Chief sales officer explains how his company is harnessing a new momentum and shrugging off recent downturn
After navigating over two years of what he calls “false starts,” Todd Bitter, UMortgage’s chief sales officer, says that momentum is building.
“It feels like it's starting to break loose,” he said. “Like there is a hint of demand.”
He explained how dips in rates would initially spark optimism, only to vanish as the market snapped back. “But I feel like this is different. It feels like the momentum is now behind us.”
That momentum, he said, may be tied as much to psychology as it is to economics. After a long period of uncertainty surrounding elections and national leadership, Bitter said it seemed like the fear of the unknown had started to lift. “Even though there's a lot of chaos in the administration, it feels like things are getting back on track for houses.”
According to recent data from NMLS, there are approximately 30,000 fewer originators than the year before. With reduced brokers, many are preparing for an increased volume of clients. For Bitter, this could be an opportunity - but only if originators are ready to step up.
“You've got more volume, fewer people. How do we get into the 30% range?” he said.
The answer, at least for his team at UMortgage, is simplicity. “We're focusing our salespeople on sales activities,” Bitter said. “Whatever it is, whatever your niche is... we don't care. Just work the sales activities.”
Bitter said that a negative attitude in the wake of the recent downturn can unnecessarily slow many brokers down. “A lot of originators came through the last year being very deflated,” he said. “They got into a comfort zone of making excuses for why they weren't doing the business they were doing before.”
The solution? Go back to basics. “Pretend you're brand new. Pretend you're that new guy that's just out there pounding the pavement.”
The focus of UMortgage is not increasing in size but improving efficiency. “We are very far from being the biggest,” Bitter said. “We're never going to be that type of business where we're just hiring and hiring and hiring.”
Instead, UMortgage is focused on doing “a lot more with less.” Bitter said that the company would rather hire one quality candidate out of ten applicants than dilute its culture and operations for the sake of scale. “We're focusing on the ones we have, making them better while adding quality people.”
For Bitter, it all comes down to culture - a word that can often feel abstract, but for him is rooted in day-to-day reality. “When people ask me what sets us apart... the first thing I tell them is culture.”
That sense of connection is one he’s also found through AIME - the Association of Independent Mortgage Experts. “I was a small little broker in Scottsdale that nobody had ever heard of except for my customers,” he said, recalling his early days before AIME. The group didn’t just put him on the map - it gave him a national network. “I can’t go anywhere without knowing other brokers.”
That network became both a resource and a springboard. “Those other brokers helped me, because I learned from them,” he said. “I pick up tips and tricks from them. I build relationships.”
But that personal web connection has been translated directly into business value. “I'm not sitting at home just typing up loans. I'm all over the country recruiting, preaching UMortgage,” he said. “That network is now paying off tenfold.”
