In my consulting practice, many mortgage executives who I speak with are very concerned about the rising cost to originate a loan in today’s marketplace. According to the MBA, the cost to originate has mushroomed to $8,500 per loan. Making a profit is difficult when originators are being paid large sign-up bonuses and […]
The Mortgage Industry\’s Madness Strategy Read More »
In my consulting practice, many mortgage executives who I speak with are very concerned about the rising cost to originate a loan in today’s marketplace. According to the MBA, the cost to originate has mushroomed to $8,500 per loan. Making a profit is difficult when originators are being paid large sign-up bonuses and
The Mortgage Industry\’s Madness Strategy Read More »
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 Branch Originator Sucker Bet Read More »
One of the hottest topics in mortgage banking is customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is a measure of how well the company and the salesperson meets and surpasses the client’s expectations during the loan process. In mortgage banking, one of the keys to excellent customer service is meeting the customer’s closing date. According to Stratmor’s recent
Customer Satisfaction’s Seven Deadly Sins Read More »
While sales results have not been stellar this year, many mortgage banking managers believe that if their originators would just work harder, production would turn around. Unfortunately, working harder won’t make an appreciable difference amid our dramatically changing marketplace. What will? Succeeding in today’s difficult sales environment requires working smarter and adopting new selling
Working Hard is Overhyped! Read More »
Last week, a National Mortgage News article discussed the results of Fannie Mae’s Q1 2018 Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey which measures lender’s profit-margin outlook. According to NMN, mortgage lenders had the highest level of pessimism recorded since 2014. This is not surprising given the current challenges our industry faces: the decline of the refinance market,
The Four Pillars of Mortgage Sales Success Read More »
Anyone who has ever managed in mortgage banking has had a discussion with their supervisor regarding employees who are not working out as planned. The conversation usually goes something like “If we invest more time and money into this underperforming salesperson, he or she will turnaround and improve.” The problem with this approach is that
When Managers Make Poor People Decisions Because of the Sunk Costs Fallacy Read More »
There is no question that an aging sales workforce is a top concern for many in the mortgage industry. The numbers are frightening when you consider that the average age of mortgage sales professionals is from the late 40s to early 50s. At this point, it is clear that experienced mortgage bankers (25+ years) far
Why Rookie Training Programs Driven by Producing Branch Managers Don’t Work Read More »
During several recent conversations, mortgage managers told me they had planned to start or augment a rookie originator program but weak volume in the first quarter made them pull back on these initiatives. They felt that supporting a rookie program in the face of having to reduce expenses would be a risky move. While I
Why Rookie Programs Are Mandatory for Future Success Read More »
Next week, I am speaking at the Calyx Software conference on how to recruit and retain Millennials. While preparing for this session, it struck me that while Gen Y is the most talked about generation, not much is really happening at the ground level to attract these individuals to mortgage banking outside of Quicken’s efforts.
Only 2,600 Days Until the Dominance of Gen Y Read More »
