ORIGINATION
STRATEGIES
CHANGE YOUR
QUESTION
AND YOU WILL
CHANGE YOUR
OUTCOME
Needle
by Casey Cunningham
Mover
I
t is a known fact that we all have the same amount of time every day
and yet, how is it some are much more productive than others? From
speaking to many top producers and highly successful people over
the years, I learned that the most successful ones are those who prioritize their days based on what is most important in their business.
After spending countless time observing and learning from these highly
successful individuals, I picked up a business practice that made me
very efficient for quite some time. What I did not know, however, was
there was an even better and more powerful business practice which I
eventually began using and still use today with extraordinary results.
26 MORTGAGE EXECUTIVE • 2015
2015 • MORTGAGE EXECUTIVE 27 ORIGINATION
STRATEGIES
B
I
n order to understand the full weight of how my
current business practice is significant, the knowledge of my initial one will bring you important insight. The first business practice I religiously used
was called the “Big Rocks” principle. The general
idea is that you do the significant things aka “Big
Rocks” first thing each day. With all of the demands
and distractions each day, it is easy to get distracted
and not get what is important completed. I saw a demonstration of this time management tactic with someone using a glass jar, sand and three big rocks.
Imagine having a glass jar that represents the
amount of time in your day; and then imagine that
sand is all the interruptions, small tasks and emails;
and the three big rocks are the important things you
need to get done that day. If you pour all of the sand
into the jar, there ends up not being enough space for
the three big rocks. This is the problem that most people have during their workday. They let the sand priori-
28 MORTGAGE EXECUTIVE • 2015
ecause this strategy worked so well for me
and increased my efficiency, I shared this
business practice with everyone. This was
the process that helped me in getting things
done. One day, however, an executive I had
an extremely high regard for in my company
actually advised that this was not the most effective
practice. He said there was an even better one for me
to adopt. This better practice is the “Needle Mover” exercise. He specifically said, “You have to change your
question and you will change your outcome.” Then
he asked me, “You might be getting three things done
everyday, but are they tasks that will change your company’s bottom line and the future of your organization?” Of course, they were the three important things I
needed to get done, but after reviewing the lists I kept,
I realized they were not game changers for my company’s bottom line.
He said, “Change the question. Don’t ask yourself
what are three big rocks you need to get done. Ask
yourself, what are the three things that will move the
needle in your business?” As I looked back, my big
rocks, such as organize my desk, work on marketing
collateral, clear all emails, etc., were helpful, but they
would not ultimately affect my business in the long
run. So I changed the question and it changed my out-
come beyond what I could imagine. I could literally
see the needle moving in my business. As a leader, the
reality I had to understand was all other things will get
taken care of, but the ones we must prioritize are what
drives our businesses top line revenue because unlike
the “sand” tasks, unless we focus on these, our sales
will never be maximized at the level we desire.
Changing the question moved the needle in my
business. I recommend that anybody who is in sales or
leadership in our industry start every Monday morning
with writing down the three activities that will move the
needle in their business. It is extremely important to actually write them down and it only takes a few minutes
because the question is so powerful and the answers are
quite often easy. So how do you get started? Begin with
this exact question, “What are the three things that will
move the needle in my business this week?” and write
your answers down. These answers help in setting the
priorities that will drive success and income. The key
to these answers is to be extremely specific. These are
supposed to be goal-oriented tasks, so they must be able
to be measured. You must state whom you are meeting
with, the number of times you must call this referral
source and who you are having lunch with. Maximize
your time to the fullest so you can achieve all of your
needle movers by the end of the week.
tize them and then they never get the most important
things done.
For example, they are in the middle of the “big rock”
task, and then they receive an email, switch their focus
and start working on the “sand” task. Even worse, people arrive to work, look at their inboxes and spend the
entire day focused on the “sand” tasks in their inboxes.
This turns into a slippery slope and eventually you are
prioritizing every day by your emails and there is not
enough room for the “big rocks.” Then ultimately, you
never get the important tasks done.
So how do you manage your day and what specifically do you do? You focus on the “big rocks” (put
them in the jar first) at the start of every day and get
them done. I was definitely more productive than the
average sales person because of this business practice.
I’ve seen people focus on the three most important
things everyday, get them done and definitely become
more productive… at least I thought!
2015 • MORTGAGE EXECUTIVE 29 ORIGINATION
STRATEGIES
Casey Cunningham
is the chief
executive officer
and founder of
Alpharetta, Georgiabased XINNIX, The
Mortgage Academy,
a provider of leadership development
and mortgage
sales training with
comprehensive
programs designed
to enhance productivity, manager
effectiveness and
overall company
profitability. She
can be reached at
[email protected].
XTION
XING
L
et me drive a little further on this new discipline.
When I ask salespeople in our industry, “What
three things will move the needle in your business?” the right answer should be moneymaking
activities such as, “meet with a specific realtor.”
They should not be activities like “maintain my
pipeline.” You should be maintaining your pipeline at
all times and if all you did was maintain your pipeline,
you would not experience growth. I can already hear
the argument that maintaining your pipeline is important and I do not disagree at all, BUT it is something that
you should already be doing! These three needle movers
are supposed to be production-driven. They are things
that will increase the productivity of your team and/or
increase your production. These are the three tasks that
if you get them done by the end of the week, you will
see a substantial change in your business.
Your goal at the end of the week is to have completed your three needle movers. The most important
aspect of this business practice is to keep yourself accountable for your three things. In order to get things
done in an effective manner, do not write the same
thing two weeks in a row. The most effective people
identify a task, write it down, then focus on the specific task and get it done. When filling out and executing these three needle movers, it is critical to focus on
them so the next week, you can focus on new ones and
you can continue to improve.
30 MORTGAGE EXECUTIVE • 2015
When I changed my thought process and changed
the question I asked myself everyday, I began to focus
on more substantial tasks. I left the “sand” to take care
of itself and became a more effective leader and business owner. Don’t let it scare you when I say it will be
taken care of. The “sand” tasks can still be done in between your needle movers. However, they should not
be your highest priorities anymore. They are not the
tasks that are going to increase your production.
In summary, to get started, I recommend everyone
start each Monday morning by writing down the three
things that will move the needle in their business. Once
you have them written down, show these to your mentor, manager and/or coach. This way, you can keep
yourself accountable and you also have a partner to
keep you accountable. Start on the first needle mover
and once it is done, check it off and show your accountability partner. At the end of the week, use it as a report
card to show yourself how well you are doing and what
you need to focus on next week. Remember, try to ensure your needle movers are different each week.
If you put this business practice in place: start each
Monday by asking yourself the powerful question,
open every single day with your specific plan and get
them done by the end of the week, you’ll see a radical
change in your business. ■
2015 • MORTGAGE EXECUTIVE 31