Holiday Times In Your Office
So the holidays are just around the corner. The office is decorated and gift packages are making the rounds throughout the office. Each day we find new treats in the kitchen or on the receptionist’s desk, and everyone seems to be relaxing. Hey…business is off by 50%. Right?

Hey it's the holidays, and business is down. Well, although I hear that logic from many brokers we deal with, it should not be the case. We need to be careful not to use the holidays as an excuse for month-end volumes. Instead, we should be taking advantage of this precious time.

Let's face it. Throughout the year, we're lucky we have enough time to finish our coffee before it gets cold — let alone worry about tasks that don’t specifically generate closed loans. But now is really your time to set the groundwork for 2007.

Dust off your old leads, and get some phone time in with your newer loan officers. Schedule training within your office. Look at your internal systems and what problems you have experienced over the past year, and determine what needs improvement. Get your IT dept to take a peek into your database, and do some housekeeping. Consider a holiday e-mail to your house file. Contact your vendors , and take some time to review both the good and bad that you experienced throughout the year. Look through your schedules or planners of clients you wanted to meet, but did not have the luxury to schedule time with them.

Although the holidays do slow down your business, it should not prevent you from reallocating your efforts to insure that 2007 starts off solid. I wish you and your families the very best this holiday season!

Submitted by Greg Kazmierczak