Providers of professional services come in many roles and titles, but the truth is, professional service customers exercise a brutal taxonomy — to them, any given provider fits one of two categories: expert or salesman. Now, we’ve all met so-called “experts” who were little more than very clever salesmen, and we’ve all worked with salesmen who’ve surprised us with genuinely helpful expertise. But again, it’s our customers’ perspective that counts, and in their minds, the distinction is simple: Salesmen are people who chase after us, hungry for work; experts are people we actively seek out, money in hand.

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Ah, if only the people around us were more professional. Our lives would be easier, our businesses would grow more effortlessly, we’d find our jobs more fulfilling… the list of dramatic benefits can go on and on. But what does it mean to be more professional? More importantly, what can we do to make sure that we, and our associates, are becoming ever more professional?

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Whether you are an individual loan officer, a branch manager, or the owner of your own mortgage shop, you can benefit from exposure available through the media.  It’s usually free and has tremendous reach – are you taking advantage? Everyone has a story to tell and often times that story is newsworthy, especially if you are in a relatively high profile position in the community.  Mortgage and real estate companies should defnitely consider themselves as having a high profile community position, and as such, a well-formed press release can get you more high quality exposure than any other advertising campaign could.

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