CrossCountry Mortgage’s Scott Evans, an 18-year veteran of the mortgage industry, still brings the fresh-faced, lively exuberance of a young originator with every single pitch. It’s an approach that’s reaped myriad rewards.
Just last year, he closed 389 loans for a total of more than $220.8 million, good for 23rd in Scotsman Guide’s Top Originators ranking in dollar volume. In the past eight years, he’s placed no lower than 34th in the Top Dollar Volume ranking, fueled by boundless motivation, healthy competitiveness — and a lot of rehearsal.
Evans likens himself to an actor honing his craft, and that means putting in the hours to memorize and perfect his script.
“We look at ourselves as a performer, right, and put ourselves in that mindset,” he says. “Because the amount of income and the amount of transactions that people close is based on their performance. And a lot of times, people don’t think about how do you elevate your performance.”
It’s that attitude that’s transformed Evans from someone who, in his own words, was “scared to death” to make a presentation (“I didn’t know what the heck I would say for 20 minutes,” he recalls) to someone who keeps real estate professionals entertained and engaged for 90 minutes at a time at one of his many scheduled presentations.
The script is especially important for Evans, who has built his business off going after Realtors and winning them over with an elite talk. He says that while his script has changed over the years, it’s long been centered around emphasizing his strengths in the form of the “Four Pillars of Value” that he offers to real estate agents: thorough pre-approvals, a winning offer process, a service advantage, and his ‘Growing Together’ campaign. (For more on Evans’ “Four Pillars,” check out his episode of “The Loan Originators’ Edge” podcast on scotsmanguide.com.)
Even though he’s delivered his script hundreds of times and can recite it on command, he’s never satisfied. He rates his delivery after every single presentation and always looks for where he can fine-tune it to gain that extra little edge.
“I could have a better presentation,” Evans chuckles. “I can make people laugh. I could deliver it better, right? I’m always looking to improve, because there’s always room for improvement.”
It’s a formula that’s worked so well that he’s got his team doing the seminars, too: about 15 every month, penetrating his home market in the San Diego area as well as others throughout Southern California. It’s a model that he’s cultivated from grassroots to success, marketing on the phone, through social media and texts, and via word of mouth. He can remember the days when no one would show up, but now he’s packing rooms, sometimes drawing over 100 attendees.
That’s not, of course, to say that he doesn’t have fun. In fact, it’s rare to see the effervescent Evans without a smile on his face. That’s part of where that competitiveness comes in: Evans loves competition, and it helps keep the industry fresh for him even after all these years at the top. He says that one of the things that truly fuels him in the industry is a drive to be the best, even if one of the people standing in your way is one of your own.
“A buddy of mine, Matt Weaver, who’s No. 1 at our company — at CrossCountry — is coaching me. And I used to be No. 1 at CrossCountry since 2016, and he knocked me off my horse,” Evans says with a laugh.
“And the cool thing is he’s coaching me. We always have to have enemies, and he’s like my ‘mortal enemy,’ and my goal is just to beat him. I have every single employee with a coffee mug that says ‘Beat Matt Weaver.’ I’m chasing him to win, but he’s coaching me along the way, which is pretty cool.”
But being No. 1 at his own company isn’t his only goal. When being consistent means being one of the best loan originators in the country year after year, the end goal is reaching for the absolute top of the mountain. “I’m looking at my units, and I want my goal — and I believe this completely — is to be the No. 1 guy on Scotsman, to beat Shant (Banosian of Rate). You know, that’s my goal. I believe I will eventually take him down. When you have someone that you’re chasing, it’s fun.”
