In recent conversations with originators, the complaint I hear most often is that they are working harder than ever and seeing less results. They attribute their lower production to an ultra-competitive environment where they conduct pre-approvals only to have the customer go with another lender with better pricing. In many cases, this feedback is coming from former top producers who feel that consumers and Realtors don't seem to care about a value-added selling approach anymore. These originators blame their lenders for not being more price-competitive in today's mortgage marketplace.

While the current mortgage lending circumstances are challenging, this is the time for originators and their lenders to become radicalized in their selling approaches. Doing what they did before isn't going to work as it once did. The reality is that originators must engage with prospects much earlier in the consumer's purchasing journey. Originators must also be willing to have hard conversations with referral sources who are refusing to manage their consumer's selection of a lender. It is obvious that the days of waiting for the business to come to the originator are long gone. Originators must become sales ninjas who are proactive and execute selling techniques at the highest level if they want to succeed.

[adbutler zone_id="325884" type="asyncjs1.1" ]

[adbutler zone_id="325888" type="asyncjs1.1" ]

While the term "ninja" gained popularity from a television show bearing its name, it actually refers to medieval Japanese mercenaries who were trained in the martial arts and highly skilled assassins. Today, originators are challenged to be well-trained and to implement the latest selling techniques with skill.

With prospects' access to 24/7 information, the buyer's journey has forever changed. This means that originators must establish their personal brand and credibility earlier than ever before and they must cast a wide net for lending opportunities and referral sources. If they are not top of mind in their territory, they will be struggling in their production. Certainly, the lender's corporate brand can help an originator; but in the end, consumers will default to a price decision when the salesperson is not memorable.

Originators who say they sell using a value-added sales approach need to objectively re-examine what they think is "value-added." If the originator is defining it as spending time explaining the customer's options, consumers can research their options simply by looking at YouTube videos. The bottomline is that what is considered "value-added" is continually being redefined by the consumer. As an example, at one time sending a closing gift or a birthday card was unique but it is no longer as impactful because many originators are doing that now. Frankly, doing the same thing as other sales professionals doesn't set the originator apart from their competition.

Delivering something unique requires knowing what your competitors are providing and being creative in offering something different. This means originators must be on top of market trends and constantly updating their selling knowledge and techniques. This isn't easy and requires a time commitment and an investment in their business model. Of course, an originator can rely on their lender to offer training but with today's tight margins, this may be a long wait. Hoping that their manager will provide insight and help if the individual is a producing manager can turn into a "Waiting for Godot" experience.

Originators who fail to adapt their selling efforts to match what today's consumers require are going to be left behind. This isn't new information. It is already happening where past sales success is no longer a relevant benchmark because selling has changed so dramatically in the last several years. The question "What have you done for me lately?" applies here.

Developing new selling skills all starts with being aware that frustration and blame will not change anything. It is better to take a breath and objectively recognize that only one lender can be the lowest priced and everyone else is competitive. Being an originator at a competitive lender requires sales professionals to deliver an exemplary customer experience at every touchpoint.

Originators must ask themselves, "What makes you different from other originators? Are you the Sales Ninja that you need to be?" If these questions are difficult to answer, originators must review their customer interactions and positioning and be ready to make a change.

https://youtu.be/eobu6_DGE-Y

To effectively market via social media it is best to have a consistent presence. This consistency builds up your image as an expert and keeps you top of mind when projects are ready to purchase. Now Optimal Blue, a provider of secondary marketing automation and services to the mortgage industry, is making it a bit easier for loan officers to stay in front of their prospects by offering a social media publishing tool. Optimal Blue’s publishing solution was released with complete integration to the unique monitoring, audit, and collaboration capabilities of their comprehensive social media platform, the only all-in-one platform designed specifically for the needs of the mortgage industry.

Using a library of approved templates and other corporate assets, the publishing tool enables loan officers to schedule and post relevant content to any of their social networks with ease. Users benefit from an intuitive publishing scheduler that makes the process of arranging social interactions across the organization effortless. A built-in calendar manages posts across all profiles, networks, and campaigns, while detailed reports track engagement metrics across all social networks.

