Mortgage Plans

You need a plan. You need to work your plan. I’m sure that is sound advice for any salesperson anywhere selling anything from widgets to automobiles, but in this post I’m typing to my colleagues in the mortgage industry. The mortgage business is one that I know well. I’ve seen several hundred originators prosper or fall by the wayside over more than a decade. I’m still here – same location, same furniture, some of the same people. What’s different now is that the mortgage industry is presently under attack from all sides. What remains the same is the simple fact that you still need a plan. And yes, you still need to work your plan.

I’ll apologize in advance for telling war stories from 1991. Writing is good therapy. You see, up until about a year and a half ago, I was telling these war stories sitting at my desk with an aspiring LO. We decided to stop actively recruiting for new LO’s early last year because of the quality [or lack of quality] that I was seeing from across my desk. The problem isn’t the people – I love the people. The problem is a lack of ethics and/or the lack of drive. Of course, these are my experiences and your results may vary. In addition, we didn’t stop hiring altogether. We simply limited hiring to by-referral-only. So now back on the topic of war stories from days of yore.In 1991 I began working for a finance company selling loans at 30% APR [not a misprint] and paid a salary. It was my first job out of college. It was also my last job. I left in 1992 and began working as a mortgage broker on straight commission and perhaps like many of you, feel as though I haven’t had a job since. Of course, that doesn’t mean I don’t work. I work; I just haven’t felt like I have a job in the traditional sense. In 1996 I started a mortgage company and now, year 2007, I’m here at the office typing this article for the highly esteemed Todd’s Lenderama. Like I said, it serves as therapy. From time to time, I reminisce about my days at the finance company. Aside from the fact that what was made in one year at the finance company was made in one month as a mortgage broker, I recall the accountability and daily tasks required. How can I explain it? Basically, it was a job. Here, do this! Turn in this report! Do that! I remember the desks were close together and my manager would tell me to “stop chit chatting” if I was talking to the woman in the desk behind me. It felt something like high school.

Then, like many of you, I became a mortgage broker on straight commission. Here you go – you’re a mortgage broker – now go get some loans! No leads, no assigned tasks, no schedule, and no manager to say stop the chit-chat, etc. I’m sure I would have failed if not for [among other things] self-discipline – the discipline to create a plan and work a plan.

Over my years of experience, I’ve developed many lasting business relationships through the value added approach to sales. In short, when working with a referral source, you’re not going into the relationship looking for business so much as your relationship with that person will bring them more business. I also believe in the gambit of give to get. This means you need to be willing to go first to help someone else (i.e. giving the first referral). It also puts the LO in the driver’s seat in interviewing your potential referral sources.

So, I don’t know whether or not you have a plan. My suspicion is that there are hundreds of thousands of mortgage brokers wandering aimlessly around various towns with their business cards, yet no plan. To them I would suggest that they not only get a plan, but that they work that plan day in and day out. In my experience, the ideal plan incorporates the value added approach to sales. To do this with referral sources, you’ll need to simultaneously have a means of generating business for them. The current climate for housing makes possible the courting of homeowners with good credit. I’ll even go so far as to say that it’s easy. So easy in fact, that even George Costanza could do it.

Posted by Paul – Broken Credit