Personal branding helps employees feel like energized entrepreneurs, rather than cogs in a machine. GSF Mortgage President Chad Jampedro shares his tips for an effective brand
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As president of GSF Mortgage, Chad Jampedro encourages employees to build a personal brand that shows off their expertise, community connections and niche market.
It’s a win-win for the company and its mortgage professionals, Jampedro says.
“I never have to get their buy-in on marketing because if I have a new idea, it becomes theirs,” he said. “I don’t have to convince them. It goes a long way with the morale of those individuals.”
Besides the morale boost, a tailored brand can also make an originator more appealing to the local community by adding a personal touch that counters the big box image of personal lending.
Jampedro’s top tip: Share stories from past clients to attract a similar demographic. Did you help a young couple with poor credit buy their first home? Publicize that success and you could become the go-to originator for Millennials, Jampedro says.
GSF’s Mortgage Nerds have claimed that market in Appleton, Wis. Their logo features a smiling nerd in black frame glasses and a bow-tie – a style several loan officers copy in their headshot photos.
To Jampedro, GSF is like an agency for these employee-driven brands.
“I say leverage IT, use IT to make yourself more efficient, but never automate out your personality,” Jampedro says. “That’s what people are buying. The magic comes from you.”
A personal brand is particularly valuable in suburbs or smaller cities where it is critical to be “hyper-connected to the community,” he says.
Jampedro acknowledged that companies are taking a chance when employees build brands because the image, identity and clients go with them if they move on. Some originators have switched companies eight or nine times in 10 years, Jampedro says, and recruiters constantly try to poach top performers.
But Jampedro says personal branding is worth the risk because it keeps employees energized and engaged.
“Without that, they can feel like cogs in the machine,” he said. “Their entrepreneurial spirt starts to sputter, and they get in that cycle of moving. What if instead of moving, you shifted and started building your own brand within compliance rules? Originators can really win by building a brand that serves the market.”
