October 03, 2008
Steve Beecham never planned to get into the mortgage business, but once he took that step, he was glad he did.
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Bio
Steve Beecham is president of Home Town Mortgage, and an Atlanta native.
He attended Roswell High School and West Georgia College before opening his first business at age 23, Beecham's Fine Clothing. In 1992 he entered the mortgage industry, starting Home Town Mortgage in 1997. He is a member of the Georgia Association of Mortgage Brokers, and has served as its president.
He is the past chairman of the Roswell Ducks Unlimited Chapter, a board member of the Alpharetta Rotary Club and co-chair of the Rotary International Committee, whose members travel to other countries to assist the needy.
Beecham and several other businessmen are forming First Milton Bank in organization. |
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The Alpharetta businessman got into the business because a friend convinced him to make the career change.
"I didn't want to do it, but he was making more money than anyone I knew," Beecham said. "Once I got in, the money quit, but I enjoyed the business.
"One thing I read, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. It's already there," Beecham said.
He followed this advice and tried to speak with the top five loan officers at the time in Atlanta. Three of the five granted him interviews, while a fourth talked to him when he just walked in.
Beecham's mission was to figure out what was similar about how they did business.
"What I found out was that they all had some sort of marketing thing that was constant and consistent," he said.
Anyone who has received his newsletter from Home Town Mortgage knows how he applied that lesson.
But he had to meet more people to get more names into his database of people to send the newsletter. That played right into his social nature, but he thought he needed something more.
"How do you wow somebody? How do you get somebody to refer somebody to you?" he wondered.
In the perfect situation, a prospect would call him, telling Beecham someone told him to call.
"How did I make that happen?" he asked himself.
The only way it happens is to wow somebody so they convince someone else to call you, he said.
Beecham started thinking about what makes someone else pass along your name.
"What I discovered was the wow comes from the individual conversation that you have with somebody," he said.
Social conversation, such as asking how was their day or vacation, didn't wow anyone. But if he delved in deeper, asking questions that showed he was interested in that other person, he'd learn two things: What's going on with your life that's painful and what's in your life that's a hobby or you are passionate about.
So if he learned someone's passion was to create Web pages for non-profits on the weekends, sometime he'd hear about a non-profit with a Web page. And if the non-profit had pains with that Web site, he could connect them.
"If I can hook up people's pleasures with other people's pains, that's how I wow people," Beecham said.
"That has been the success to my business, totally different from everybody else," he said.
Having 10 to 15 of these types of conversation a week brings it back around.
"My advice to people would be to quit concentrating on you, concentrate on the other person. Figure out how that will come back to you," he said.
He also joined Vistage, a CEO group with about a dozen members, all people who own their own businesses. Each person brings a specialty to the meeting, whether that's human resources, accounting, marketing or other business practices.
"For small business people it is critical that you understand that you are not alone," he said. "The downside of a mentor is mentors are typically good in some areas, not so strong in others."
Beecham takes this a step farther along, inviting a circle of friends and acquaintances to his cabin in the mountains once a month. Everyone sits in a circle, says what troubles them. The rest of the group listens, asks questions, and a few are likely to have advice. No judgements are passed. What was confusing can become clear to make those decisions. In this day of cell phones, text messaging, blogs and e-mail, Beecham has been surprised by the number of handwritten notes and thank you cards he's received from the men who participate.
How else can an entrepreneur get help?
"Most people that you know want to help you in any way they can. The problem is, you haven't told them that you need their help," Beecham said.
What's the biggest mistake Beecham sees entrepreneurs make?
"They are inside their store looking out, instead of outside looking in," he said.
When he was in the club business in the past, he had an experienced businessman come over and check out his club. Before he set foot inside, he told Beecham to stand out in the parking lot, and ask yourself why would somebody want to go in – there's got to be some lure bringing people to you.
Some small business people in retail will sit in their stores all day long, waiting for customers.
"Most people don't understand that nothing happens until somebody sells something," he said.
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