Everyone knows the real estate market has been dismal over the last few years, but few have lived through the full effects of the crisis’ damage as mortgage lenders have. Yet working conditions at Province Mortgage Associates are rarely tense or overly competitive between sales representatives.
“In our business, often times you’re on an island, and you’re by yourself. One of things about my company is we’re really team-oriented,” said President David Currie. “We really promote helping one another and sharing ideas. That’s not normal in our business, especially in the sales environment.”
Why would Currie not endorse fierce competition, as a strategy for motivating superior sales? He said that approach was one of the reasons why this country got itself into a mortgage crisis.
Province Mortgage fosters camaraderie through a mentoring program that pairs new sales employees with veteran ones. “A lot of times in this business, you hire people in, and they have to figure it out. If I bring someone in, I want them to fully understand how we do things here and get a running start,” said Currie.
Province Mortgage prioritizes collaboration and idea-sharing both inside the company and outside of it by providing educational seminars at various organizations and companies throughout the area to help explain credit, how to qualify for a new home, what lenders look for and other difficult financial topics.
Currie said all the outreach benefits his employees. “If we’re out there leading by example, it increases the comfort of our future clients, it generates business and it puts us in a different light from other mortgage lenders,” he said. “We’re taking a different approach to selling a mortgage.” •
