The Self Correcting Loop: Another Loop Brought To You By GenuineChris

by Chris Johnson

Instigator, anthill kicker.

Author website

When I was a mortgage guy, when I doubled my volume and income in 2007, I did it because I created systems and loops.

Systems: do the same thing every time.

Loops: have an end point that, on every job, fixes the system.

At the end of every transaction, no matter how routine, I would write down the points of friction, error and mistake. I’d write down EVERYTHING, try to get the # of phone calls down, focusing on delays and customer impacting changes.

I learned to have “Accurate Hud-1, Day 1” as a standard that I forced title companies to adhere to.
I sent DAILY updates to every party to the transaction: buyer, seller, listing agent, selling agent, title company. I stopped doing business with buyers that didn’t like this. That practice preserved good will on one transaction that had been put in a flood zone that requires flood insurance, to the benefit of all parties.
This was stuff that I learned because of operational flexibility. I had a survey for my customers, and myself. The one for myself I was more concerned with. “How many touches/phonecalls/passes…did this need,” and most importantly, “what can I do better next time.”

I Ignored My Own Advice When I Learned a New Business.

What Can I do better? That question, on every deal, no matter how routine, makes us better practitioners. When I went into the Web marketing thing, I avoided it for a while as I learned the topography and what I was good at. I was too focused on making ends meet. The teeth of the hydra–the nonsense that is the IRS–was upon me, so I was focused on right now selling.
When you’re burdened by time debt, you don’t have the operational flexibility to be proactive. When scarcity creeps in, you can’t be as proactive as you want. You feel scared. And your flailing and not doing the work that makes the most difference.
I had a mediocre business, that is now enjoying rapid improvement by having a self correcting loop.

What Is A Self Correcting Loop?

Has four steps:
1.) Have a process, send people through the process.
2.) Solicit feedback from everyone in the transaction at various points, especially from the end. Collect data.
3.) Figure out what things are likely to recur at some point, and were not unique to this transaction (hint: what’s important in one phase may be unimportant later).
4.) Add new steps to the process that prevent or mitigate bad factors…so you run people through the process again.
For the real estate business, it’s knowing what’s next. People wanna know what’s next at all times. For the web business they want similar situations, but the bottom line is this: every deal makes you smarter, better, more & more fun.

Why Don’t People Do This?

Fear and Ego. No, not in the good, Greg Swann way, but in the way that is destructive. I’m not always perfect. I have given people crappy service (and refunds, when called on). I have underdelivered and overpromised. (And I am working on it.) There is resistance to admitting limitation and imperfection. There is resistance to admitting that you’re not perfect because you haven’t made the leap that allows you to overcome the Implied Accusation.
You need to know that you probably have vast blind spots. Things that you do that piss people off, that slow down deals. You need to know, no matter your profession, how to fix it, how to be a better people helper. Why? Because that’s your calling card. A standard of excellence, a good example. Getting these out is quick and simple.
Make a survey, put it in Cforms, act on the results, add questions and remove questions as your competencies shift. Get better ON PURPOSE.

I’m doing it over the weekend, figuring out times and places to intentionally solicit feedback that improves my system. I’m doing it within the context of some WICKEDLY cool software called Digital Access Pass, which will also get some ink spilled here.
This may wind up being Chris Johnson weekend here at BHB, as I share the cool stuff I’m building.