It’s no secret that I have a real affinity for your Earth sports, and lately, we’ve been bombarded by a star shower of events. There’s the Winter Olympics, the Super Bowl, college and pro basketball, hockey, soccer, you name it. I event caught some dodgeball and other seldom seen sports on The Ocho!
While my alien cranium has been saturated with sports options, one event shines like the pinnacle of Mt. Matrak on Amicitia… that is, if you can call it an event. It’s more like hundreds of events all wrapped into one. I’m referring to the Winter Olympics. One of those singular events that I watched was ski jumping. I couldn’t help but think of that poor Earthling they showed every week on Wide World of Sports. He wasn’t demonstrating the thrill of victory but rather the agony of defeat.
A quick side note: I’ve learned much about your planet and humans from the television archives my fellow Amicitians and I collected prior to my trip and eventual residency here on Earth. And good news – the ski jumper only suffered minor injuries, and he returned to ski jumping shortly thereafter. He may have suffered agony with his unfortunate accident, but in no way was he defeated.
And that’s been a common thread I’ve noticed throughout the winter games. A snowboarder crashed twice on the halfpipe but came back to win the event on his third and final run. One of the hockey teams was convincingly overplayed for an entire game, but in the final minute, they gave it their all to tie and eventually win the game. A skier who happened to be the oldest in the field wiped out in his first event, but when given an unexpected second chance at another event, he took home the gold.
There are so many examples from this year’s games alone, but the bottom line is this: These athletes and teams never gave up and kept trying, delivering the best of themselves that they could. Unlike my examples above, many of these cases didn’t necessarily result in a win; however, they showed just as much grit and determination as the others. You could clearly see in their eyes that this isn’t the end but rather the beginning of their journey to the next competition.
I was waiting for the mortgage lending events to start up, but I’ve been told they are not a part of the Olympics. Nevertheless, we’re all in competition in mortgage lending every day, particularly in the credit union space. In the total mortgage lending industry, credit unions account for approximately 9% of the closed loans, and with that number staying steady over the last several years, we can safely classify ourselves as an underdog – but an underdog who knows the industry and the borrowers better than any of the competition.
Credit unions certainly don’t have millions of dollars to spend on advertisements during the Olympics or the Super Bowl, but what we do have is tentacles above what big ads hope to deliver. We have relationships with our members, relationships built on trust and dedication, knowing that both partners in the relationship are striving for the same goal – home ownership.
As true subscribers to the credit union way of doing business, we don’t go into a mortgage application with a member to earn medals or trophies or any type of recognition. Our award is getting more members into homes, and that’s invaluable when compared to a gold medal or even the Super Bowl’s Lombardi Trophy. It’s what makes credit unions unique and establishes us as the ideal place – in my opinion, the ONLY place – for a potential homeowner to seek out a mortgage loan.
As a credit union mortgage lender, you should be striving for these types of results for your members every day by preparing yourself just like an athlete prepares for competition. You practice regularly, or as we’d rather refer to it, you train to be a great mortgage lender (the myCUmortgage Training Team would be happy to meet you in the gym… eh… virtual classroom). You also stay up on the rules of the game, or as we look at it in mortgages, you keep up on compliance and regulatory requirements. Most of all, you work with your coach, a job myCUmortgage yearns for.
Doing all of this and maintaining that credit union positive attitude will get you and your member to the podium every time. We’re talking a “W” on the scoreboard and all “10s” from the panel of judges (well, all except the judge from Bankerstan, who consistently scores your efforts low). And always remember, even it you don’t win at every attempt, get back up and use what you’ve learned to try again. THAT’S how you become a GREAT mortgage lender!