Process Improvement Column: Industry LOs Unprepared To Sell Into Coming Market

As mortgage refinance business continues to fall off during the remainder of 2021, many lenders will find their sales staff woefully unprepared to generate new loan sales in a purchase money market, according to Usherpa CEO Dan Harrington. A loan officer himself when he developed the real estate and mortgage industry’s original enterprise CRM technology, Harrington said that lenders who do not invest in sales training now will lose out to those who do. In response, Usherpa has made its Master Ascent Plan, a comprehensive sales training and Learning Management System (LMS), free to users of its automated marketing technology.

“Every lending executive responsible for loan volume is thinking the same thing right now,” Harrington said. “In our conversations around the industry, we’re hearing that lenders have been so busy responding to the business that was coming to them from historically low rates that they have had no time to build new business referral relationships, or even maintain the ones they have. This will cost them in the days ahead.”

Lack of time to nurture these relationships is only one of the trends pointing to a challenging future for lenders. Two more are the increasing average age of today’s working loan officer and the difficulty in recruiting new loan officers into the mortgage business. Lenders hope to recruit originators who already have a book of business made up of past borrowers and top producing Realtor partners, but these professionals are getting harder to find. Lenders will be forced to train their own replacement LOs, who are capable of sourcing, selling and closing purchase money loan business.

Experts from around the industry now agree that the refinance boom that has powered many lender shops for more than two decades is coming to an end. When it does, lenders will have to source new business in a much more traditional manner. This will be very challenging for loan officers who are very new to the business as well as those who are older and unwilling or unable to learn new methods of business prospecting.

Usherpa’s Peak Performance Program consists of private branch-specific strategy sessions that offer customized tactics designed to focus specifically on each branch’s unique needs. This custom training helps branch managers get the most out of each LO’s strengths while teaching them how to minimize any weaknesses. Usherpa Guides then lead Loan Officers through the creation of their own winning strategies, using the Usherpa platform to increase their production and strengthen their relationships with Realtor partners, in any market and selling any loan products.

“Loan officers must master the art of building relationships with Realtors if they hope to perform well in the coming purchase money market,” said Chris Harrington, Usherpa’s President and co- founder. “Our Base Camp, Summit Series and Peak Performance MAP modules give loan officers and mortgage brokers the skills they need to reach their goals, in any kind of mortgage market. We empower them to add value to real estate agents so they can win more business.

And now, they can get it for free.”

What started out as a better tool for marketing home loans in 1995 has evolved into the industry’s most sophisticated, cloud-based CRM/Marketing Automation system. Now referred to as Relationship Engagement, Usherpa’s software has helped thousands of loan officers stay connected with partners and clients. These LO’s have helped hundreds of thousands of borrowers fulfill their dreams of homeownership.