[adbutler zone_id="325884" type="asyncjs1.1" ]

[adbutler zone_id="325888" type="asyncjs1.1" ]

Unlike any other service being offered in the mortgage space today, Optimal Blue’s social media platform is developed around the NMLS database. It is pre-loaded with every mortgage professional in the country, enabling originators to quickly take advantage of the solution without the burden and hidden cost of user administration.

Optimal Blue’s end-to-end, fully automated social media platform also allows originators to manage the social networking activities of their loan officers through monitoring, audits, and collaboration. Automated, ongoing monitoring enables real-time oversight of social activity and proactively identifies mortgage-specific trigger terms and keywords to isolate compliance concerns that may require remediation. On-demand audit reports aggregate trends within an integrated portal, so management can easily view the organization’s digital presence and assess all compliance findings. Corporate campaign enrollment, team content sharing, and multi-network posting are also made possible through advanced collaboration tools.

“Social media is an extremely powerful business development tool for today’s originator,” explained Michael Stallings, Vice President of Comergence by Optimal Blue. “By leveraging modern automation through our end-to-end social media platform, originators not only exceed regulatory expectations, they can efficiently communicate their value proposition and gain a significant competitive advantage at both the corporate and loan officer level.”

In his blog posting on LoanOfficerHub.com, Ben Smidt, digital strategy manager for MGIC, offers business planning insight from several mortgage experts. Each expert offers their own perspective on successful strategies originators in the mortgage industry can use as a foundation for their own business plans. .

[caption id="attachment_12084" align="alignleft" width="110"] Ben Smidt, Digital Strategy Manager for MGIC[/caption]

Here are the seven strategies as detailed by Mr. Smidt.

1. Understand Values

Knowing and understanding your personal values helps guide the professional goals you want to achieve in the future as they relate to business planning strategies.

Sue Woodard lives and breathes this concept saying, “Get clear on your values. This is often overlooked as part of a planning process, but I feel it is critical in determining how you will approach your goals, what you are willing to sacrifice and what priorities certain things should take over others. For me and those I work with, we are all clear that customer success is our number one value – so it drives our goals and initiatives.”

Dustin Brohm builds on this concept by adding, “When making business plans, you first need to step back and be honest with yourself about a) what you’re good at and, b) what you like doing. If you hate writing articles, don’t focus your strategy around blogging. If you absolutely love being on camera, then focus more on video content. Start a local show or podcast, be intentional and consistent with your Instagram stories. You must choose a strategy that aligns with your strengths, values and what you enjoy doing because that’s the only way you can stay consistent long enough to win. When you enjoy what you’re doing, you end up having more success.”

“You must choose a strategy that aligns with your strengths, values and what you enjoy doing because that’s the only way you can stay consistent long enough to win.”

– Dustin Brohm

I agree with this strategy for mortgage professionals and feel it’s easier to achieve a business goal when when it aligns with your values and you understand what’s important to you.

2. Have Specific Goals

Some goals can be too broad. Big goals are essential to business planning strategy success, but it’s more important to focus on smaller, specific goals that can help you achieve your larger objectives.

David Stevens makes this simple to grasp by stating, “Be SMART in your business planning strategies. Set Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Trackable sub goals to get to the larger goal. Note that you can find other words to define SMART – but to me, it starts here. Goals need to be specific. The goals need to be precise enough that you can build a calendar and contact list from them. Think about what the overall larger goal is and then itemize the specific things you need to do to get there. There is much more to this, but this is a start.”

Additionally, Sue Woodard mentions, “Be specific in your goals. Easy to say, not easy to do. Many people simply think ‘more’ is better – but you must be crystal clear on what you are aiming to accomplish in the year ahead. Not ‘be healthier’ – but lose x pounds and run a race of x length. Not ’make more money or do more loans’ – but make x number of dollars or close x amount of volume.”

