If you have not already participated in our Hammerhouse, 3rd Annual Mortgage Industry Survey for Mortgage Producers and Leaders, here is the link 2013 Hammerhouse Survey. One lucky participant will win you an iPad. Survey will be ending April 8, 2013 and your input will help validate what is important to professionals and best in class of the mortgage industry.

One of the biggest differences we see in those who CLOSE and those who DO NOT CLOSE is that some people are more competitive than others. Recruiting is a game, as is growing a referral based book of business and developing relationships with referral partners. There is a lot of competition out in the marketplace for talent, deals and new partners to get business from. The reference to being a ‘game’ is merely to point out the obvious; there are winners and losers in games. Which one are you?  Which one do you want to be? Read More >

Each and everyone receiving this email likely has or manages a pipeline of passive and active candidates they are recruiting, as well as, having their own way of communicating with these  recruits. With that in mind, can you clearly articulate what the ACTION step is between now and the next interaction with your candidate is? Communication during the recruiting process can be a detriment or an advantage when you get that shot at landing a top recruit. Consistent feedback that we hear from our candidates regarding other companies that are recruiting them are, for example, ‘I haven’t heard from them this week,’ OR ‘they said I should have something soon, but I haven’t heard anything.’ We use this to our advantage. Read More >

2012 was another excellent year for our industry. How were your year-end results relative to your goals? Every year your ‘crystal ball’ allows you to predict the future and depending on how good you are at honing in on the metrics, your crystal ball becomes more accurate over time. The question is: Do you have a business plan to INCREASE your bottom line through talent infilling and strategic growth initiatives in 2013?

This past year, Hammerhouse continued to make significant strides in innovating the way we help our clients execute talent infilling and expansion efforts on both a micro and a macro level. Our results have produced internal growth within our own team as well as a new division to support the non-sales needs of our clients while maintaining a 12-month rolling retention rate of 87% for people we have placed. Our clients’ average production per loan officer/team was also significantly above 2011 numbers. Read More >

“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”

–Michael Jordan

I’ve always found it fascinating that the core principals relating to the success of teams will cross the lines of industry, government, sport, and even age for that matter.  In thinking about the simple things that relate to the success of teams, the quote above from Michael Jordan puts it in great perspective.  Jordan is not a writer, he is not a philosopher, and he is not a historian.  But, this quote comes from a place of experience and passion. He said it with no desire to impress anyone that may hear or read it…it is simply the truth as he has seen it.  By breaking this quote down we can all find ways to relate Jordan’s words to the potential success of the teams we lead.

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Although more top producers and leaders are OPEN and ACTIVE in evaluating options in this market, most of them fall into the category we describe as Passive. Meaning that they are not unhappy where they are currently working, but they will take the time to meet and learn about you and your organization. IF it is compelling enough, they will likely become serious and more ACTIVE. Hammerhouse has focused on creating a framework for the candidates we represent and the clients we work with to have meetings mean more than sharing old war stories and getting off on tangents. We definitely don’t want to skip the relationship development process that takes place in meetings, but we do want to make sure the right information and questions get asked up front to qualify the opportunity on both sides which will ensure there is a Model-Match on both sides. Because of this, we have developed a framework of Six Core Components to dive into during the meeting process. Read More >

Over the past decade we have created and applied many acronyms to help with our workflow and business processes. Partly because it’s fun and partly because it promotes the Best Practices that we have developed and executed with our clients over the years. One of the most important acronyms relates to clearly defining WHAT and WHEN ‘something’ of importance is to happen next with an Active candidate in the pipeline. We refer to it as an A.C.T.I.O.N. (Always Close The Interaction Or Never……). The main point of doing this is to make sure that both YOU and the CANDIDATE you are meeting with are clear with WHAT is happening next, and WHEN it is going to happen. Read More >

The two core ways we see most organizations grow their production and sales teams are through recruitment of people they have an existing relationship with and recruitment through new relationships. Sounds pretty simple, right? You, as a Leader or Manager, sit down and meet with someone and guess what, IT’S TIME. They are ready to take the next steps to seriously evaluate working with you. More often than not, we see managers and leaders treat existing relationships differently at a time like this. DON’T DO IT! Regardless of the tenure, type or source of relationship, following a predefined process with required steps (what we call setting ACTIONs) should be a best practice for helping you control the experience and outcome you want, RETENTION and GROWTH. Consistency is key to replicating success and also to maintaining standards for Model-Matching ACTIONs. Make sure that anything and everything that will need to get covered DOES! Read More >

Be Prepared.  These two simple words comprise the motto of an organization that has helped mold generations of leaders. It goes without saying that when someone prepares in advance for any task they are likely to have better results. How often do you prepare in advance when it comes to the prospects you are recruiting and meeting with? As headhunters, we at Hammerhouse, take great pride in putting together Candidate Profiles which summarize the background, culture, leadership, production, source of production, products, loan amounts, short and long term objectives and much more (basically, as much as we can identify from the Six Core Components to Model-Matching). Beyond that, we ‘tell the story’ of who our candidate is, where they are coming from and what are their needs and wants. Our job is to prepare the managers we are working with for these important meetings (‘the test’). You may ask yourself, ‘why be prepared for the meeting, I can wing it!’ Read More >

Recruiting to grow production is Business Development, and with all Business Development, there are large (hopefully) pipelines of opportunity you are working on to accomplish your infilling or strategic expansion goals. This means that whether you are a branch manager meeting with an individual producer, or a sales leader or senior leader meeting with groups and teams, you have to prioritize your time and the opportunities in your pipeline. Understanding the position of your audience is a critical element in setting the stage for WHAT kind of meeting to have and HOW to prepare for the best possible outcome. With that in mind, we believe all opportunities fall into three categories: Read More >

How many producers have you hired, lost to your competition or fired? How much revenue has attrition cost you along the way? What is the perception of recruiting by top talent in your local market?

Stable growth requires a strong foundation. Over the past decade we have found that a key factor of sustainable growth lies in the preparation. Once a business begins to grow, execution needs to be flawless. Following through on all aspects related to adding new people, additional production, clients and business partners is essential. Read More >