I had a great coaching call on Thursday with Shayla Gifford. She had just heard a guy speak at a builders conference and he was talking about P+G=C, which is \”pain\” + \”Gain\” = \”change\”….This was in relation to hiring people, which is something we all need to do. Do we want to hire someone with the promise of gain? or with the promise of solving their pain? Answer, to an extent, is both, but most people jump out and say \”gain\”, when in reality, we have a much better chance of success if we start with pain, solve the pain, and then move into gain. How many times have I been promised more money? bigger splits? etc…..My company treats me so well, the promise of gain isn\’t all that interesting to me, I have very little pain, so in reality, I’m not a good candidate for a recruiters \”suspect\” list (and that should be liberating for a recruiter once they know this). It’s the same for employees. I just hired a great LP 2 because she had pain, she was told she was going to be doing \”x\” by her previous employer when in fact they had her doing \”Y\”, and they didn\’t listen to her needs…I solved her pain by getting her back into what she wanted to be doing. I didn\’t promise her more money, I didn\’t promise her a different career, but I did solve her pain. Here are some thoughts I’ve taken away from this concept:
- Understanding a pain point can only come from asking questions and listening. Gain conversations only come from you talking. Never talk without listening first…you\’re flying blind if you do.
- Referral partners are no different. If you understand their pain points by asking questions, you have a much greater chance of creating a relationship. If I’m bragging to someone about my 21 day close for 10 minutes, and they tell me their avg escrow is 45 days and that’s fine, I look like a moron and just wasted their time.
- This is a game. If I’m competing against you, I\’m going to find out what your referral partners pain points are in dealing with you. we all need to reflect on what pain we cause other people, and fix it. You think your clients, referral partners, and team members would appreciate this question? YES. Its direct and it gets the answers you don\’t want to hear but need to hear. It shows you care. Surveys are not enough.
- Less emotional, more tactical. understanding \”why\” someone is or isn\’t interested in joining our team, or working with us as a referral partner takes the emotions out of it and allows us to focus on the next one. If you want to drive someone nuts, keep calling someone who doesn\’t have a problem, they don\’t need you to solve, that you never asked about in the first place….and then we wonder why they say \”PLEASE NEVER CALL ME AGAIN\”. Call with the purpose of understanding if someone has a pain point that you think you can fix. Be transparent and direct.
On all of your interviews, assuming you like the candidate, your first thought should be, what is their pain in their existing company, and am I capable of solving it? The same is true for clients and business partners. Take a moment and reflect back on all the decisions you’ve made in your business to get you to where you are today? Yes-without question, we need to make decisions based on growth but the starting point is usually pain. 10 years ago I came to RPM because I didn’t believe in the small brokerage I was working for. I had the wrong platform and I knew it. RPM didn’t guarantee me more money, but they understood what I needed because they asked me, and then they gave it to me. We need to be in alignment with our teams, referral partners, and clients…if we are, anything is possible, and if we’re not, it’s just a matter of time before it goes bad.
Hunter Marckwardt
Core Mortgage Coach
Executive Loan Advisor with