A new episode of “The Loan Officer Podcast” aims to teach mortgage originators how to leverage tools and grow their businesses. Host Dustin Owen and Lauren Walton, a senior loan officer at Lower-backed Gerber Group, sit down to teach viewers how to move from the call-center model to retail lending as a top-ranked and self-sourced originator.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
To start the conversation, Walton dives into her background before rising to her current position as a veteran originator. She shares how she started in the industry after the Great Recession.
Lauren Walton: I worked in a retail-type environment. Clients came to us, or we would go to clients’ homes and sign docs in their driveways. It was a very different dynamic than what we’re seeing now. So, that was not really what I was looking for as a long-term career.
Chase is a mecca for mortgage in Columbus. It’s where a lot of people in our market get their start, but it was a really good opportunity for me. At Chase Bank, I was really able to grasp and become good at guidelines due to the training they would give us.
I felt like I was becoming an expert in my craft of mortgage. I got to the point where I felt little to no room left to grow. I had sort of mastered everything I could in that seat.
Later on in the conversation, the duo explore social media strategies for loan officers to implement.
Owen: What did you do coming out of the gates? Walk me through and walk the audience through what you did to become this $40 million producer.
Walton: We did so many whiteboard sessions where we talked about who we were going to prospect. I need to go after, in my mind, agents that were also in growth and grind mode. It worked really well for me to go after some working moms. We have other things in common, right?
Every person I know that owns a house knows a Realtor. So, start there. I use social media as a tool to figure out who I know, what they know, and how they can make an introduction for me.
Owen: Going back two and a half years ago, how many of these outbound solicitations did you make to your circle of influence?
Walton: I don’t like getting a cold call and so I didn’t want to make cold calls. So, I wanted warm introductions as much as I could. I really just tried to pack my schedule and just constantly have new meetings after new meetings, and I’m still doing that.
Also, tapping into my own financial adviser and then, who is he networked with? And who does he know? So, just one of the biggest things early on I did was put messaging out on social media.
