Interview with a Winner:
Gene Humphries
First National Bank, Fort Collins, CO
2005 Origination Volume: $48 million (shaping up for $54 million by end of 2006)
2005 Average Loan Amount: $321,000
Software: Loan Soft (for origination, processing and closing) pricing engine software (for pricing loans)
Referral Source Mix: 40% past customer, 30% builder and 30% Realtor
Sherri McArthur: How did you get started in the mortgage business?
Gene Humphries: I got started in the mortgage business in August of 1976 working in a collections department. I was going to school full time, was married, and we already had a son – so I wanted a part time job. I ended up enjoying my work so much that I decided to work full time and go to school part time instead.
When I began, I had never borrowed money in my life. I learned what the lending business was about on the job, and eventually found that my interest and passion was for the production side of it. So I eventually transitioned.
Sherri: Were you an immediate success?
Gene: It actually took two to three years to figure out what worked and what didn’t, and I experimented with a lot of approaches. I think it is hard to be an immediate success in this business. There are so many details to learn before you can become successful. That has been my experience from a management standpoint overseeing a number of loan officers. It takes a lot of dedication and hard work during those first several years.
Sherri: What mistakes do you see rookie loan officers making?
Gene: Many rookie loan officers do not have an understanding of the hard work they are going to need to commit to for their first several years in order to be successful.
When I meet a new loan officer, I sit down with them and tell them a little bit about my history. I’ll then have them interview at least three of our other loan officers about how they became successful. Hopefully, after visiting with four or five people, the new loan officer starts to get the message that they are going to have to work their tail off for the next two years in order to get to where they want to go.
Many people have the impression that it’s a business you can get into and generate $100,000 of income your first year. But there are only a handful - maybe 1% to 3% - of the people in the industry who have been able to accomplish that. And then it’s likely because of connections or a family history. Immediate success like that is a pretty rare situation, in my opinion.
Sherri: What mistakes do you see veteran loan officers making?
Gene: They get lazy. They may work their tails off for years, but then they feel like they can coast. But in this business, you have to keep up with the industry, your competition, and the changes that are occurring so that you can tweak your business model accordingly. You can not rest on your past work.
Sherri: What separates you from the average loan officer?
Gene: For me, it is a commitment. I’m committed to being a good loan officer and I’m committed to the mortgage industry because I have made a lifetime commitment to my customers. I don’t see the mortgage business as a transaction business. I think a lot of people in our industry today try to maximize specific transactions rather than approaching each customer from a relationship point of view. Instead of viewing each customer as one mortgage, I view him or her as a lifetime of mortgages. This gives me a better perspective on how to treat my customers. I truly try to understand what they are looking for, and do not focus on my own personal motivations.
I’m passionate about this business and my customers. If you can’t be passionate about whatever it is you’re doing, why are you doing it?
Sherri: If you had a son or daughter entering the business, what advice would you give them?
Gene: My son is actually my production partner. He entered the business five years ago. My advice to him then was to learn how the business works - not just your job or position. If you have a better understanding of what makes the industry tick, you can figure out where your passion is and where your niche should be.
As a collector, in my early years in the business, I gained an understanding of where customers make mistakes and where a lot of the loan officers make mistakes. I appreciate that understanding of the business because I think it gave me a very wide perspective.
Sherri: What was your most successful marketing campaign?
Gene: Our business is entirely relationship based. Our focus is on having a marketing program that effectively promotes and communicates what we do for our past clients, our current clients and our referral sources - which we call strategic partners.
For example, I’ve been doing business with the same Realtors for 15-20 years. I’ve been doing business with the same builders for 10-15 years. I initially built relationships with these strategic partners though rate sheets. Of course, no one does that anymore because the information is so readily available that a rate sheet doesn't provide much value. But back then they were a way to get my foot in the door and then build a deeper relationship by keeping my promises.
Sherri: What is your best turn-key sales or marketing strategy?
Gene: Make your referral sources some of your best friends.
Sherri: How do you keep in touch with your referral sources?
Gene: I meet with them every month, either in a fun environment or a work environment. Sometimes we meet every week. Frankly, my best referral sources are some of my best friends. We play golf together, we go on trips together. That’s just how we’ve developed our relationship over time.
I learned early on that the stronger the relationship you have with someone who is in a position to refer business to you, the better the benefit – both personally and financially.
Sherri: What, or who, was the biggest contributor to your success?
Gene: Toby Marez was the owner and president of First Colorado Mortgage, the first company I worked for where I really began to focus substantially on production in my career. I worked for him for 14 years. He provided me with the opportunity and the freedom to experiment and gain a very grounded sense for the business.
Larry Kendall was the chairman of a real estate company in northern Colorado called The Group. They are the largest real estate company in northern Colorado. He taught me how to be passionate about the business as well as sales oriented. I used to go to a lot of seminars conducted by Larry and we became good friends.
Sherri: If you had a magic wand, what would you change about your current business?
Gene: If I had the power to change the mortgage industry, I’d make it a more respected profession and figure out a way to weed the bad apples out of the business. Our industry was once very well respected, but in some ways that has disappeared. I would like to get it back, and I would do so by encouraging more professionals in our business to be in it for the right reason.
I actually wouldn’t change a heck of a lot about my personal business because we have it designed pretty well for what we hope to accomplish. Because of my other job responsibilities, I only spend about 30% of my time on personal production - so I have a real good team. Occasionally they’ll come up with a question about something they haven’t experienced. But this is an industry where you continue to learn every single day.
Sherri: What are your current goals?
Gene: We have a simple saying on our team, which applies to every single thing that we do, and it is that we want to be better today than we were yesterday and better tomorrow than we were today. It literally means that with everything we do, whether it’s how we communicate with our customers, how we treat our customers, how we interact with our strategic partners or our fellow employees, we’re constantly trying to improve.
We don’t tend to set specific production goals. It’s a little hard to do that if you truly believe in focusing on the relationship aspect of the business. Relationships take time, and I think we would be doing a disservice to our current relationships if we tried to overextend ourselves by growing too quickly.
Sherri: Is there anything else you would like to say to other originators who aspire to the kind of success you have created?
Gene: If you truly love this business, and you love being a loan officer, discover what will keep you passionate about it. Start out each and every day with a renewed commitment to be the best.