Sales managers are highly qualified as mentors because of their production experience, but they typically do not have the time because they are producing, recruiting, and coaching. Thus, sometimes, the best mentor may be a loan officer who is not a top producer, but a steady and quality producer (emphasis on “quality”). Or it can actually be an operations person or an assistant that has produced in the past. Not only does the loan officer have more time than a sales manager, but the act of mentoring theoretically can help that loan officer’s production because many times the ideas which are generated may motivate the mentor to take action as well.
Though we have painted this picture with a broad brush, we should point out these additional points regarding the question of identifying the best mentor within an organization:
- Not every organization is adequately described in this way. Smaller branches or companies may not have a senior loan officer available. Or not every sales manager is a top producing loan officer. In other words, there are certainly cases in which the sales manager should be the mentor or must be a mentor by default.
- In addition to the assistance received by the mentee, the mentor does receive benefits from participating in mentoring as well. For example, the mentor receives recognition as a leader within the office and is picking up skills that will help them become a manager in the future. However, one should not expect mentors who are loan officers to mentor another employee for no additional compensation.
Typically, a novice loan officer may be on a non-recoverable draw or salary, but also on a lower level of commission for a certain period of time. That lower level of commission might allow for an override on the production of the mentee paid to the mentor during that same period of time.
Another variation of the mentor/mentee relationship would have the mentee serving as a loan officer assistant for the mentor during the mentorship period. This would give the mentor a benefit, while the mentee is able to learn by being involved in many of the functions performed by the loan officer, such as pipeline management. In this case, there must be a plan which allows the mentee to continue the development of their own marketing plan, while still assisting the mentor.
An ideal mentor would be:
- Interested in helping others develop a new career. The benefit of helping another person develop is the main benefit of participating in this program.
- Understand the right way to do things:
- Have a good understanding of how to serve a customer
- Know how to put together a complete loan package
- Is an expert in company policies, investors, and forms
- Is ethical and understands all ethics standards of the company
- Is available and has the time to help
- The mentor is taking someone’s career in their hands and molding it. This is a great responsibility which comes with great rewards.
The minimum requirements for a mentor:
- Minimum one year experience originating. This is a minimum and most mentors would need more seasoning.
- They must have attended all advanced training classes sponsored by the company.
- They must be certified by the company as being eligible for mentoring.
In any organization it is particularly important that a mentorship program is formalized. Too many times novices are brought into the industry with an edict to “follow the mentor” around and listen. In an upcoming column I will give you an idea of how such a plan might be structured…though each plan should be tailored to the situation and organization.
Dave Hershman is Senior VP of Sales of Weichert Financial and the top author in the mortgage industry. Dave has published seven books, as well as hundreds of articles and is the founder of the OriginationPro Marketing System and Mortgage School – the online choice for expert mortgage learning and marketing content. His site is www.OriginationPro.com and he can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
