It All Blew Up
I had a closing recently that went very poorly. Although it was nothing that I or my team did, it still reflected poorly on us and our company.
The title company that facilitated the closing and signing of the documents dropped the ball. Throughout the process they were nonresponsive with the selling agents requests, and at the closing table the 3rd party notary that they hired to have the seller sign the documents was terrible (it was an out-of-town signing hence a 3rd party notary was needed). The notary showed up 40 minutes late and then didn’t have all the documents needed for the seller to sign! The seller got emotional and started crying, and if it wasn’t for the seller’s title company person that stepped in and helped (the signing happened to transpire at the sellers preferred title company for logistics purposes) this deal would have never closed.
Even though I had nothing to do with this part of the transaction (my job is to mainly make sure the buyer and the buyer portion of the transaction is well taken care of), for this particular loan product and closing, we required both parties to use a title company that WE chose (usually the sellers/sellers agent choose the title company they want to work with, and the buyers/buyers agent choose the title company they want to work with.) Since we required everyone to use the same title company the egg is ultimately on our face! The seller agent was upset (why couldn’t we just use the title company we always use?), the buying agent was upset (why did you require me to put in the contract we had to use your title company?), and the sellers were upset (for obvious reasons).
I was copied on everything that was happening and I saw it all going south right before my eyes. I tried in a subtle but firm way to guide the situation to a more positive outcome, but much of what was going on was beyond my and my teams’ control.
A Real Christian Businessman knows that in situations like this that may reflect poorly on us but are beyond our control it can be very hard to manage! Even though I wanted to also get upset and start blaming people for what happened (my company, the title company, the notary), somehow I kept my cool and talked to leadership about the situation calmly and how we could make it right once it was all over.
When we have a situation that is beyond our control, yet it reflects poorly on us, remember to take the high road and react in a calm yet firm manner. Even though we end up with the blame and an indirect black eye, our reaction to it all is what people will remember.
Don’t blow up too!
“In your anger do not sin, Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Eph 4:26-27 (NIV)