The Officer’s Secret

I have a secret… Click here to learn the almost guarded secrets… Learn this mystery now before the authorities shut this internetlocation down… We’ve seen all the “secret” ads haven’t we? Even altho we are painfully conscious that there is very little new beneath the sun, it may be rather difficult to protest that one little nagging doubt that you listen in the back of your mind telling you that maybe…Just possibly this time will be dissimilar and there actually is numerous jealously guarded mystery that is making the top 2% wealthy while all the other loan officers work harder and harder each day just to make ends meet.

As I sat down to assemble this article, I dug into my retail archives to review galore of my most successful campaigns. After spending with regards to 45 minutes thumbing through each file, and reviewing endless conversion ratios, lead follow-ups and more, I was capable to tell apart sure mutual constituents that you may commence using right now, while 2008 is still fresh, to see more leads, more closings, and more success. We all want those things right? Who doesn’t?

Non-Secret #1 -

Stop worrying

Wow! There’s a shocker for you! See? I told you this was a non-secret! But let me explain what I mean when I say that you will have to stop worrying. To better explain this, I need for you to think when it comes to the top constructing loan officers out there. Those who are closing 5, 10, 15 or more loans each and each month, even in a down market.

It’s easy to feel jealous of their seemingly smooth marketing campaigns and referral networks that land lay-down deals into their laps without so much as a cold call. But let’s slap on our ‘this is reality’ glasses for a moment here and genuinely dive into what we’re seeing here. No one becomes a loan officer with a ready made network or syndication campaign. It takes effort, and a large total of it to build a foundation that will deliver leads to you on such a high level.

These top manufacturers had to get started somewhere, and chances are that ‘somewhere’ involved cold calls, realtor meetings, and lots of rubbing elbows to build! Stop worrying when it comes to potential rejection, and just do the things you know need to be done! We’ll sing in our showers in crackly out of tune voices when we think no one is around, but as soon as we think there is an audience, or potential for rejection, we clam up!

The truth is, these persons that might tell you “no” probably dedicate less than 20 seconds of total thought to you. These persons are busy and have ten thousand other things to occupy their thoughts, and you and I are not high up on that list. So what is so scary when it comes to being told “no”? If you may just get past that initial fear that is keeping you back, you will discover a bright new world of future prospects or potentials and income. The law of averages are in your favor. A loan officer using even a decent script who is committed to making sufficient phone calls or office visits each day would be hard pressed not to double or triple his/her income.

Sure, you don’t want to use a cold call system forever, but once build sufficient income and sufficient momentum, then you may commence taking into account other courses of action. There are so a good deal of ways to earn cash even in the worst of markets that you have to wonder how a great deal of chances slipped through your perceive because of this paralyzing fear of rejection that afflicts most loan officers.

Stop worrying, start out working, and your paycheck will thank you later.

Non-Secret #2

Stop Camouflaging yourself!

If you do a bit of digging around on industry websites, you will find that an overpowering majority of loan officers earn less than even an intermediate income. I don’t point this out for nefarious purposes, but to make something crystal clear: “Copying what everyone else is doing when it comes to marketing and merchandising yourself is akin to signing a death sentence to your paycheck!” Not to be over-dramatic here, but you must agree, that in an industry where so much contest exists, copying what everyone else is doing will accomplish little more than see to it that you stand out with regards to as much as mini-van on a crowded highway.

When you have so a good deal of people calling up potential clients using “safe” uninteresting scripts, boring emails, uninspired mailers, and using the same proficiencies that haven’t worked for years, scared to step out of their ease zone; then what you have is a bunch of people who do little more than blend in with each other in the eyes of the consumer. Sorry, but the last time I checked, the U.S. Military calls that camouflage, and uses similar principles to hide from their enemies!

Should we genuinely be hiding from our prospects? Take a prospect for a change! Quit telling yourself that you need more practice, and do something unexpected. Give yourself a goal of starting a blog and sticking with it… Learn all the great places you may network online, at Chamber of Commerce meetings and more. Challenge yourself to speak with the top 200 real estate agents in your town this month, just to see what could happen. Pick up the phone and call 10 For Sale By Owner’s this week, just because you can.

Will you get business from these activities? While it’s surely very likely, and hard not to, there is no way to recognise for sure. But let’s stop and assume for 1 second that you did not get any business from these actions this month. Is that so terrible? At the very least, you learned a whole lot more from chatting with 200 top developing agents than you would have sitting around worrying regarding what you’re going to do to drum up more business. You learned industry lingo, assembled email addresses, built a database of agents to follow-up with and more! Lessons earned through your own activenesses stick with you far more than anything you were told by someone else, and assumed was true.

So the worst case scenario is you are moving the wheel of progression again, and conquering your fears. Oh yea, and you’re off to a fantasti new beginning of NOT blending in with the crowd! Congratulations!

