Finding Opportunity Zones
Featured in Mortgage Banking, June 2008
Market forecasting and ranking tools that allow lenders to dial down into housing market metrics really help identify hot markets in today's chilly production environment. 

The Mortgage Continuum
Featured in Mortgage Banking, October 2007
Lenders for too long have managed their production operations without detailed factual analytics pinpointing markets with the highest demand. Now it's time for lenders to become real students of origination markets.

The Sales Productivity Curve
Surviving on the Slippery Slope
For the past few years, the phone rang with new business and new loans, popping up like magic. Unfortunately, the loan originator that could answer the phone and quickly capture the deal yesterday may not be equipped to make the phone ring today and tomorrow. Ultimately, your retail growth plan will depend on your organization's ability to turn sales people into sourcing experts. If you can't, your total productivity and efficiency will inevitably slide farther down the curve.

Looking at the Future Backwards
Will Strategies that are Right Today Be Wrong Tomorrow?
Increasingly, what used to be considered business strategies have morphed into short-term business plans that are limited in both scope and energy, and primarily focused on achieving stated financial objectives rather than establishing how and where the enterprise will compete. We suggest a different approach to uncertain futures. The Future Scenes approach could mean the difference between being ready for the future or being wrong for it. If you can image a future and "look backward" from it to understand how it might have evolved, you are much better prepared to "live forward" into it with confidence.

Market Coverage Ratios in Retail Mortgage Lending
Mortgage Sales People (MSP) - Where, When, Why and How Many Will You Need?
How many MSP will you need by the end of this year and how many will you need three years from now to achieve a 15% share of purchase mortgages in each market you serve? In other words, what should be your year by year sales force "coverage ratio" in all of your markets? Our methods show how your coverage ratio ties your sales productivity objectives and market share goals to the mortgage lending opportunities generated by each market. It doesn't matter if you have .5% share or 10% share, coverage ratios matter to your current and future success.

Other Commentary Topics:
These commentaries below are provided to iEmergent Insiders only. To find out more about becoming an iEmergent Insider, please contact us today.

Never Met a Market I Didn't Like
Something for Everyone in Every Market

Turnover Treadmill
The Problem with Rapid Sales Force Growth Strategies

The Paradox of Volatile Mortgage Markets:
Lending Stability Inside Local Markets

Doing a 360:
Are Your Market and Sales Strategies Making the Right Connections?

Waiting to Catch the Next Wave?
Why Refinance Strategies Are Crucial Now

The Cost of Sales Force Turnover
Long Term Implications for Performance and Growth

Mortgage Market Velocities
Setting Market Development Priorities for the Long Term

What Difference Does It Make?
The Sad Case of Long-Term Markets and Short-Term Thinking

Don't All Mortgage Markets Behave the Same?
Zooming into What's Unique about YourMarkets