Presented to the National Association of Mortgage Field Services. The third part of a 3 Part Series to provide information to Mortgage Field Services Companies and Inspection Companies in preparation for potentially increased volumes in 2021 and 2022. Rand Consulting and C Harbour Services collaborate to provide useful information for small and mid-sized mortgage field service companies.  The information can be useful for small and mid-sized companies in any industry.

Market Position – Strategy

Decide

Network

Commit

Network-Market Your Business

Commit to Strategy

Track Results

#businessstrategy #marketing #strategicgrowth #crm #businessdevelopment

Eric Miller, Executive Director of National Association of Mortgage Field Services and I discuss business strategy including: 

"You can’t jump into the deep end, but you also can’t just put your pinky toe in and say I don’t like this. You’ve got to find something to commit to and there has to be a strategy around it. Those are things that have to happen. It has to be mindful. It has to be thought out. It’s not just going to magically happen." 

#businessstrategy #mortgageservicing #fhaloans #businessdevelopment #strategicthinking #fieldservices #propertypreservation #proppres #singlefamilyrentals #inspections #insuranceloss

Season 2 kicks off with an episode that focuses on:

Business Startup Strategy:

Best Start-Up Strategy = "BELIEVE IN YOURSELF AND WHAT YOU ARE DOING"

Focusing on a mission can go a long way to maintain business during trying times.

Keys for managing a business during a Global Pandemic

Looking at strategic business opportunities in HubZones.

Focusing on heritage, in this case the Choctaw Nation, to create meaningful jobs to historically underserved areas.

I kicked off my business Podcast  (Harbourtime Strategy Talks) and spent 3 months on “Season 1”.  These are the lessons learned during my initial venture into Podcasting.

A Podcasting Tool is a Necessity

Podcasting is Hard Work

The Right Tools are Key

Atmosphere Matters

Add Video When Possible

Bandwidth Is Important

Podcasts Can Actually Produce Revenue

You Must Provide Value

 Are leaders born or made? 

When you think business strategy, it is difficult to think about how any company could develop or implement a strategy without at least one person taking on some leadership.

Leadership is just something that we see all the time - I’m sure we can all think of examples of lack of leadership – how it affected a business plan, a war time plan, a sports game plan.

Leadership is a broad topic – we will focus in on Leadership as a Business Strategy.

Mike Harbour is President and CEO of Harbour Resources Leadership Consulting.

In this episode we will focus on:

Why Mike Harbour focuses on Leadership (you might be surprised - it's not the run of the mill answer.): 

The importance of “leadership” and “leadership development” and where they fit on the strategy ladder.

"Great leaders know the way, show the way, and go the way”. This is from Mike's LinkedIn Page -- we will take a deeper look into what this means.

Mike's Favorite Business Leader ----

And we will put it to rest and answer whether leader are born or made!

collinharbour.com

I’ve spent the last 10 years in an industry where the companies outsource many of their non-core functions.  I’ve spent it, however, on the “other side” of the equation.  That is, I've been the vendor trying to get business from large companies.    I’ve been the one calling on sourcing and working with vendor management groups.  It’s been a fun ride, and I’ve learned a lot along the way.  In this episode, we will focus on how a company can improve its chances of winning big contracts.  

Launa Lawhorn of Impact Leadership Institute (and former Baylor Executive MBA Classmate of mine) will walk us through the vendor management life cycle from both sides of the equation - the vendor management side and the vendor side.  Launa recently posted a series on LinkedIn and she began with, “I am passionate about the vendor management lifecycle because when done right businesses will reduce costs, minimize risks, and improve the quality of services received.”

Because of her passion, she will walk us through the following questions:

What happens to a company if a company does not have the right vendor management strategies in place?

From a strategic standpoint, how can a company maximize its vendor management relationships?

What size does the company need to be to have a dedicated “Vendor Management Group”?

What should the vendors be doing to firm up their finances, technology, operations and reputation in order to work with companies that outsource and manage the relationships with vendor management groups?

Empowerment can mean a lot of things.  “Consumer Empowerment” is something that should be of great interest to all of us.

Utilizing personal Data is a way to empower yourself as a consumer.

From a marketing strategy standpoint, Data Security and Consumer Consent are two key issues facing all Businesses that have customers . . . well, I guess that means all businesses.

A recent HBR Article concluded: “To maintain compliance — as well as consumer trust — companies must invest in automation and analytics tools that safeguard customer privacy.” 

Businesses must focus on the legal side of data protection and consumer consent, as well as the reputational risk that can occur if consumers lose trust.

Both sides of the discussion are covered in this week’s Harbourtime Strategy Talks Podcast.  Jon Davis from BIGtoken shows us how the consumer can become empowered . . .

but also discusses how this same process can help companies and marketers create more targeted approaches to their customers.

In January 1996, Bill Gates published an essay titled “Content is King”, which was published on the Microsoft website.  A couple of interesting quotes, especially considering it was 1996:  

“One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone with a PC and a modem can publish whatever content they can create. In a sense, the Internet is the multimedia equivalent of the photocopier. It allows material to be duplicated at low cost, no matter the size of the audience.”    

“If people are to be expected to put up with turning on a computer to read a screen, they must be rewarded with deep and extremely up-to-date information that they can explore at will. They need to have audio, and possibly video. They need an opportunity for personal involvement that goes far beyond that offered through the letters-to-the-editor pages of print magazines.”  

When I reviewed your LinkedIn profile, you say that you help others “build community and engagement”.   What do you mean by “build community an engagement” and why is it important to build community and engagement?   a. If "Content is King", "Engagement is Queen".  You can post all kinds of content, but if you don’t engage with your audience, through comments, build rapport and  relationships then it is not good.  Engagement allows you to build relationships and trust.  b. Engagement=always commenting on other stuff and commenting on those that comment on your feed.  You have to go out and engage in the content.   c. It’s a little networking event inside the comments.  Let’s talk about what you call the “4 Purposes of Content”: 

1. Educational 

2. Informational 

3. Inspirational 

4. Entertainment.

Have you ever thought about the baseball concept known as “just make contact”?

Before the 2020 Major League Baseball season started, I was watching a Dodgers game from around 2016-ish. A batter (I wish I would have noted who) was at the plate, and the announcers noticed that he had been “struggling at the plate” for quite a while. As the next pitch came in, he hit a dribbler between first and second and the runner on second scored . . . the struggle at the plate had ended. The announcer said, “Sometimes you just need to make contact.”

That has stayed with me for a while. I heard that many times playing baseball throughout my life. What is that you literally or metaphorically “just need to make contact” on? If you have a stalled deal right now, it might be literally: Text, Email, Telephone.

Just.Make.Contact.

If you have other problems, think about what you can do to metaphorically “just make contact” to overcome the issue. I recently started going through old Texts, Emails and LinkedIn messages. I made an enormous list of people that I will literally be contacting in one form or another. A lot of this has to do with “catching up”, but much of it has to do with my new business – and what I can do to grow my business services to others.

Out of these contacts, I have two consulting contracts and several more meetings to go – and I  have only scratched the surface of the list.

Just.Make.Contact.