From time to time I have re-published on this discussion board, articles which have run in our own free monthly newsletter. A few weeks ago I wrote the following piece for our February 1st newsletter; I hope you like it:
Why’s the Mortgage Business Like a Restaurant?
Restaurants are different one from another. Some are fast food, some are diners, some nationwide or regional chains, franchises, family coffee shops, fine dining places, and so on. There's an owner, some have a parking lot attendant, a hostess/greeter, a special dessert cart or wine server, bus boys, someone that created the menu, cooks and chefs, theme designer, etc. All are important people, and any one of them can make our dinner out an awful mess, or a delightful experience.
Mortgage operations are similar, several different positions make a mortgage company operate; which position do you hold? Are you the cook, the dishwasher, a waiter/waitress, the owner, or whatever?
I associate an LO with the wait service people, but look at the tremendous differences between the necessary skill level of waiters and waitresses at the different sorts of restaurants. See in your minds just how different they can be at a local mom & pop diner, at Denny's, or Carl Jr's, maybe at TGI Fridays, and an upper class steak house. Same holds true with LO’s – their job duties and talent levels vary widely. Think about it. Different job duties, from company to company.
Imagine a bunch of waiters at a conference, sitting around drinking ice tea (?) and shooting the bull, or all talking inside a forum on an industry discussion board - can you see the conflicts, confusion, and misunderstandings which may arise (especially if someone else in their industry like maybe an owner or two stop in to chat as well). Does one of those servers who works for this or that fast paced franchise, think he/she is the
heavy hitter in the room? Do you think maybe some of them feel without them, the restaurant wouldn't thrive? But what damage could the parking lot attendant or maybe the cook do?
Ya see, it takes a team to succeed. The only indispensable person is the owner, and even at that, he/she may not carry their own weight.
So … who’s the most important person at the mortgage operation or the restaurant? Can you even say it’s any ‘one’ of them – unless they work together, and
understand their job position's relative importance to the end product, any one of them can make or break the business.
