How well do you remember the 2008 recession? Were you relatively detached from it? Or, were you, like most of us, caught in the aftermath?
One person who felt the immediate ramifications of the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis was Andre Coakley.
Andre owned a mortgage company and helped customers secure home loans. Focused on finding success in his career, Andre reviewed thousands of credit reports and became an expert in his field. Despite all of the expertise he’d gained, he wasn’t able to sail his company through the undulating tides of the Great Recession without damage: the recession swallowed his mortgage business and his house.
Many people would have loathed the idea of starting another business after that, yet, Andre remained undeterred.
Andre used his mortgage experience to start Credit 360, a credit repair company that helps people achieve their financial goals through credit transformation. Now, he runs a seven-figure business that serves over 700 clients every month.
Use this guide to incorporate Andre’s credit repair success story into your mortgage business to get the results you want.
Become a Credit Repair Hero
Despite what Andre knew when he started his credit repair business, his quest for knowledge never ceased and he continued to stay in-tune with the market through continued education. He became certified on consumer credit laws including the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Fair and Accurate Transaction Act.
In the same way that you would expect a pilot to fly the latest Boeing with the latest flight training, your knowledge as a mortgage expert should always be current. To stay current, consider taking online and accredited courses in:
- Mortgage brokerage
- Credit repair
- Financial management
- Business planning
- Sales and marketing
Remember, you don’t need to be an expert to start, you just need to be curious about helping clients and stay committed.
Turn Challenge Into Opportunity
Each challenge can transform into an opportunity when viewed through a different lens. Andre’s mortgage business is a great example. His business succumbed to the recession in order for his new credit repair business to flourish.
“Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition — such as lifting weights — we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity.” – Stephen Covey
If you’re unable to achieve the desired outcome in a situation, look for ways to flip it around in your favor.
Imagine that you have to tell a recently-married couple that their credit score is too low for them to secure a mortgage. Rather than waving them goodbye at the forecourt, focus on transforming their misfortune into a win-win opportunity. Could you offer them credit repair services? Or, could you refer them to someone else who can help, and strengthen your relationships further?
Although it can require a change of mindset to stay positive in the face of hardships, when you approach challenges as opportunities, you’ll find new ways to grow your business.
Achieve Success By Helping Others Reach Personal Success
Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you started a business alone that you’re flying solo. In fact, your prosperity as a mortgage broker is tethered to the success of your clients. Would Credit 360 still be in business if its clients didn’t achieve their goals in the long-run?
Ensure you are maximizing your business’, and your clients’ success by asking the following:
- Are you keeping your clients’ best interests at heart?
- Do you offer other services that complement your core business?
- Is your website customer-focused?
- Do you continue to develop a referral network by building relationships with local real estate agents and mortgage lenders?
- Are your positive testimonials shared publicly and easily accessible to prospective clients?
- Do you respond quickly to client questions?
- Are you preparing for your busiest season ahead of time?
Your clients might want you to take the lead in their journey to home-ownership, but if you focus on a positive outcome for everyone, nobody will be left behind.
Scale Up
Establishing the fundamentals of your mortgage business takes time, so don’t waste any more by using insufficient tools as you scale up. To expand Credit 360, Andre leveraged the use of credit repair software to help him streamline processes and expand his client base. How can you work smarter and not harder?
Knowing that you need to help more people in order to close on more loans and increase revenue, keep these optimization goals in mind:
- Automate processes as much as you can
- Use mortgage broker and loan software that lightens the workload
- Hire employees to balance daily tasks
- Delegate work to external resources and freelancers
- Let inbound marketing bring clients to you
- Use a CRM that keeps track of your deal pipeline
When the foundation of your company is secure, scaling up can be a fun stage of business where you really start to gain financial cadence!
What Do Mortgage Brokers Risk By Not Offering Credit Repair?
Besides the obvious risk of closing fewer loans and making less money, there are other risks associated with not offering credit repair to prospects.
First, when you fail to offer other services, like credit repair, that complement your business, you risk not distinguishing yourself from your competition. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2016 and 2026, they expect around 36,000 new loan officers to emerge. With this in mind, setting yourself apart from the competition with your unique value is imperative.
Another risk of not offering credit restoration services is that you miss out on the chance to build a stronger bond with your clients, as well as the chance to earn referrals to their family and friends. Trust is essential to a company’s value and is the basis of each client relationship. Just as it takes time to build trust in your personal life, it also takes time to build trust in your professional relationships. If you’re able to help your clients in multiple ways, your relationship can only flourish.
Now that you know how Credit 360 used credit repair to bounce back after the recession, learn how you can start incorporating credit repair into your mortgage business.
