1 Brett Wilson // Jan 7, 2008 at 6:03 am
Unfortunately that most assuredly is the case. If you spend any kind of time in the market it becomes painfully obvious that MOST agents simply do not want to work.
So I feel 2008 will find that most will leave the business.
2 Wade Young // Jan 7, 2008 at 8:36 am
I’m not willing to break the 10 commandments to make a few bucks. And yes, answering calls and setting appointments is not like digging ditches, but it still interrupts an otherwise peaceful day. It’s important to keep some things sacred. I decided a while back that I would not operate from a “lack” mentality, the idea being that if I don’t return a phone call over the weekend that someone else might get that business. When I look out my office window to the mountains, I see opportunity. Denver is a big city. There is a lot of business to be had, and to get it I do not have to return phone calls on Sunday.
3 Brett Wilson // Jan 7, 2008 at 8:47 am
Hey Wade,
I undestand what you are saying but I hope you are as honest with your clients and that you let them know that you will not be showing their proiperty or answering any calls regarding their property on a Sunday.
You know, one of the two days MOST people look at properties.
Do you tell them that? Do you put it in writing? Otherwise you are indeed breaking the commandments you so hold in reverence.
4 Wade Young // Jan 7, 2008 at 8:53 am
Brett-
I’m not a realtor.
5 Paul // Jan 7, 2008 at 9:11 am
“I’m not willing to break the 10 commandments to make a few bucks.”
Wade, thanks for the comments. Since you brought the bible into it, read Mark 2:23-28.
Also, there are a whole lot more than ten commandments and we are commanded to keep ALL of them.
My belief is that it’s lawful to do ‘good’ on the Sabbath. That’s what I hope we are all doing.
6 Franklin // Jan 7, 2008 at 9:38 am
I know I work on weekends, if only to respond to messages and keep things flowing. It inspires confidence in customers when they can find you willing to talk to them on a weekend.
7 Robert D. Ashby // Jan 7, 2008 at 9:56 am
Paul - good post on adapting to the changing environment and sharing what you did to keep the pipeline full.
Wade also does what he feels and I don’t blame him. He has his reasons, so if his pipeline is satisfactory to him, why change?
As for the bible, which I also believe in, I agree that working on the Sabbath is OK, if for good as you mentioned. I work virtually every Sunday, but not mortgages, rather I fly over the weekends, getting people where they need/want to go.
As for me, I have taken things to a different path altogether. Generally, I do not do mortgages on weekends at all, except maybe to answer emails to set up appointments for the following week. I also rarely answer the phone, so if my assistant is busy, you will get an answering machine, which happens most of the time. I make it fairly clear, including a post I did recently on my own blog, that I do business differently and the best first step is to email me to set up the first appointment.
I have my reasons and they are as follows. I fly sometimes during the week, so I can make appointments around that schedule as much as possible. I don’t waste time being interrupted by phone calls while I am writing, working with other clients, or during other “focused” times, so I am more productive when I work. Virtually whenever I am on the ground, I can get emails and voicemails, so I even do mortgage related work between flights and during stays in almost any city I fly to anywhere in the world. I have more, but I think people get the idea.
So, for those like Wade and the other readers out there, working weekends may not be the something they should do. But, as your main post pointed out, we all must be doing something and making the necessary changes to keep moving forward or we will become another “casualty”.
8 Wade Young // Jan 7, 2008 at 11:16 am
Paul-
You are right about Mark. To every rule there is always an exception, harvesting corn to fill one’s empty stomach and casting out demons being the two that come to mind.
However, God did not make one day for doing “good” and the other days for doing “bad.” So if the Bible insinuates that it is ok to do “good” on the Sabbath day, it must mean exceptional good. If work done on the Sabbath day was ok in God’s eyes as long as it was good work, then it nullifies the whole point of the Sabbath day because men should be doing good work all the time. Men should only engage in “good” work, never “bad” work. If I am called upon to do something exceptional on the Sabbath day, then I too will break the rule. However, I think that you will have a hard time getting theologians to add “lead follow up” to picking corn and casting out demons on the list of good works acceptable on the Sabbath.
I do, however, appreciate the idea of adapting to the changing environment. We all need strategies for ways to keep our pipelines full.
9 Paul // Jan 7, 2008 at 12:07 pm
“God did not make one day for doing “good” and the other days for doing “bad.””
Wow dude. I missed where I said that.
Wayne, you’ll notice in my post that I said it’s fine with me if someone takes an entire Saturday or Sunday off. Please reread the post.
“I think that you will have a hard time getting theologians to..”
I’m not concerned about what theologians do or don’t do. I stand individually accountable.
Bear in mind, the reasons God said no work on the Sabbath. Is it because God rested (Exd 20:10-11) or is it because God did work (Deu 5:14-15)? Do those verses conflict? No, they don’t.
They can be reconciled by understanding that God does the work for us.
And as for ‘good’, well…only God is good.
10 Wade Young // Jan 7, 2008 at 1:21 pm
“God did not make one day for doing “good” and the other days for doing “bad.” — I never said that you said that. I would have put in quotes if if I were quoting you. I was appealing to logic to sift out the definition of what the Bible meant as far as doing good on the Sabbath, exceptional good versus the ordinary good work of a man’s hands.
11 Paul // Jan 7, 2008 at 1:28 pm
“I was appealing to logic to sift out the definition of what the Bible meant as far as doing good on the Sabbath, exceptional good versus the ordinary good work of a man’s hands.”
They can be reconciled by understanding that God does the work for us.
And as for ‘good’, well…only God is good.
12 Wade Young // Jan 7, 2008 at 1:58 pm
We could argue the Bible stuff back and forth all day, but that is really the job of theologians. I understand why you want to work weekends. I will point out, however, that the leads generated over the weekend aren’t exactly cold on Monday. I’ve called leads all my adult life, and those leads are still hot. I’m going to find ways to generate business without working 7 days a week. Even car salesmen don’t work 7 days per week. They found a way to get things done in 6 days and so will I.
13 Paul // Jan 7, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Wade, my brother, you’ve missed the point of my post…
“On Saturday I set an appointment for my LO to prequalify a buyer from one of the call capture pages. She called the buyers and they qualify. She then calls a Realtor she recently met to refer the qualified buyers who desire to buy in his area. All of this takes place within the same hour. Now, here’s the punchline…
Realtor says he’ll call them on Monday.”
Saturday or Sunday - take a day off, no problem.
Take two days off, we have a problem!
BTW, I enjoy reading your posts/comments and I know you are a successful mortgage broker. We don’t always have to agree on everything.
I look at my clients as friends. My friends can call me anytime.
14 Wade Young // Jan 7, 2008 at 2:43 pm
We do not have to agree. All of the contributors here are exceptional people, so each will achieve success in his or her own way. I enjoy hearing how other people approach things.
15 Paul // Jan 7, 2008 at 2:45 pm
That’s what makes this a great place.
Thanks Wade.
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