Skip to main content

Mortgage advisory firm says last year’s successful lenders were not afraid to think outside the box

December 14, 2023 – DENVER, Colo., – STRATMOR Group advisors revisited past InFocus articles published in 2023 and pulled together the most relevant advice for mortgage industry leaders heading into the new year. Their lessons are captured in the “The Moral of the 2023 Mortgage Industry Story,” available in this month’s STRATMOR Insights Report.

“This past year came with its fair share of challenges, but it’s the successes experienced by the lenders who were not afraid to try and fail that offer the most hope,” STRATMOR Senior Partner and CEO Lisa Springer shares. “Throughout the year, our advisors shared strategies to help lenders think outside the box, evaluate new strategies, take risks and survive the downturn.”

STRATMOR recapped key takeaways from the past 11 months of InFocus articles and provided an index to a year’s worth of business recommendations specifically written for mortgage lenders. The firm’s advisors then identified four overarching themes for the year and categorized the morals under each theme.

Among the findings they discovered were:

  • Servicing holds the key to unlocking additional revenue, but any decision will involve servicing transfers, which are intricate processes. Each step must be executed with precision to ensure a seamless transition and maintain trust in the mortgage ecosystem.
  • Secret shopping is the most impactful way for lenders to remove the disconnection between perception and reality and pave the way for meaningful improvements in customer experience.
  • Lenders and vendors both share responsibility for technology ROI. This partnership will play a larger role in the final ROI outcomes than the technology on its own.
  • Lenders will be more successful when the cycle turns if they work on their sales compensation structures now.

Six more lessons are included in the article, which can be found here.

STRATMOR’s InFocus articles offer the experience and expertise of its advisors to equip leaders with the tools to build sound foundational strategies, win business in new areas, and evaluate the opportunities technology offers the mortgage industry so they can experience success in 2024.

In a second article, STRATMOR Customer Experience Director Mike Seminari poses the question: “What Are Top-Tier Originators Doing to ‘Wow’ Their Borrowers?” He explains that there is often a disconnect between leadership and loan officers about how to approach customer experience improvements.

“LOs perceive that they’re already delivering a nice experience and have nothing to ‘fix,’” Seminari wrote. “But in today’s market they need to produce ‘wow’-inducing experiences for their borrowers if they want to continue to grow their influence and reach.”

Seminari’s article offers three ways to impress and amaze your borrowers this holiday season.

Click here to read the December 2023 edition of STRATMOR’s Insights Report.

About STRATMOR Group

STRATMOR Group is a leading mortgage industry advisory firm that provides a range of programs and services designed to counsel lender CEOs and senior executives. STRATMOR serves more than 250 companies annually, providing strategies that increase growth and improve profitability in sales, marketing, technology, operations and mergers and acquisitions. The company leverages comprehensive, propriety data and key insights gained through extensive experience in the mortgage industry. STRATMOR is well known for its financial models and its collaboration with the Mortgage Bankers Association in the PGR: MBA and STRATMOR Peer Group Roundtables Program. Find out more about STRATMOR on its website at www.stratmorgroup.com.