Hard skills like technical expertise are important -- but in the end it's the soft skills that win you customers.
By David Lykken
Special to MPA
When recruiting new people for our teams, we often look at the hard skills. We look at the technical expertise. How good are they with the software? How well can they craft a presentation? How efficient are they with crunching numbers? All of these things are necessary, but they aren't sufficient.
These "hard skills" are going to make you're team good--maybe even great--but they aren't going to make your team better than the competition. Deals are won by personal nuance. It's the positive tone of voice, the warm smile, the strong and reassuring handshake. In the end, the "soft" skills are what make you tough.
When you're building your team, pay attention to personality. Watch how the candidate interacts with others--from you to other employees to your receptionist. It's the soft skills--the people skills--that will give you the edge of the competition.
David Lykken is 40-year industry veteran who has been an owner operator of three mortgage banking companies and a software company. As co-founder and Managing Partner of Mortgage Banking Solutions, David consults on virtually all aspects of mortgage banking with special emphasis executive leadership development, corporate strategic direction and implementation as well as mergers & acquisitions. A regular contributor on CNBC and Fox Business News, David also hosts a successful weekly radio program called “Lykken On Lending” (www.LykkenOnLending.com) that is heard each Monday at noon (Central Standard Time) by thousands of mortgage professionals. Recently he started producing a 1-minute video called “Today’s Mortgage Minute” that appears on hundreds of television, radio and newspaper websites daily across America.