Non-Secret #3

Believe for a change

Over the holidays, I met with a great deal of family and friends as is tradition. I noticed a pattern. Year after year after year, the same friends and family tell me when it comes to all these awful projects they are working on, and idea’s they are planning on implementing. The amusive thing is, a heap of of what they have to say makes a whole lot of sense, and I’d love to see them in action.

Unfortunately, most persons seem to be content with daydreaming in regards to what could be, rather of in truth finding out original hand if they may succeed. Some of these stories I’ve been hearing when it comes to for more than a decade, but still, not even a firstborn step has been taken. Now I want you to ask yourself why this is? Is it because persons are all lazy? I don’t believe that is the answer. Is it because these persons lack the necessary skill to follow through with their plans? I doubt that as well.

In my personal and modest opinion, I believe that most persons fail to follow through with their ideas and plans because they merely are not 100% convinced they may or will succeed. For most loan officers, it appears that they listen so much negativity from day to day; it is difficult to veritably believe without a doubt that they will reach their goals. When you think when it comes to earning a 6-figure income (Assuming that were a goal of yours of course), does it seem like galore far off distant dream world to you, or may you visualize this reality and feel a burning passion to make this take place ASAP.

We are far more likely to follow through with something, and to stick with it when we recognise it is not only possible, but very likely that we will succeed. See, if I told you that I would recompense you $100,000 if you just picked up the phone and listened to a dial tone for 2 hours each day, 5 days per week, for the next 3 months would you do it? If I had that check with your name on it ready to hand over to you, how a lot of of you would turn it down? Not a good deal of I bet!

Why? Because you see the reward right in front of you, and you recognise that picking up and keeping a phone is something that you may do, no matter how boring. (Maybe you’d watch some TV to pass the time?) Yet, 2 hours of calling each day for 3 months to top devising real estate agents, or other affiliate roots may build a foundation to a much more spectacular income if handled correctly; but most loan officers keep away from this type of selling and provide excuses such as “it doesn’t work” or “I don’t like realtors/CPA’s/CFP’s etc.”

Believe in yourself, and kick the excuses to the curb. Spend sufficient time planning and getting outstanding training (This ordinarily means spending cash – invest in yourself!), and then carry out your plan! Part of the Loan Officer Marketing Lab program is we provide loan officers will floods of material and training resources to learn how to become an expert at marketing. We cover email, online strategies, database/auto responders, direct marketing, mailing, demonstrations and far more. Funny thing is, so a heap of originators seem to keep away from this level of training, and tell me they just want the basics

Here’s something for you to consider though. If you become a true expert in sales and marketing, will you ever go hungry? I don’t care who you want to target, or in what industry, the art and science of lead generation is and always will be in demand! All businesses huge and little need new leads and new clients to survive. If you are an expert in that field, you will always be more valuable than the next guy, who all else being equal, lacks your skillfulness at lead generation.

So please, trust in yourself, trust in your abilities, and trust in your merchandising (Assuming you take the time to learn). By incorporating these 3 non-secrets into your business, you may thrive even in a down market.

The Officers Secret

In the middle of the night, Maggie Bennett finds her army officer sister dead in her military housing. She’s devastated by the loss of the estranged sibling with whom she was attempting to reconnect. But as U.S. Army criminal investigations agent Nate Patterson begins asking questions with regards to the officer’s distrustful death, Maggie can’t tell the handsome man everything she knows. Except that her sister was unquestionably murdered—for a mystery Maggie can’t share. Then she walks into the killer’s trap and has to trust Nate with the truth…and her heart.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Chief Warrant Officer Nathaniel Patterson, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division, got the call at 0315. Possible suicide at Quarters 1448 Hunter Road.

Arriving fifteen minutes later, he parked behind two MP sedans and stepped from his car, adjusting his weapon on his hip. Although Nate hadn’t known Major Bennett, the death of an officer was significant, and tonight, the combined resources of the military police and the army’s major crime unit, the CID, had been called in to investigate the case.

Headlights signaled an approaching vehicle. Nate waited as his friend and fellow agent, Jamison Steele, crawled from his late-model sports car. Dressed in a tweed sports coat and gray trousers, he looked like a fashionable young executive in contrast to Nate’s run-of-the-mill navy blazer and khaki slacks.

With a hasty nod, Jamison fell into step besides Nate and followed him up the front steps in silence. Before either man could knock, Corporal Robert Mills opened the door. The young MP had the makings of a future CID particular agent if he learned to keep his more or less self-centered ego in check. Nate chalked it up to youth.

Hopefully over time, his impetuous nature would mellow.

Raising his right hand to his forehead, Mills saluted the two warrant officers. “Evening, Mr. Patterson. Mr. Steele.”

