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A business plan: A plan for success
Selling mortgages is not rocket science: The virtues of virtual coachingDave Hershmanorigination training, Internet, technology
In my more than 25 years as an author, trainer and keynote
speaker for the mortgage industry and the one who delivers one of
the most intensive advanced schools in the nation, I am often asked
whether I provide personal coaching services to managers and
individuals. With a rate of several thousand dollars for a
three-hour speech, individuals quickly figure out that it would be
hard for me to do so economically. This has always been my
conundrum. I know that my students need additional help, but with a
client base in the thousands, there seems to be no solution short
of cloning myself.
. So, what I have done is produce hundreds of articles for
mortgage publications, such as The Mortgage Press, and
tried to get the word out as best I could. I even have published a
free weekly e-mail newsletter that is distributed to almost 200,000
professionals in the industry and includes my "Ask The Expert"
column so that loan officers can ask me questions and read their
answers on a weekly basis. (If you would like to receive The OriginationPro Update on a
weekly basis, e-mail me at mailto:[email protected]).
But the issue of personal coaching has been set aside for many
years. It is just too time-consuming for a high-level coach to
spend one to four hours each month on the phone with a loan
officer. A full coaching load would be 10-20 clients, and that
would mean the elimination of all other activities, such as my
OriginationPro Mortgage School. What would one do if he had
thousands of clients?
This problem is exacerbated by the fact that many loan officers
have nowhere to go to obtain day-to-day supervision, mentoring and
coaching. In this industry, we have grown to have an independent
contractor mentality, much like real estate agents. It seems that
many loan officers are on their own. And believe it or not, most
managers have little origination training and even less management
training or direction. So even if a manager wants to provide better
support, he has nowhere to go. That is why I teach a national
management conference every year and have published three
management texts for the industry.
Now, technology is helping us solve this problem for loan
officers and managers. Through the Internet, we can provide
first-class information, seminars, answers to questions, marketing
materials and strategies, and more. From blogs to bulletin boards,
the Internet is paving the way to bring valuable information right
into the homes and offices of all mortgage employees. Do you want
to listen to a seminar? You don't have to wait for one to be
scheduled. It can be downloaded, and you can listen instantly. Do
you want to ask a question? Post it on a bulletin board. You can
work at your own pace and in accordance with your own schedule. You
dont have to sit and listen to information that is not on
target.
Of course, with such a free-for-all, you will not likely know if
the information you receive is of a high quality or even accurate.
That is the one danger of virtual coaching. You must know the
source of the information. You must know who you are listening to
and taking directions from. Recently, I have teamed with Dave Bush
to open a site called MyMortgageCommunity.com.
This site includes OriginatorCommunity.com
and MortgageManagerCommunity.com.
This vehicle enables me to provide my expertise on a regular basis
through articles and audio seminars, answering questions, providing
marketing materials and strategies, and much more. Even more
importantly, members are not limited to my information, but are
exposed to the viewpoints of a variety of experts on a variety of
topics. Using the bulletin boards, members can share ideas with
others who share the same concerns and challenges. This is why the
term "community" is utilized.
I can think of no better way of delivering what has come to be
known as virtual coaching. It makes sense that in one place, you
can find just about everything one would need to manage or
originate in this, the most important industry in America. Do you
know what the best news of all is? Virtual coaching can be obtained
for a fraction of the cost of a personal coach. I urge everyone who
has the need to grow in this industry to use the tools easily
reachable via the Internet. And if you are interested in viewing
the information on MyMortgageCommunity.com, feel free to take it
for a spin.
Dave Hershman is a top speaker and leading author in the
mortgage industry with eight booksincluding two best sellers for
the Mortgage Bankers Association of
America. His mortgage school is the only comprehensive advanced
curriculum in the industry. For a schedule of classes, free
marketing samples, speaking information and articles by Dave, call
(800) 581-5678, e-mail [email protected] or
visit www.originationpro.com.
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