My Files

Coach Sally Gorman

Sally Gorman is the manager of the mortgage

department of a suburban bank branch. She

has six direct reports, including three mortgage

consultants. Although the consultants work fulltime

at the bank, they are considered subcontractors

who work only on commission—without any

salary and benefi ts. A consequence of this compensation

arrangement is that the mortgage consultants

are under considerable pressure to sell home

mortgages to bank customers. Until a mortgage is

approved, the consultant receives zero fi nancial

compensation.

Tony Costello, a 28-year-old mortgage consultant,

asked for an appointment to speak to Sally about his

recent problems in nailing down mortgages. Sally

was eager to meet with Tony because she was also

under pressure for the mortgage department to place

more mortgages. A partial transcript of their meeting

follows:

Tony: Sally, I’ve come to you for help. For several

months, I haven’t been closing enough mortgages to

make a living. My wife and I have two children, and

we can’t make ends meet on her salary alone. Is there any way the bank can put me on salary? Or maybe

give me a few months’ advance? I’ve been a great

producer in the past.

Sally: Grow up, Tony. When you took this job, you

knew it did not include a salary, and that the bank

does not allow advances. We need you to produce,

but we can’t change the bank rules. We are not a

mom-and-pop operation.

Tony: Do you know how brutal it is out there?

Home sales are down 20 percent in our area. I don’t

have enough warm leads coming into the bank to

shop for a mortgage. Besides that, our approval

committee has been shooting down too many deals

on me lately.

Sally: Wake up, Tony. The mortgage business has

changed recently. We can’t add any more high-risk

loans to our portfolio. It’s very diffi cult to resell those

mortgages to other institutions.

Tony: Okay, then, what do you propose I do to generate

more mortgage applications that...