There's no time to waste when it comes to improving your business

Ralph LoVuolo Sr., president, Mortgage Motivator

As published in Scotsman Guide's Residential Edition, August 2011.

In today's mortgage market, originators and brokers must implement a plan to increase their business.

Too often, people wait until something bad happens before they address a problem. Mortgage companies that don't have a recruitment plan in place can fall in to this category. And these companies are on the track to failure.

When push comes to shove, it seems that people often consider poaching loan originators from the company down the street. But why didn’t they just have a recruitment plan all along? This seems to be a common attitude in our industry: Let’s not make a plan. Let's not really think about the future. We all hate meetings, so let's just keep doing what we’re doing.

I have a friend who owned a mortgage-brokerage company that employed about 20 sales representatives. He had one person on his staff whose job was to ensure that every loan originator brought in one competitor's business card each week. That person assembled a file on these competitors, and the company's president made at least one call a day to recruit one of those people. The tenor of the market didn’t matter — this was done every day of every month of every year.

Right now, there is a lot of attrition in the mortgage industry. I'm astounded at how many companies are scrambling to establish a loan-originator recruitment plan. Some people think that it is too late.

It’s never too late to bring about any well-thought out plan. Here are some steps to get started:

• Schedule a meeting, and include your company's top brass.
• Make a list of your company's strengths and weaknesses.
• Make another list that specifies what you would want a mortgage company to offer you if you were a successful loan originator.
• Review these lists and come up with a recruitment plan that works for your company.

Once you have a plan in mind, see what your budget will allow you to enact. If you don't have a recruitment plan, now is the time to implement one. Your company's future depends on it.