Every Loan Officer who reaches out to me for a complimentary business coaching session can expect to be asked the following question, “Do you have a business plan?” Nine out of ten times, the answer is, “No.” In the beginning of my career, this used to surprise me. Coming from a corporate background, strategic planning, business planning and goal setting were expected at least, annually. How else was a business going to meet their market growth and business growth goals? How else would they be able to track sales projects, Marketing R.O.I., customer service levels, employee training & retention, systems implementation, etc., etc., etc?
What I discovered was that most mortgage companies were not providing the tools or education, nor were there any expectations of their Loan Officers to develop and share their goals or full-fledged business plans. No doubt part of the reason for the extremely high turn-over of Loan Officers across mortgage companies. Heck, if you’re not investing in and tracking your sales force, how are you effectively hiring the right team members, forecasting sales growth and providing the right tools and education to ensure retention? Hmmm? I’ll step down from my soap box now.
Ten years later, I’m happy to report that this has seemed to change somewhat, in a more positive direction and more and more, I am told that some type of goals are being requested and some companies have even taken the leap to provide business plan templates to their Loan Officers to fill out each year.
Helping Loan Officers to develop detailed business plans that will get them excited about taking action and give them a greater sense of direction and purpose about their businesses is one of my favorite specialized services that I offer as par
t of my particular coaching platform. It is a value that has proven its worth 10-fold for those individuals I coach.
I’d like to share an example of a detailed, mortgage-specific business plan with anyone who is interested enough to request it. Please email me at bizcoachvictoria@gmail.com and I will be happy to send you a copy of one of my own client’s co-developed 2017 Business Plans, who has graciously agreed to allow me to offer it anonymously.
2017 is going to be a GREAT year for those of us who PLAN it that way! Cheers!
Be on the look-out next Thursday for Business Planning Season Part VI-The Do’s and Don’ts of Business Planning