What you need to know about mortgage production managers

The title varies: Veterans say they've overseen origination efforts as area managers, branch managers, sales managers, sales team leads and department managers, to name a few positions. 

The top goal for a production manager is to create a healthy environment for their LOs, said Brian Haug, senior vice president and divisional sales manager at Prosperity Home Mortgage. The two-decade veteran of both mortgage and real estate roles began his career as a loan officer, and at one point was a top producer with Prosperity, when it was a joint venture with Wells Fargo. 

"You need to know what your producers go through every day," he said.

That can range from working with an LO to quell an upset borrower, or generating a more competitive interest rate for a home loan. The manager is also trying to ensure as much compliance as possible.

"Make sure you pump the [LO] up and that they're not the cause of the problem," said Haug. 

Ryan Kiefer, vice president and branch manager at First Community Mortgage, will help LOs with underwriting changes, such as adjusting new pricing for a loan that's already been locked. His day, which starts as early as 4:30 a.m. and typically wraps up around 10 p.m., also includes meetings regarding training and marketing efforts.

He's also a part-time originator. Not all production managers need origination licenses, but Kiefer said he'll squeeze in an origination on a weekend, when a Realtor can't get a hold of an LO, for example. 

"There are some odd hours but at the end of the day, it's worth it," he said. 

Spigelman, who described his position as a "production manager on steroids," summed up the role as hiring, firing and cost management. The leader handles escalations such as communication with executives, pricing exception requests, and manages the flow and distribution of leads, among a bevy of sales floor tasks.

Spigelman said he'll help LOs with low conversion rates despite high talk times by undertaking a review together and taking notes where a conversation went sideways. Other problems that can't be solved by the LO should be removed from their plate. 

"[The problem] needs to be bubbled up to a manager so that loan officer can be freed up to one: Work on that borrower's file, and then two: Go work on the next file."

Another major part of the job involves data.

Loan volume is important, but production managers pry into the drivers behind the numbers.  Haug sums it up as focusing on the beginning of the funnel, not the end.

"How well do we convert opportunities?" he said. "Do we lose an opportunity based on our rate? Do we lose it because we didn't call the customer back enough?" 

The managers say they're well-versed in numerous, familiar mortgage technology, such as loan origination systems Blue Sage and Encompass; customer relationship management platforms like Mortgage365; training programs like Mortgage Coach and marketing solutions like MonitorBase.

"Trying to anticipate some of those customer needs and staying in front of your past client database is big," said Kiefer. 

Also important is paying attention to which LOs make themselves more available to take leads, Spigelman added. 

Managers draw insights and news from internal sources from executives to legal counsel, compliance officers and department heads. They're also avid raiders of mainstream financial and industry-specific media; sometimes with assists from their active public relations department.