Retaining every single client isn’t the be-all and end-all, broker argues
The mortgage broker and loan originator fields may have thinned in recent years, but competition is stronger than ever with lenders and broker shops locked in a fierce battle to snag business in 2025.
Establishing a clear strategy to set themselves apart from the chasing pack are top priorities for the leading brokers across the US. For one Florida-based broker, that means a firm focus on branding and bringing in new clients – and not taking it too personally when a customer decides to jump ship.
Kris Radermacher (pictured top), of K2K Mortgage, told Mortgage Professional America that the ultra-competitive environment now facing brokers meant losing existing clients to bigger competitors was simply a fact of life, and that it didn’t make sense to spend undue time, money and effort on fighting what could be a losing battle.
It’s an unconventional approach – but one that’s proving effective, she said. “This is where I’m totally the different LO and it doesn’t work for everybody,” she said. “I think as long as we keep buying this notion that clients are solely loyal and dedicated – as long as you carry that – you’re going to struggle to be in this new world,” she said. “In this new world, between AI and trigger leads, competition is getting stiffer and stiffer every day.
“I could spend a lot of money and time and energy trying to retain one person or I can do a pretty solid job and always keep moving forward.”
Will retaining every client become too expensive for LOs?
A steady pipeline is the most important thing for Radermacher, who said a strong volume of prospective clients is essential for brokers who are naturally going to lose out on some business to lending giants and larger companies.
That’s a realistic approach, she said, based on the fact that customers have been conditioned through advertising – not solely when it comes to the housing and mortgage markets – that faster and cheaper options are best. “How do you expect them now to not think that way in the mortgage industry?” she said. “A lot of people think I’m crazy or too harsh, but that’s just what I’ve seen, and I think it’s going to keep going more and more, especially as AI kicks in.
“My business model is all about branding. You just have to keep standing out in front. My thought is, ‘I follow up with my clients and if I just happen not to get that one, I have 10 more lining up to come work with me.’ I think that’s going to be the new rotation because at some point for the average LO, it’s going to be way too expensive to hit them enough to retain them all.”
What should be done about trigger leads?
The issue of trigger leads – alerts generated by a credit bureau to lenders and other companies when a borrower applies for a mortgage – has been a thorny one in the mortgage industry in recent years and a constant bone of contention for brokers potentially losing out on business as a result.
Radermacher said the problem has become especially acute because most brokers’ overall loan volume has dipped substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic, when low mortgage rates and access to cheap credit helped spur a housing market boom.
Despite a recent setback, the Senate has passed the Home Buyers Privacy Protection Act, a bipartisan bill aimed at eliminating the misuse of "trigger leads" in mortgage transactions.https://t.co/79qVilvOtD
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) December 19, 2024
“During COVID, you didn’t care [about trigger leads],” she said. “You had 18 loans in your pipeline – if you lost five, you didn’t care. You had 13 more going. We’re feeling the crunch of it a lot more. I don’t really think they’re 1,000% harmful – competition is never a bad thing. It makes you sharper, keeps you on your toes, that kind of thing.”
As an additional source of revenue for credit bureaus, Radermacher said trigger leads can help keep the cost of credit reports down – and that making them less attainable, rather than banning them outright, might be the best approach to the contentious issue. “Let’s make trigger leads more expensive and more unobtainable, cutting down on the amount of companies that are going to get them,” she said. “Because I don’t think they’ll ever be able to go away.”
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