I Lost A Deal
It is a very competitive market in the mortgage industry today. Families are very cost conscious when it comes to their fees and interest rates. Mortgage lenders have shaved as much cost out of the process as we possibly can so we can be ultra competitive.
On top of that, there just aren’t that many loans going around right now, so when you get an opportunity to work with someone who is close to owning their home you want to take full advantage.
I had a family go under contract this week that I had been working with for awhile. They were so excited about the prospect of moving into their new home!
As is the case many times as of late, you start out with someone, advise them on the process, what to expect, provide them with stellar customer service along with competitive rates and costs, only to find that when they go under contract for a home they start shopping for “better pricing” than what I am able to offer at that particular time.
That’s what happened in this case, and I lost the deal with them.
For those of you that know me, I am very competitive. I want to win! I am not a fan of losing especially when it directly affects my pocketbook.
Once the final decision had been made by the family and I knew I no longer had a chance of working with them, I graciously bowed out. I wished them well, told them that if things didn’t work out for them with the lender they had chosen I would be glad to help them pull things through and I was happy for them to be moving into their new home.
But that is not how I wanted to react.
A Real Christian Businessman knows that when we lose out on a deal we are always to take the high road even if we are upset about the situation at hand. I felt like I had been sucker punched by this family – having worked with them for a long period of time, getting to know them and working after hours to answer all of their myriad of questions that they had.
Yet it’s how we react to situations like this that defines who we are inside. Giving them a piece of my mind would not have made one bit of difference to bolster my character or to win them back. It actually would have reflected badly on me in the long run as well as my company.
So the next time you lose out on a deal to a competitor like I just did just remember who we ultimately represent. Let’s be a representative of the King, even if we don’t want to.
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31 (NIV)