The Complex System: Story of an Entrepreneur

Mortgage; It's Rough Business

It’s a tough market and we’re in the thick of it. For us it’s more than just difficult to sell software to mortgage companies; and it’s not just that we’re losing clients daily to bankruptcy. It’s that we’re suffering from similar problems brought on by the mortgage crisis.

During an industry boom people get sloppy, especially sales. This is because it becomes too easy to sell a product or service, in this case mortgages and software for mortgage companies. When sales becomes too easy, people learn bad habits that are tough to break. And when it comes to selling enterprise software, sloppy doesn’t cut it. To some extent we became glorified order takers and we’re having a tough time become real sales people that demonstrate value and build relationships.

We’ve got some momentum though. We’ve enlisted help from guys like Aaron Ross and I’ve goten deeply involved in developing our sales process and directly coaching my sales guys. It’s been extremely challanging; there is a lot of work to do. But what I can say is that my guys are coachable. They want to learn and are willing to try my suggestions.

We’ll get through this… but like the title of this posts says; it's rough business.

The Mortgage Crisis and the “Cowboys”

I have a theory about market changes in a crisis. When there is an industry-boom (the refi-boom in mortgage) the cowboys come out. A cowboy is a guy that moves at light speed; he is a hard worker and hard to work for. He pushes his people to the end and gets results. When things are great, as they were in mortgage for a long time, the cowboy is killing it. He’s probably driving an Italian sports car and lounges on his yacht on the weekends. When things are hot, it’s like printing money; but when the ink runs dry then what?

As we’ve seen in the mortgage industry, many Cowboys are out of work and their Ferraris repo’d. Business goes south and they didn’t know what to do; so they close up shop.

But some Cowboys have an edge. They can put their egos aside just enough to see that what used to work doesn’t anymore. They realize it’s going to take some serious change to keep the doors open, and that maybe they don’t have all the answers. The smart ones hire smarter people when times get tough.

I saw this happen at a recent client visit. The cowboy at this company hired a smart marketing director and let change happen, however uncomfortable it may be. This may actually be a trend that will save a lot of jobs and help stabilize an industry. If more mortgage companies realize that even though all the apples on the bottom branches have been picked, there are a lot more out of reach. They just need to stop and think about how to reach them.

Ordinary People Doing the Extraordinary

A great quote from Gerber’s E-Myth paraphrased here; it’s been said that great companies are not built by extraordinary people but by ordinary people doing extraordinary things… this occurs when you have a “system” (a way of doing things) that compensates for the disparity between the skills people have and the skills your business needs to produce extraordinary results.

The system is a set of tools, processes, procedures, rules, roles and often software. I think this idea is extremely pertinent to what’s going on in the mortgage industry and how Leads360 can play a role in stabilizing the market.

At the recent FAMB (Florida Association of Mortgage Brokers) show in Orlando, I had an opportunity to speak with numerous brokers. I think most of the people that make up the mortgage industry are ordinary people that are being asked to achieve extraordinary results. Brokers are not typically entrepreneurs trying to build global organizations; they are workers trying to make a living.

Like Gerber alludes to in his book, in order for mortgage brokers to achieve results in this market, they need to have a system to work in. They need a proven process that delivers extraordinary results again and again. This system includes numerous components: Lead Generation, Lead Management, Credit, Credit Repair, Pricing, Loan Origination, Processing, Customer Relationship Management, Marketing and so on.

Leads360 currently provides one of the key aspects to this system, the piece that insures loan agents convert leads into loans; but that’s just one part. It’s the system that is the solution, and I believe Leads360 is the platform to delivery that system. With many of the recent and upcoming integrations, we’re making our Lead Management platform a central system for mortgage professionals to manage all the steps of their jobs. If we can do this, and enable mortgage brokers to repeat the process with the same results, similar to the way every McDonalds franchise consistently achieves the same results, we become the system that every mortgage company must have.

Mortgage Lead Fraud & Theft

Buying and generating leads online can be an expensive venture; but even more expensive than that is when those leads are stolen. Lead theft, especially in the mortgage space, is a big deal. We’re seeing a crackdown on those that steal leads (you can read some examples on  http://www.fraudblogger.com). Often times lead theft is happening right under your nose -http://www.mortgagefraudblog.com/index.php/weblog/permalink/three_arrested_in_alleged_theft_of_leads_from_former_employer, from your best employees.

While there is a lot of press about the subject, nobody has really been able to do much to detect and deter lead fraud. At Leads360 we have been working on a new technology that will help our customers make a dent in this costly enterprise. We’ve developed LeadGuardian, a sophisticated voice over IP “VOIP” lead theft deterrent and detection system. LeadGuardian is a real-time solution to the growing problem of lead theft. Inject unique and qualified leads into your LeadManager and monitor what happens using our integrated tracking system.

To learn more about LeadGuardian, or to take a test drive, please visit www.leadguardian.com.