How to Motivate LOs in a Tough Market

In mortgage banking, it seems to be a perpetual question: “How do I motivate LOs in a tough market?” The short answer is you can’t. Motivation is an inside job. But, good managers CAN  create a positive environment that supports their team’s efforts to hit their sales goals. Here are the details: • Hire right. […]

Three Types of Advisors Every Originator Should Have

The people we surround ourselves with can greatly impact our success – either negatively or positively. This isn’t newsworthy. In fact, your mother probably gave you some version of that advice when you were growing up. In the business world, much has been written about the importance of having an inner circle of mentors and […]

When Does a Training Investment Make Sense?

  I often hear from managers asking about training their underperforming originators. With the marketplace shift to purchase money, leadership teams have put underperformers on their radar as they try to address lower volume. When the market was hot last year, underperformers were there but overlooked because refi volume was off-the-charts. Now, with a less […]

Good Managers and the Remote Working World

  Every day, we are witnessing changes that many predicted would be coming to the mortgage landscape, but now they have arrived. From online loan processing to video conferencing, our industry is undergoing a fundamental shift. While it is hard to concentrate on the future when the present is so robust with refinance volume, mortgage […]

The Myths and Realities of Motivating Originators

  During my webinar for Franklin American/Citizens Bank last week, a manager asked what he could do to motivate his producers in this challenging market. I get this question frequently and my answer is that managers can’t motivate others — originators have to motivate themselves. You can’t motivate salespeople any more than you can empower […]

Peter Drucker’s 5 Keys to Being a Great Company

Known by many as the founder of modern management, Peter Drucker was one of the most influential thinkers in the business world. Much of what he wrote over the course of 39 books remains relevant in today’s marketplace. Drucker was a genius and reading his work inspired me to open my own consulting business. Drucker […]

What Mortgage Bankers Can Learn from Tesla

A few short years ago, there was no hotter car company than Tesla who was touted as the next great thing in automobile manufacturing. Recently, the company has fallen on difficult times. In Barron’s last week, Bob Lutz, a former Vice Chairman of General Motors, commented on Tesla’s current situation: “It’s an automobile company that […]