It seems every conference and industry newsletter discusses the latest technology that will make sales organizations more successful. Whether it is the integration of Ellie Mae with Blend or Day One Certainty, a technological solution is often touted as the cure-all for the industry’s issues. Certainly, speed and efficiency are important when providing a […]
During a recent conversation, a manager discussed how his company was handling an underperforming originator. The lender’s solution was to take away the individual’s draw and benefits but compensate the salesperson for any loans brought in. The manager felt that this approach was a great way to reduce the lender’s costs and address the problem […]
In my opinion, placing an originator in a bank or credit union branch office is a sucker bet. For those unfamiliar with the gambling term, it is a wager in which the expected return is lower than the wager. An example of a sucker bet is the offer of insurance in blackjack. Why is the […]
The number one issue every manager and originator is discussing today is how to generate more referral sources and thus close more loans. The research clearly shows that originators with the most referral sources do the most volume. I think this is no surprise to most salespeople and managers. The question is why do so […]
For years, mortgage banking managers have measured success based on whether the salesperson met the buyer’s expectations. In my opinion, this thinking is outdated because in today’s world of selling 3.0, simply meeting customer expectations is by definition mediocre. Yes, mediocre. A mediocre customer experience is not enough to instill the loyalty needed to generate […]
Two weeks ago, another national lender announced that it was closing its consumer direct business due to unprofitability. The organization’s sales approach was to buy leads and try to refinance them. This marketing approach is expensive and as a result, the company couldn’t cover the costs involved with bidding for leads. Five years ago when […]
As a sales organization “fixer,” I see first-hand how companies are defining their current sales problems in terms of external events such as rising interest rates, compressed margins and too many regulations. In my opinion, this outward focus masks the real issues why a company fails to implement essential changes. Too often, change […]
Since time immemorial, selling has been defined by having a physical location. Whether in movies, books or on TV shows, the salesperson has typically been portrayed as someone who travels to a market and physically visits a customer or potential prospect. Similarly, a sales manager’s primary job has been to take the map of a […]
Like many people who are fans of Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder’s report, I also admire what Jeff Bezos had to say in his annual report to stockholders. This year, the Amazon founder discussed the challenge every company has in meeting customers’ ever-rising expectations. Bezos claims that “it is the nature of human beings to have […]
If you were to ask 100 managers about the most important trait of any good salesperson, 99 would say that producers must have the gift of gab. This singular characteristic is what often comes to mind when the public thinks of salespeople. From Alex Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross to Leo DiCaprio in The Wolf of […]