Business Strategies Column: The Hidden Growth Engine For Mortgage Tech Vendors

The mortgage industry is at a pivotal moment. Lenders are under pressure to modernize their operations, embrace AI, and deliver a better borrower experience—all while managing compliance, volatility, and shrinking margins.

But here’s the hard truth: many mortgage technology vendors are still struggling to connect their solutions to what truly matters to their buyers—strategic outcomes.

Too often, we’re still selling features, functionality, and future roadmaps, when what lenders really want is clarity, confidence, and control over their transformation journey.

There’s a better way to lead these conversations. It’s time more vendors embraced a powerful, underused go-to-market asset: the maturity model.

What Is a Maturity Model—and Why Vendors Should Care

A maturity model is a strategic framework that outlines the stages of evolution in a key business area—such as digital lending operations, borrower experience, AI readiness, or marketing automation.

For mortgage tech vendors and service providers, maturity models offer a practical way to:

• Reframe product selling into value-based advisory
• Create urgency and buy-in with executive buyers
• Align marketing, sales, and customer success around a unified message
• Enable better segmentation and personalization in outreach
• Drive cross-sell, upsell, and expansion opportunities post-sale

Instead of saying, “Here’s what our platform can do,” a maturity model allows you to say, “Here’s where your organization stands today—and here’s the roadmap to achieving better speed, efficiency, and profitability.”

That’s a game-changer.

From Product-Centric to Problem-Centric Messaging

Many vendors still lead with feature checklists, demos, and implementation timelines. But these approaches rarely resonate with the CFO, COO, or CIO. They’re focused on outcomes, not inputs.

Maturity models flip the script.

They turn your sales team into strategic guides. They give marketing a reason to reach out with relevance. They make your QBRs more valuable. And most importantly, they anchor your offering to the customer’s business journey, not just their tech stack.

This shift is critical as we enter a more consultative, value-focused era in mortgage tech sales.

Real-World Inspiration: Maturity Models in Action

In Maturity Frameworks: A Hidden Gem in Your GTM Strategy, Carilu Dietrich and Suresh Balasubramanian share how companies like MeridianLink used a Digital Progression Model to engage financial institutions in meaningful, outcome-driven conversations​.

Instead of pushing product, they invited banks and credit unions to assess their digital maturity, benchmark against peers, and identify strategic gaps. The result? Shorter sales cycles, stronger executive alignment, and multi-product adoption.

That same strategy can work for any mortgage tech provider—whether you focus on CRM, AI-driven underwriting, LOS optimization, borrower communication, or compliance automation.

If you’re still relying solely on demos and decks to move deals forward, you’re missing a huge opportunity to elevate your brand and increase deal velocity.

Why Now? Because AI Is Reshaping the Conversation

The mortgage tech space is experiencing its biggest shift since the rise of cloud computing—AI is quickly becoming a top-of-mind priority for lenders.

But most buyers don’t know where to start. They’re overwhelmed with hype, confused by competing solutions, and unsure how to assess their current capabilities.

This is your moment as a vendor.

By building an AI maturity model, you can offer a framework that:

• Helps lenders self-assess their readiness
• Identifies actionable next steps
• Positions your solution as a strategic enabler
• Differentiates you from point-solution competitors

Whether you’re helping lenders digitize workflows, leverage predictive analytics, or personalize borrower journeys, a maturity model creates clarity—and clarity builds trust.

Five Dimensions to Include in a Mortgage Tech Maturity Model

Your model should map to business outcomes, not just product usage. For example:

1. Data Readiness – Is the lender’s data centralized, structured, and usable for AI-driven decision-making?
2. Operational Automation – How efficiently are lending and servicing workflows digitized and integrated?
3. Borrower Experience – Are communications consistent, personalized, and responsive across channels?
4. Organizational Buy-In – Is there strategic alignment across leadership, compliance, and operations?
5. Analytics & Optimization – Are decisions guided by real-time data, benchmarking, and continuous improvement?

Each stage of your model—e.g., Foundational → Emerging → Strategic → Optimized—should highlight pain points, missed opportunities, and value unlocks.

How to Build & Launch Your Maturity Model Campaign

Here’s a step-by-step framework to put this into motion:

1. Design the Framework Collaboratively

Bring in customer success, product, marketing, and sales leadership. Define 3–5 clear stages and the KPIs, behaviors, or systems that define each one. Anchor the model in lender business value—not just your feature roadmap.

2. Develop a Self-Assessment Tool

Create a short, online diagnostic that lets buyers identify their stage and download a benchmarking report. Offer immediate insights—and a follow-up CTA for a strategy session or consultative workshop.

3. Create Campaign Assets

This includes:

• A visual maturity map (one-pager)
• A thought leadership blog or whitepaper
• Email nurtures segmented by stage
• Sales talk tracks and value drivers
• ROI snapshots or case studies per stage

4. Enable Your Revenue Teams

Train AEs and CS reps on how to use the model in discovery calls, QBRs, onboarding, and upsell motions. Use it to guide conversations—not as a static handout.

5. Launch a Cross-Channel Campaign

Run an evergreen content and ABM campaign that includes:

• LinkedIn Ads and sponsored posts
• Webinars: “Where Are You in the AI Lending Maturity Curve?”
• Email outreach tied to segment-specific benchmarks
• Use at industry events and trade shows to frame meetings

The Business Impact

When maturity models are embedded into your GTM strategy, the benefits are real:

✅ Stronger Executive Engagement – Drive meaningful conversations at the leadership level
✅ Shorter Sales Cycles – Align faster on value, not feature parity
✅ Bigger Deals – Map a path to expansion and long-term impact
✅ Improved Win Rates – Reduce friction and increase buyer confidence
✅ Better Segmentation – Market smarter by targeting personas by maturity stage

And most importantly, you reposition your company from being a software vendor to being a strategic growth partner.

The Final Word: Sell the Journey, Not Just the Tool

Lenders don’t want more tools. They want outcomes. And they want someone to guide them there.

That’s your opportunity.

A maturity model isn’t just a marketing gimmick—it’s a bridge between your solution and their success. It’s how you move the conversation from “demo us” to “help us grow.”

If you want to stand out in a crowded market, align your GTM strategy with how lenders think, buy, and scale—and start by giving them the map.