In my recent conversations, mortgage executives have repeatedly lamented that their top producers are holding them hostage over resources, money and pricing. Especially troubling is that these high-performance sales professionals invariably tend to jump ship after the lender has conceded to their demands. In most cases, lenders have not even broken even before top producers […]
Overdependent on Top Producers to Hit Volume Goals? Read More »
During a recent industry webinar, a discussion about reducing time to close a loan boiled down to a single question: What would it take to have a 3-day close? One attendee asked, “Can mortgage bankers even conceptualize a 3-day close?” The event speaker weighed in, adding, “some practices are so ingrained in mortgage banking that
Are Your Sales Leaders Unable to Envision Change? 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 »
For any business, failure to change and adapt to new marketplace conditions can be fatal. One recent example of this was Nokia’s acquisition by Microsoft. A LinkedIn article referenced Nokia’s CEO lamenting that “they did nothing wrong, but somehow lost the battle” when announcing that their company had been acquired. While Nokia had been a world
Failure to Change is Fatal Read More »
The recent announcement by Wells Fargo and Prospect Mortgage that they were ending their marketing service agreements (MSAs) with real estate brokers has sent a shock wave through management teams. MSAs have been around for years under the justification that placing a lender’s originators in a broker’s office was a way to guarantee sales volume
What Losing MSAs Means to Lenders Read More »
