Lenders and brokers scaling question

[Devin Peterson]

This one is for all of my hard-working lender and broker friends on BP. As our firm grows and the volume of loans remains very high, I wanted to ask those who manage small-midsize brokerages questions on how to scale to the next level. We have 15 Loan Officers and 4 processors on the payroll. The processors handle loan conditions and communication with underwriting very well. However, I am looking to assign those more so "next action" items like scheduling appointments, consultations, organizing lead generation, etc. to allow me to do what I do best to move the needle. Do any lenders or brokers have VAs? What does your current day-to-day management schedule look like? I want to offload all of the little things and focus on just lead generation. Is anyone willing to share systems or strategies their brokerage/firm currently uses? 

[Timothy Hero]

I'm an independent broker with a full time assistant, so I'm not considered a broker shop, but in 36 months I've closed 248 DSCR loans totaling just under $59 million. So I'm not sure it compares to your shop, but I'll take a stab at assisting.

Teach your team to work on a strict, but productive schedule. Those 45-minute phone calls with an investor? Not important. Cut it down to 10, or at most 15 minutes. There's tens of thousands of mortgages closing each month. You can't get a big slice if you're talking small talk.

Leads... every day. Every time someone reaches out to me for financing needs, I put them on a leads list and if they haven't requested a quote after 72 hours on my site, I contact them for an update. Don't let leads slip through. So many investors are serious about needing financing but get busy with life and just need a reminder from you.

Marketing... always be marketing. I have at least one ad running at all times. A $200 FB ad done right can generate 100 real leads. The ROI with FB ads is insane.

Don't hire too many people too fast. In the beginning, you need enough profit to scale. I know with every new hire you feel like you're that much closer to building an empire, but it's very costly if the value is returned.

Relationships - cliche, yes. But appearing on podcast and having others market you is key. It's like you have a network or army of marketers. We can only post and message so many people per day to get our brand out there. Why not have 30 additional people assist?

Embrace the wins, learn from the losses. This is a motto I created after inflation put a huge dent in my business. I lost the largest deal of my career ($6 million) 48 hours before closing due to inflation causing higher rates last minute. I've lost many deals. I've closed 248 in 36 months, but that number would be closer to 325-350 if life was perfect, but it's not. Embrace your closings, but learn from the deals that fall through so you limit that being a factor again.

Prioritize scheduling. My most product hours are from 5:30 am - 9 am. So I put the most impactful things for my business on the schedule during these hours. Contact leads, reach out to lenders for updates on files, etc. Your team needs to learn when you're at your highest level of energy and put the most important things on the schedule for that time so you/they crush it.

I hope this helps!