Recently key players on the Quicken Loans team who were instrumental in the marketing and lead buying strategies of the company have departed, in one way or another.
Brian Stapp, former CMO, Chris Meerschaert, former Director if Bus. Dev and Jon Moises, Senior Bus. Dev. Manager have all exited the confines of the Quicken Loans community. This is all the while Quicken Loans, like many other mortgage companies are feeling the pain of a declining market. I find this all interesting because the big player in the space is losing key players of its team for one reason or the other. Now I don’t know if they chose to move on, were asked to move on or let go but I don’t think it really matters.
Yesterday there was an interesting article by the Detroit News Online that included a few interesting comments and quotes on a similar issue:
The company also has temporarily stopped hiring new loan writers, called mortgage bankers, to focus on retraining its staff on the new products and how to sell in a tough environment. As a result, Quicken has 160 fewer mortgage bankers now than it did in mid-August, but has avoided layoffs, company executives said.
160 fewer mortgage bankers than the month before without laying anyone off? Were they all fired? Further along on the article, Gilbert say this is their normal attrition rate.
Some former Quicken mortgage bankers, however, say they aren’t that impressed with how the lender operates. Eight ex-employees told The Detroit News that unrealistic sales goals, in a tough mortgage market, led to their dismissal or decision to quit in August and September. They say the goals were laid out in an “Opportunity Letter.”
“I got a letter saying they wanted me to write 10 loans by the end of the month — superstars were doing five or six a month,” once the market took a dip, said Steven Campisi, a mortgage banker who worked in Quicken’s Cleveland office. “I knew what they meant: They wanted me to go.”
Now the article recounts situations specifically dealing with mortgage bankers, but it does make you wonder if they also apply the same tactics to middle and upper management. I am sure they do. I guess you would have to ask yourself, “What’s the Diff?“.
The man rumored to replace these gentlemen, on some level, will be Quicken Loans insider, former Chief Information Officer and the current VP of HR Todd Lunsford. Todd has quite an eclectic resume building.
I will keep an eye out for any movement with these three guys and I wish them good luck in what ever they do. I hear that Brian Stapp may be involved with a start-up and I look forward to hearing more about it.
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These guys are smart and agile. Don’t count them out. Your first assumption should be that they are making the right moves to tighten the ship, shake out the stow-a-ways, and get positioned to blast out stronger than they went in.
I also know Todd Lunsford personally and I am impressed by an organization that is willing to put the best man on the challege, not necessarily the one who has done it before.
Best of luck guys!
Bill,
I assume you are not claiming that Brian, Chris and John are stow-a-aways and you are referring to the mortgage brokers.
With regards to them leaving I find it interesting that two of them left on the same day. IT makes me wonder if they were calling foul on Quicken Loans. That may be a stretch, but something abnormal happened here. Who knows though, maybe they were simply cutting back and thought that their marketing team should be the first to go.
With regards to the LO’s: Are they cutting corners to try and save face. By giving them un reachable goals and letting them go once they were not reached seems a little shady in my opinion.
I’ve worked with Chris in the past, intelligent and good guy, I am sure he will land in a good place. Best of luck to them all.
I will definitely say there is some sort of statement here. These are the three guys that “ran” the core of Quicken Loans’ marketing machine. The key understanding of what that statement was would heavily depend on whether it was voluntary or non-voluntary. I doubt that will ever be disclosed, but it is curious that it happen in a group.
I will also say I don’t work there anymore and haven’t for a few years so every thing I say is caveatted by that lack of knowledge.
I do agree with the statement in the article from Bill Emerson. We did regularly expect LOs to produce 10 loans per month even when I was there. Sure, that is a lofty goal, but it was the expectation from the moment you came on board.
I would also say that they invested heavily in each LO–six weeks of dedicated intense training, free (nearly unlimited) leads, technical infrastructure, very professional automated client loyalty program, and a lot of professional coaching.
I think the bottom line is they are certainly facing challenges like everyone in the industry. So, it is interesting to opine, like we do with a lot of companies, what is going on inside and why they make the decisions they do. However, at the end of the day only performance from here on will validate or condemn those moves.
I do know the other three guys and I am really curious as to their next move. I have reached out to each. I am sure they will be successful in their next endeavors.
I worked with Chris and Jon. They are good people and know a ton about the space.
All I know is they are in LA interviewing with a few good companies. Can’t wait to see the press releases.
Just to clarify. I was not calling any of these three individuals stow-a-ways, but rather highlighting that any downsizing (usually) shakes out the excess baggage.
I have been in contact with each of these guys and I am certain they are all destine for bigger and better.
BTW, Bryan says his tan is deep and feels refreshed. He has been gone since August. I can’t wait to hear what is next for these seasoned marketers!