The agents returned the salute and stepped into the brightly lit foyer. Nate glanced into the living room where a woman sat huddled in a high-backed chair. Blue-green eyes looked up with the hollow look with fixed eyes of shock he’d seen too a great deal of times at crime scenes. The raw emotion written so distinctly on her face brought home the tragic reality of what had happened tonight.

Their eyes met and held for an instant, causing an unexpected warmth to curl through Nate’s gut. Then, tugging on a strand of her auburn hair, she dropped her gaze, breaking their momentary connection and leaving Nate with an emptiness he couldn’t explain. Probably the middle-of-the-night phone call and his try to respond as quickly as possible that had thrown him more or less out of sync.

Or perchance it was the woman—a family member, perhaps.

Putting a humane face on the tragedy—a very finelooking face—intensified his desire to learn the truth with regards to what had happened tonight. Nate was good at what he did. Tonight he wanted to be even better. The woman deserved as much. So did the victim waiting for him upstairs.

Bottom line, the army took care of it is own in life and exceptionally so in death. He motioned Corporal Mills into the kitchen as Jamison headed upstairs. Nate pulled out a little notebook and ballpoint pen from his breast pocket then, letting down his voice, he nodded toward the living room. “So who’s the woman?”

“She’s the sister of the deceased, sir. Name’s Margaret Bennett, but she goes by Maggie. She found the major’s body in the attic.”

Nate knew how tough it was to lose a sibling. He thought of his own brother. Although eight years had divided them in age, they’d always been close.

He scribbled Maggie’s name on a blank page of his notebook. “Apparent suicide?”

“Roger that, sir. Major Bennett hung herself from a rafter. Sergeant Thorndike’s upstairs. He wanted me to check for prints.”

A half-empty bottle of cabernet sat on the counter. Nate pointed to a wineglass, stained with residue. “Be sure to send off a toxicology sample on whatever’s in the bottom of that glass.”

“Yes, sir.”

Opening the dishwasher, Nate applied a latex glove he pulled from his pocket and lifted a second wineglass onto the counter. “Check the bottle and both glasses for prints. Let me recognise what you find.”

“Will do, sir.”

Nate nodded his thanks to Mills, returned the notebook to his pocket and grabbed a water glass from the cabinet, which he filled from the tap. Leaving the kitchen, he neared the woman in the living room.

“Excuse me, ma’am. I thought you might be thirsty.”

Maggie Bennett glanced up with tear-filled eyes and a drawn face that conveyed the heartbreak of a deeply personal loss. The two sisters ought to have been close. His heart went out to her, understanding all too well the pain she ought to be feeling.

“I’m Special Agent Nate Patterson, U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division.” With his free hand, he pulled out his CID identification, though he doubted Ms. Bennett would question his credentials. At the moment, she looked like a afraid stray caught in a trap. A gorgeous stray, he decided, noting her high cheekbones, arched brows and full lips. But her strikingly good looks were eclipsed by a blanket of grief that lay like a black veil over her alabaster skin.

“I’m the lead investigator on this case, ma’am. Please receive my condolences as well as the heartfelt sympathy of the CID and the Military Police Corps here at Fort Rickman.”

She bit her lip, then mumbled a broken, “Thank…thank you.”

“I’ll be upstairs for a few minutes. When I return I’d like to talk to you with regards to your sister.” He placed the water on the end table.

She gave a brief, pained smile of thanks at the offered glass and then looked back at him. “Yes, of course. Whatever you need to know.”

Nate climbed the stairs to the second floor, sentiment the weight of Maggie’s grief resting on his shoulders. He’d give her a few minutes to gather strength before he saddled her with the endless questions that any death investigation required.

Reaching the second landing, Nate glanced into the home office on the right where Corporal Raynard Otis attempted to access the victim’s laptop computer files. The soldier looked up, a full smile propagating all over his honey-brown face. “Hey, sir. How’s it going?”

“You tell me, Ray.”

“Should have something for you shortly.”

“That’s what I like to hear.”

Nate continued on to the open attic door. Rapid flashes of light confirmed the military photographer was already on the job. Within the hour, photos would appear on Nate’s computer, systematically capturing each detail of the attic scene.

On the opposite side of the hallway, Jamison questioned a military policewoman and jotted down pertinent data she shared, selective information the CID team would review over and over again until all the facts were in and a determination could be made when it comes to the actual cause of death. Foul play necessitated to be ruled out. Hopefully, the case would be open and shut.

Climbing the stairs to the attic, Nate eyed the rafter and the thick hemp rope wrapped around the sturdy crossbeam. Without forethought, he touched his breast pocket where he had tucked the notebook, containing Maggie’s name, as if to shield her from the grim reality of her sister’s death. Lowering his gaze, he took in the victim’s black hair and swollen face.

