What are the things I need to do to succeed in the mortgage business?

I often get this question from those in my class, either from students who are new in the industry or from those who are experienced but need to take a different direction.  Those different directions may include a focus upon purchases instead of refinances or a focus on a referral-based business instead of purchasing leads.

It is an excellent question—but very, very broad. After three days in my OriginationPro Mortgage School you will know what direction to take—but there still will be many, many choices.  What I expect to do here is give you an outline of what you will need to accomplish to have a better chance of succeeding. Do not think that we will do each step justice in one article—but hopefully it will give you the gumption to learn a bit more.  And even more importantly, take coherent action.

First take an inventory of your life--your skills and spheres of influence. Do not assume that whatever you did before or are doing now is not relevant to what you are going to do. Everything you do should be building upon what you did in the past. That way your business plan will resemble a staircase instead of a treadmill.  Many feel because their background is technology that these skills would not be relevant to their new targets in the mortgage business.  Others feel the good job they have done with refinances in the past three years do not separate them from their competition. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I am reminded about the email I received from someone who was selling insurance for twenty years. Their question was—where is the best place to purchase leads? I also get this question from those who have been in the business for eight years. When I ask them why they don’t change—they say it is too late. I think you get the picture. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said—It is never too late to do what is right. Use your skills, relationships, experiences and more to develop a base from which to work.

Then take an inventory of your needs--what will you need to learn and improve upon. I often say that the goal of my class is to let you know what you don’t know. Because if you don’t know what you don’t know, you won’t improve (John Maxwell).  Your inventory here is not limited to areas of educational needs. Many of us need self-improvement. My book, More Income with Less Stress, has a list of areas we need to excel within in order to succeed—attitude, hard work, honesty, communication, etc. If you don’t know where you need to improve in these areas, all the marketing advice I give you will be in vain. This is a key step that most of us never take—an inventory of where we need to change or improve. Do not skip this step.
 
Then look at the options for work environments. There are plenty of options within this business—you could work as a broker, a lender, in a bank, out of your home, inside a real estate office, for a builder, in what I will affectionately call a “sweatshop, as well as other choices. Many of us go to work in this industry by answering an advertisement or.  We even change jobs in this manner. Stop looking for the right company, because what you are really looking for is the best “mentor” and people to work with in the right environment. Companies are a comprised of people—and you need to find the right people.

Then match up your assets and your needs with the right working situation. For example, if you need flexible hours because you are a single parent, you may not want to work in an in-house mortgage company or bank environment. If you are not team-oriented, you may not want to work in a real estate office. Do not expect to get the best of all worlds—like flexibility and a huge salary with benefits. There will be tradeoffs here—but if you match your needs and assets with the right situation, you have a much better chance of making a right decision. Also make sure you check references (and if they don’t seem to check yours—that is a big warning sign).  How many loan officers were promised a great training program only to find out that it never existed. You can find this out ahead of time. Just ask to talk to others who have been trained. Success is not an accident.

The final step? Develop and implement a detailed marketing/success plan by using the exercises above to hone in on the most important targets with the value only you can deliver. I will cover this step in a follow-up article. Say tuned.

Dave Hershman is the leading author for the mortgage industry with eight books and several hundred articles to his credit. He is also head of OriginationPro Mortgage School and a top industry speaker. For more articles by Dave and free marketing materials and a schedule of classes, visit www.originationpro.com.