Here is a potential scenario for 2017 and the future: Rates will go up and companies that are over-indexed with refinance business will lose a lot of volume. To maintain the infrastructure, they built to support that volume, organizations will shift gears and recruit producers to replace lost production. This kind of organic growth comes in two forms: recruiting new originators and growing production of current producers.
The first scenario is quite common. Add new people … it’s easy, right? Not exactly. Most companies have gaps in their recruiting process that lead to outcomes resulting in lost time, lost revenue and the potential for reputation issues in the market. Attrition is one of these outcomes and a challenge in our industry (more than 60 percent in some cases). As organizations fight attrition and push to grow, managers focus on recruiting originators with a transferrable book of business. The truth is, only 10-20 percent of the managers inside of any given company (even the best companies) are good at the overall process of recruiting. The rest are typically below average, only recruiting because they “have to.”
The second scenario in growing production is to help those working for you today build their volume. We see this happen in different ways, as examples include relationships a company may have a captured lead source, products for a niche market, or even triggered leads from a servicing portfolio being pushed to the originator. Depending on the market, geography or relationship, these can create added production opportunity.
One thing has remained constant in our past 16-plus: In growth-oriented organizations, leadership and recruiting (with all things it requires) are part of the cultural foundation and core. When growth is part of a company’s culture, the success is greater across all managers and the entire organization than when it is not.
To excel at strategic growth is a result of choreographing the initiative. It involves processes and best practices. It involves training, infrastructure and a capital investment. It also requires patience as we live in a hypercompetitive market for a limited talent pool. So ask yourself this question: If you could put yourself in a position to have an advantage over your competition, would you want to learn more?
Since launching Model Match in 2014, we have learned much from our amazing clients. Supporting that culture and leadership do impact how a company grows. Furthermore, the involvement of the team (managers, leaders, internal recruiting, external recruiting and executives) is all critical to having long-term success in sourcing, attracting, hiring, on-boarding and retaining production talent.
Among other benefits, Model Match customers have enjoyed:
►A 35 percent increase in volume of Model Matched producers
►A 25 percent increase of production over prior employer
Steve Rennie is chief sales officer with Model Match Inc., a technology platform and business plan used internally by sales leaders and executives at banks and mortgage companies to grow and retain production organically. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].
This article originally appeared in the November 2016 print edition of National Mortgage Professional Magazine.