God rest her soul. The prayer surfaced from his past. His mother’s influence, no doubt. She had raised him to be a believer, even though his faith had never been strong, and for the past eight months, he had tuned God out of his life completely.

Once again, his hand sought the notebook as his eyes refocused on the body.

Death by strangulation was never pretty, yet in spite of the victim’s contorted features, he recognized the same classic beauty that the very much alive sister sitting downstairs possessed. The deceased, with her low-cut silk blouse and snug-fitting leggings, appeared to be the more flamboyant sibling in contrast to Maggie’s modest jeans and sweater, but appearances could lie, and more than anything else, Nate necessitated the truth.

A chair lay at Major Bennett’s feet. Classic suicide scenario. In all probability, the victim had stood on the chair to secure the rope around the crossbeam and the noose around her neck. Kicking over the chair would leave her hanging and preclude the major from saving herself, ought to she have second thoughts in regards to taking her own life.

Staff Sergeant Larry Thorndike stepped forward. The military policeman was mid-fifties with a receding hairline and an extra twenty pounds of weight around his middle.

“The victim worked in Headquarters Company of the 2nd Transportation Battalion,” Staff Sergeant Thorndike offered as Nate glanced his way. “The major redeployed home from Afghanistan fourteen days ago as share of the advance party.”

“Same unit that had two casualties in Afghanistan this week? ” Nate asked.

“That’s right, sir. Captain York—the company commander—and his driver hit an improvised explosive device. Now this. It’s hard on the unit. Hard on everyone.”

Nate knew all too well the tragic aftermaths an IED could cause. Was that what had led to the major’s suicide? Had she felt in any way responsible for the captain’s death? “How long before the medical examiner gets here?”

“The ME must be here any minute.”

“Did you talk to the sister?”

The sergeant nodded. “But only briefly. She’s pretty shook up.”

An understatement from what Nate had seen.

“Ms. Bennett had sufficient sense to call for help,” Sergeant Thorndike continued. “When I arrived she was white as a sheet and hyperventilating. Said she lives in Independence, Alabama. Received a phone call at approximately 2330 hours from the deceased. The victim sounded anxious, according to the sister. Major Bennett had fought with her estranged husband, Graham Hughes, shortly before the phone call.”

“The major employed her maiden name?”

“Roger that, sir.”

“Has the husband been notified?”

“Negative. We’re attempting to track him down. Evidently he moved out a few days after Major Bennett arrived stateside.”

“Alert the post chaplain to a possible notification of next of kin. I’ll want to talk to the husband. Let me recognise when you find out where he’s staying.”

“Will do, sir.” The sergeant unclipped his cell phone from his belt and stepped to the corner of the attic to call the chaplain.

Nate neared the body. He examined the knots that formed the noose and then the victim’s neck and hands, noting her intact skin. No signs of struggle. Blood had po…

Most helpful customer reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
An Awesome Military Romance With A Mystery
By thefictionalbookshelf
Debby Giusti is without a doubt an exceptional writer with a magnificent skill to keep her readers entertained. Her own unique way of writing a mystery such as The Officer’s Secret will keep you sitting up until you read every last word.

From the beginning, The Officer’s Secret started off with a scene where the heroine, Maggie, finds her sister hanging from the rafters of her sister’s attic. From that point, the rest of the story enfolds around you until you realize that you’re tense with a longing to know who the killer is and your heart aches for the couple wishing they could be together.

Maggie’s character is a strong woman with a need to find the truth. Along the way, she meets interesting characters and throws herself into the CID investigation led by Nate. Because of their closeness, Maggie and Nate form a close bond that won’t be broken unless someone intentionally breaks it for them.

I would recommend The Officer’s Secret because;

1. It’s a Love Inspired romance so it’s a good clean story.
2. The characters are full of secrets including Maggie & Nate.
3. There are several scenes within the fast-paced plot – never a dull moment.
4. It’s an emotional story and made me tear up at least once during a scene when two soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan had arrived back in the United States. Debby described the scene to the point I felt like I was standing there among the grief-stricken families on the tarmac.
5. If you love mysteries then this book is for you because you will keep guessing until the end.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Top Notch Christian Romance
By Rachel Jackson
This story had the right amount of mystery, suspense, romantic edge, clean-cut intimacy, and sharing of Christian values. The story has twists and turns with a dramatic climax and nice closure as well. Great read for anyone and hard to find a stopping place. I will be reading more by this author.

0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Excellent Read
By Harrison Jones
A thought provoking read that will have you looking for answers, not only in the book’s pages, but in your own life. Characters that just won’t reveal their secrets until the very end, thus keeping the pages turning at a rapid pace. A very nice mix of compelling dialouge with enough descriptive narrative to keep you in scene with the characters. A read that will have you anxiously awaiting Giusti’s next offering. Highly reccomended.

See all 3 customer reviews…

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