“Be specific in your goals. Easy to say, not easy to do. Many people simply think ‘more’ is better – but you must be crystal clear on what you are aiming to accomplish in the year ahead.”

– Sue Woodard

I like this concept because it allows us to clearly connect what we want to achieve with how are we going to get there.

3. Start Time Blocking

Setting aside time to develop a strategic thought or idea is important for taking action on your business planning goals in the mortgage industry.

I appreciate how David Stevens likes to approach this. He says, “A road map only works if you manage yourself and commit time to execute activities. In my early days as a loan officer, I would spend late Friday afternoons laying my entire next week’s plans on paper with a minimum of 3 full afternoons blocked for making face-to-face sales calls on Realtors®. I would also block every Tuesday morning to attend, and hopefully speak at, a Realtor sales meeting. I know activities today might be different but it’s the commitment to a blocked/dedicated time that matters.”

“A road map only works if you manage yourself and commit time to execute activities.”

– David Stevens

Geoff Zimpfer makes it simple saying, “If it’s not on your calendar it doesn’t exist! Your business plan should include time blocking and tracking of your sales-focused activities including calls, meetings, events, classes and online activities.”

Sue Woodard has a similar approach when focusing on time blocking as it relates to business planning strategies. She explains, “Block the time. Time block a weekly, monthly, quarterly check-in on progress against your goals. This will not happen automatically, and I find it will never happen if you don’t calendar it just like you would any other important meeting.”

Interestingly, in my experience, I’ve found this to be incredibly helpful in how I work to reach my business goals month-over-month and year-over-year.

4. Incorporate Accountability

Accountability in business planning strategies works to keep you on track with established goals. Not just personal accountability, but accountability from others that you trust can help keep you on track.

I found that Rob Chrisman’s remarks on business planning strategies fall in line with the concept of self-accountability. Rob says, “Throughout my years in the lending business, I have found that strategies for business planning are varied and subjective. For individuals, they range from ‘showing up every day at work’ to extensive multi-page marketing and origination plans. Lenders run the gamut from having no business plan to extensive frameworks that are reviewed quarterly by senior management. However, I have found that the common theme for success is consistently putting in a little extra time, a little extra effort, a little extra listening and a little extra customer service to help one client at a time achieve their goal.”

“The common theme for success is consistently putting in a little extra time, a little extra effort, a little extra listening and a little extra customer service to help one client at a time achieve their goal.”

– Rob Chrisman

I believe this self-accountability approach, and making sure you help each client, one-by-one, achieve their goals, pays off in the long-run.

David Stevens, who reinforces the need for accountability when preforming regular self-check-ins, says, “Ask the hard questions – why did I not do that? Hold yourself accountable. No excuses!”

Sue Woodard echoes that, recommending you “put your goals in writing, put them on your bathroom mirror or next to your computer, and then tell someone else your goals.” She continues, “These little steps supercharge and dramatically amplify your odds for reaching those goals.”

Having someone to hold you accountable is powerful, but learning to hold yourself accountable will have even more impact on reaching your business planning goals.

5. Create Focus

Everyone’s time is valuable so when thinking about business planning strategies in the mortgage industry we need to understand where to focus our efforts. Where will we see the best return on our time? I love what many of these mortgage experts shared about creating focus.

Steve Kyles says it well: “We must be strategic with our time. I encourage you to target the rightpartners. Make sure you know their sidesand how many opportunitiesyou can earn. Someone may love you, want to work with you AND give you EVERY deal. BUT let’s do the math: If they only close 10 transactions a year, they may only be able to refer you for 5 of the 10. And when all is said and done, you may only close 3 of the 5. That’s not enough. The solution? Build relationships with teams and partners producing a minimum of 24 transaction a year. Build relationships with influential brokers. Go deep in your relationships. You only need 5-10 of these types of SOLID relationships to close $30 million or more a year. Add value and help your partners grow.”

