Referral Mortgages has placed training and education front and centre in its agents' success
This article was produced in partnership with Referral Mortgages.
Fergal McAlinden, of Canadian Mortgage Professional, spoke with Paul Stevenson, owner and mortgage agent at Referral Mortgages, to discuss the training and education provided by the company for its agent community
This is the first of a three-part series, ‘The Power of Referral,’ taking a closer look at the value Referral Mortgages is providing to its agents.
As an organization that describes itself as a community rather than just a company, it’s perhaps little surprise that Referral Mortgages has made training and education a core focus in its efforts to help agents become as successful as possible.
Empowering agents through training, systems and support is a focal point of the Referral Mortgages model, one that’s clearly proven a success for a company that’s been nominated for the New Brokerage of the Year award at the 2022 Canadian Mortgage Awards.
Referral currently offers five live training sessions every week – one per workday – with each lesson providing in-depth, up-to-date courses for agents on the most essential aspects of the profession, according to owner and agent Paul Stevenson (pictured below).
The fact that those sessions are conducted live, rather than as a university-type course with dated videos and modules, was especially important for Referral in terms of providing value to agents, he said.
“We didn’t want to have agents having to reference videos from a year or a year and a half ago, with rules possibly having changed or underwriting guidelines shifting since then,” he told Canadian Mortgage Professional.
“We wanted something that’s current, where they could actually come in and ask questions if they have them, with a warm body in front of them.”
That schedule includes structure- and process-based training on Tuesdays, helping agents comprehend concepts like rental offset, Debt Coverage Ratios (DCR), and specifics around understanding and calculating different types of income.
On Thursdays the company conducts lender-focused training that involves a specific lender partner joining the meeting and describing in detail their products, niches, rates and other services.
Sarah Potter, Referral’s head of operations, oversees “Lunch with Sarah” sessions on Mondays and Fridays, participating in live calls that allow agents to ask questions and get assistance on specific issues such as structuring files, choosing lenders and marketing queries.
Wednesdays often see Stevenson, David Warren and Rick Wilson, Referral’s owners, conduct sales training to walk agents through some of the ways they can maximize business and close more deals.
Meanwhile, that desire to elevate the agent profession and ensure continuing high standards throughout the industry was one of the main reasons behind the establishment of the Ontario Mortgage Academy – a training program offered to licensed mortgage agents across the province at zero cost each Wednesday.
Stevenson said the Academy had come about as a result of “simply wanting to give back to the industry,” and helping agents maximize their potential and ability.
“We wanted to do it just as a value add to the industry knowing that a rising tide lifts all ships, and the better educated that agents are in the industry, the more it’s going to benefit everyone,” he explained.
Those courses have been running since December 2021 and the next one is set to take place starting May 11, covering a range of topics in depth including the deal flow process, how to choose a lender, important points about the sales journey and more. The courses are offered at no cost to licensed mortgage agents across Ontario.
For new agents unaccustomed to the practical ins and outs of the profession, ongoing education is an invaluable asset – and Referral offers full-day training for those mortgage professionals, offering six-hour immersive programs teaching them how to get and harness leads, underwrite files, read credit reports and deal with the client from start to finish.
The company also makes sure to provide continuing support on the job for new agents through social media pages that allow them to connect with more experienced advisors across Referral when they have a query.
“We have a very active Referral Mortgages Facebook page with at least five to seven threads every day,” Stevenson said. “Those are responded to within minutes – usually because we have all of our agents on there and everyone’s interacting and answering questions for each other.”
Stevenson returns once more to that idea of community, emphasizing that Referral will often invite interested agents to training so that company and agent alike can get an idea of whether they would be a good fit.
“Other brokerages might approach their teams as 45 or 50 individual agents. We have a collective culture, so we’re very much focused on teamwork and supporting each other – and you see that in the training.”
Paul Stevenson is owner and mortgage agent at Referral Mortgages, a mortgage brokerage based in Ottawa.
