One brokerage has made a rapid rise to the top of the mortgage scene in Canada, and one broker attributes that success to a few simple things.
“In six years to become the top brokerage in Canada is pretty incredible. It speaks volumes of the people who are running it,” says Allen Cripps, mortgage broker, withDominion Lending Centres in Lindsay, Ont. “Dominion Lending offers great back-office training, so new agents in training have access to webinars and seminars, and they can get learning right away.”
It is this high level of training that has led to DLC’s rapid rise in the industry, says Cripps, and what has drawn so many to the DLCmortgage broker network.
“Everyone wants to be part of a winning team, and so everyone has been jumping on the bandwagon,” he told MBN. “Just like with the Blackhawks, they want to be with a winning franchise.”
Like the new hires, Cripps finds that he will often sit down and listen to a webinar to upgrade his own skillset, listening to some of the training sessions that are offered by DLC.
And while improving skillsets, it is important that the learning process manages expectations, Cripps points out – especially for the Millennials coming into the workforce. “Some people get into the business and think they are going to make a million bucks in the first year, then realize how hard it is and they quit,” he says. “So you invest all that time in somebody, and all of a sudden they’re done. You have to sit down and try to understand their needs and goals going forward.”
It is an educational process that begins with making people understand that being a mortgage broker isn’t a part-time job, or a ticket to get rich quick, says Cripps. “There is a sense of entitlement that the younger generation has, I feel. They get a university degree and think that they are going to get an $80,000 a year job,” he says. “But they have to start at the bottom and work their way to the top.
“You can’t do this and another job on the side, because as soon as you miss a call from a client, they are going to find the next person,” continues Cripps. “Especially when banks are so competitive; they’re on your doorstep. So if you don’t return a call, they call a bank.”