Real estate pro Neil Mathweg shares similar insights: “Want to ruin a man’s vision? Give him two. Or in some of our cases, ten. Meaning our businesses are full of shiny objects leading to a very cluttered business plan. And when it’s cluttered, you can’t stay focused. Energy is spread too thin and you lack consistency. I think what’s important to your business plan is removing the clutter, the shiny objects, and getting focused on three activities. We call it the three-pillar plan. The first pillar is your ‘sphere of influence’ and focusing on how you will cultivate it (think client appreciation events). The next pillar is asking what we are going to do to ‘chase’ business (think open houses, online leads, Facebook advertising or for sale by owner (FSBO)). Lastly, we ask ourselves what are we going to do to ‘attract’ business (think searchable content like blogging, podcasts and YouTube videos). By focusing on these three pillars, you will have a clear plan to execute, a clear plan that is congruent to YOU. Now, add consistency to that clear-congruent-plan and look out. Amazing things will happen in your business!”

“What’s important to your business plan is removing the clutter, the shiny objects, and getting focused on three activities.”

– Neil Mathweg

To hammer the concept home further, Geoff Zimpfer shares, “For mortgage loan originators, you’ve got three main sources of business:  1) real estate agents and referral partners, 2) past clients and sphere of influence (SOI), and, 3) online leads both paid and organic. Consider the percentage of closed business from each of those sources last year and identify which one provided the best return on investment (ROI), then modify accordingly to expand your business.”

This perspective resonates clearly with me as I’m a huge advocate of identifying where my time is best spent and focusing my energy there to see a positive return.

6. Develop Content / Branding

Content and branding in today’s mortgage marketplace should be crucial parts of your business planning strategies. They can help scale visibility about who you are and what you do with the broader audience of warm leads across social media and Google Search.

Bill Gassett is great at creating content to drive sales and he keeps it pretty simple, saying, “One of the most important aspects I have found in business planning is keeping my website/blog, Maximum Real Estate Exposure, primed to generate the most business possible. The end of the year is a wonderful time to do a little bit of inventory on the site. Consider updating previously written articles with new information, or improve upon the images used in older articles. This can bring new life to older posts. If you are a mortgage broker or real estate agent reading this, take note. Remember your branding matters – it is how people remember you. Doing a refresh of your website can lead to good things down the road.”

Neil Mathweg has a great approach to content and branding as it relates to business planning strategies. He states, “Think about what you can do to be a media company that happens to sell real estate (or originating loans). Is it searchable content like blogging or creating YouTube videos? Is it social content like the I Love Madisonshow I created that helps those who are new to Madison connect with people, places and events in Madison? A community-first mindset is an excellent way to get the ball rolling on content that highlights your brand.”

This approach is perfect because it allows you to highlight who you are, your brand and the value you provide while also having the content indexed in social search, as well as Google Search. This ensures your efforts will have a long-lasting return.

7. Evaluate

The evaluation process is critical to the success of fluid business planning strategies. A mortgage professional always needs to keep tabs on what is working and what is not, as it relates to the big goal.

I appreciate Steven Kyles thoughts on this. He offers, “Work and rework your plan. Reevaluate results every 30 days and adjust as needed. Measure your effectiveness, NOT your busyness.”

David Stevens offers a similar message on the importance of evaluating what you are doing and how it aligns with your business strategies, saying, “Any business plan requires reality checks. Dedicate two hours once a month to review your previous month’s calendar, the activities you did to reach your goals, and those that you did not do.”

Geoff Zimpfer’s approach to this concept of evaluating is a good one as well. He suggests, “Review your progress towards your goals every week. Measure your results, conversions and adjust as needed. When you’ve done the work and achieved the results, celebrate! Reward yourself with something that matters. It’s important to stay connected with your ‘why’ as you achieve your goals.”

I agree with Geoff that knowing what worked and what didn’t is important for understanding how we can continue to improve our business planning strategies in the mortgage industry, and stay motivated.

These 7 themes for achieving success lay the groundwork for any mortgage professional to start creating something special going forward. It’s now up to you to decide to act and create a strategic business plan that will help you grow your mortgage business in the new year.

Read more...