May-June2020 Issue

Talking Heads Nationwide Property Inspections and Preservation Inspections Preservation Insurance Loss Inspections REO Services Violation Management Utility Management Vacant Property Registrations Foreclosure Registrations Special Services Protecting Your Properties. Protecting You. • NFROnline.com • 800-639-2151 culture can be crucial when leading a successful team, at all levels. “Title” should not, by itself, be the end all within teams. Let’s look at it from a non-leader perspective. Consider an individual contributor, someone who has no “direct reports.” An example, and just one of many, is an account executive, particularly the more seasoned ones. These team members may feel that because they understand the guidelines and have considerable product knowledge they think, “I got this,” and forget the sales element. Your ego is saying, “I know all this. It’s all about me. I, I, I.” And then they wonder why their numbers aren’t where they should be. You’re not just dealing with a broker or a borrower. You have an entire operations team to partner with. You’ve got processors, underwriters, closers, funders. You need to collaborate with them. You need to be more “we”-centric, because your operations team will get you to the finish line. RM: Thank you for those insights. I understand how important it is to communicate with borrowers, but I never realized that those skills are equally important within a mortgage company. TA: It’s not just being an expert on the product—it’s being an expert on communication. It’s being an expert on communicating a potential delay or a new underwriting condition back to your broker/borrower. It’s those parts of the puzzle that we need to remember to think about. At times, we go on autopilot. We have sales goals to meet, we ask the questions, get the application in, stay on operations to get it done, and then move on to the next application. Slow down. Stop and think about how you can make the process go more smoothly. There are always things that we’re doing without realizing it. If we could all just change our language. If we could be more “we”-centric. If we could be more collaborative, maybe more appreciative and humble when we make a mistake, you don’t realize how much easier, smoother and cohesive things could be running within your company. There are so many things we can and cannot control. Doesn’t it behoove us all to control the things we can control? REVERSE MORTGAGE / MAY-JUNE 2020 17