Learning and development programs have the potential to significantly impact organizational performance. HomeBanc Mortgage Corp., which operates in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina, is a case in point. CLO and Senior Vice President Nicholas Mantia helped establish the Professional Sales Development Curriculum (PSD), a nine-week, 10- to 12-hour-a-day class for new HomeBanc loan officers.
The intensive PSD curriculum is designed to really thrust learners into a high-stress, demanding environment. During the nine weeks of the course, participants have homework and examinations nearly every day, along with a mid-term and three days of final exams. Additionally, students spend a week in the field as part of the program. They are paired with mentors who also are PSD graduates, and therefore understand the challenges they face as beginners.
“PSD is like four years of college, Army boot camp and summer camp all rolled into one,” Mantia explained. It is going to be hard work, but they become the best they can be professionally and enjoy themselves in the process.” While many of the students flourish in this atmosphere, not all of them make it through the rigors of the program. Some fall short of the program’s academic or attitude objectives. Most of those that do successfully complete PSD training, though, wind up realizing spectacular professional success. On average, PSD graduates do more than $8.4 million of business in their first 12 months on the job, and several qualify for the company’s Achievers Club, which involves garnering a minimum of $20 annually by their second year. This compares very favorably to loan officers among lending companies of all sizes, who closed an average of $4.4 million last year.
These accomplishments have not gone unnoticed in the industry. In 2003, Mortgage Originator Magazine included 14 HomeBanc Mortgage Corp. employees in a 75-person ranking of top loan officers. When that publication lowered the number of spots on the list to 45 people the following year, the company still wound up with 13 of its staff members ranked.
