Have you ever considered your own business plan? Each year, millions of business owners develop or update their business plans to strategically plan for the direction their business grow in the future. As a mortgage professional you may want to consider developing a business plan of your mortgage origination business.
When it comes to developing a business plan, you will find that they are not always required. There are some instances where business plans can be optional. However, that does not mean that you should not plan to develop one. As a loan originator how do you start developing a business plan? That is what we will discuss next!
One of the many uses of a business plan is to forecast revenue and expenses. I assume that you have to decided to have fee revenue as part of your origination business, but how much? When developing your revenue numbers consider the types and size of loans your are planning on doing. If you marketing sales you 100-150K loans, the number of units you will have to originate will be significantly larger that the originator who has a average loan size of 300-400K range if you plan on having the same amount of revenue generated.
Once you have decided on the amount and type of origination business, you must now move to how to attract the business. This part of the business plan will center on the types of activities, advertising, and partnerships you will need to develop and implement to reach your revenue goals. You will also use this section to plan how much you will spend to attract your prospects. Once this is done you will need to spend time on your marketing calendar.
The marketing calendar is critical to sustaining a consistent flow of business, As mortgage professionals you spend large amounts of time and money marketing your business. But once you gain the business, many times the focus then changes completely to closing the business. The marketing is put aside until the business is closed. Once that is done we realize we do not have any more business coming in for the next month. Sound familiar? This can make your origination business a constant cycle of highs and lows where you have very good months, followed by very bad months. The marketing calendar will help you plan your marketing activities and be used as a consistent reminder to make sure that revenue keeps flowing month in and month out all year long.
Remember, by developing your business plan ahead of time, you will know exactly what needs to be done for your origination business to generate your planned income. And this tool can ensure that you get everything in your mortgage business done right, the first time around.
