Top Originator: John Noldan remains relevant in an ever-changing industry

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Top Originator: John Noldan remains relevant in an ever-changing industry

When you’ve been in an industry for decades, it can be hard to stay on top of your game – and the mortgage industry is no exception.

But John Noldan, senior vice president of mortgage lending at Guaranteed Rate, along with his industry colleagues Brian Decker and Sam Sharp have figured out that one of the keys to being a top originator year after year isn’t just about adding value to your clients, but adding value to the mortgage industry as a whole. That’s just what they’re doing with their new project, Top Mortgage Training.

Billed as the “ultimate success regiment,” the Top Mortgage Training program provides registrants with more than 100 training videos, a step-by-step growth regimen, a tracking app to measure progress, personalized coaching, and support from top teams, among other features. The trio has taken everything that they’ve learned and tweaked over the past 30 years and merged it with scientific training techniques from the fitness world and came up with a complete program that allows brokers to transform their professional lives and smash their personal bests.

“It’s an online training website that shows you everything you need to do from beginning to end, in regards to processing loans to getting new agents to keeping your customer referral source happy and coming back to you,” Noldan said. “We’ve got already 100 people on the waiting list to sign up for this thing because it’s – we didn’t think it was going to be as cool as it is, let’s put it that way. It’s absolutely unbelievable, the ideas that we put together.”

Noldan points out that it’s not just industry newcomers who need and can benefit from the trio’s advice. He mentions industry “icons” such as Tom Lavallee and Dan Gjeldum, people who close thousands of deals a year and rake in more than $100 million in volume, are interested in the program for good reason.

“You can always implement new practices in your business to help it explode, to get to that next level,” Noldan said. “We all run businesses completely different, but we all do very well. Honestly, it could be industry-changing, if people really latch on to this and run with it, it gives you every secret of the trade there is.”

Although Noldan’s been busy launching the new training program, he’s always stayed focused on his tried-and-true recipe for success, which involves engagement with his community through events. Four times a year he hosts events in his office (which, by the way, is 4,000 square feet and has a full bar), and these all feature non-mortgage content. He’s involved with various local charities, not only participating in but sponsoring their events. He also throws customer appreciation parties for past clients – all as a way to keep himself relevant and recognizable to everyone in town.

“The one thing that a lot of guys miss the bullet on is, they’re always talking about hey, here’s my rates, here’s my service, every loan officer’s gonna say the same thing,” Noldan says. “At the end of the day, people want to work with who they’re friends with. So I make my non-business content the conversation I’m having with them, just get to know them on a personal level. Once you’re doing deals with them you talk business, but you want to become friends with them before you start working with them.”

And once everyone knows your name, as the moniker goes, the door is wide open to take over the market.

“My main focus is always dominating markets,” Noldan said, and in Elmhurst, the western suburb of Chicago where he works, his name is everywhere. “You say John Noldan, and everyone knows that I’m mortgage. It’s been a good platform that’s worked real well.”

 

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