The best leaders in mortgage sales don’t just sit behind their own desks all day. They’re on the floor, listening to calls, coaching in real-time, and building genuine connections with everyone they come across.
George Milian, Newrez’s Senior Vice President of Purchase Retention, lives and breathes this hands-on approach to leadership and coaching. Drawn to Newrez by its position as one of the top mortgage lenders in the country,1 George joined David Schroeder for a talk about leadership, communication, and coaching people to success.
Leading from the Sales Floor
Great leaders at Newrez like to lead by example. George often sits with loan officers, listens to their calls and offers real-time coaching and feedback. Everyone learns differently and has different communication styles, so it’s important to take a customized approach to coaching. That way, loan officers are able to find success using the methods that work best for them.
Sometimes, part of a good leader’s role is allowing people the space to fall, pick themselves up again, and learn. George likens it to teaching a child to ride a bike. Sometimes there’s a fall and a scraped knee, but without that, they’d never learn to ride by themselves.
Giving people the space to sometimes fall without fear turns learning into a positive experience and goes a long way toward developing trust and relationships across the team.
Communication Is Everything
At Newrez, communication is critical to getting teams to work well together to reach their goals.
When communicating externally, the key is clear, useful and positive messaging. This is true whether talking to real estate agent partners, brokers or customers.
There’s no big secret when it comes to communication. It’s the small things that matter most – picking up the phone, getting to know people, connecting with them personally, and sending thank you cards when deals close.
Customers want to know that the loan officer they’re working with is the person they can turn to if there’s a problem or a query. Mortgages are deeply personal for customers, and they can feel the difference when they know a loan officer genuinely cares about their situation beyond the commission. Being interested, helpful and sincere goes a long way.
Taking that same caring approach to everyone you come across in mortgage sales builds trust, great connections, and repeatable business from loyal customers years in the future.
Setting Big Goals
Before 1954, running a sub-four-minute mile was “impossible.” But then Roger Bannister did it. Since then, upwards of 1,500 have achieved it.2 It wasn’t impossible after all, but it took just one person to believe they could do it.
George likes to use this story as his favorite example of how you can set truly ambitious goals and actually achieve them.
The secret ingredients for goals like this are are communication, visibility, transparency, and accountability. Goals should be communicated clearly so others can hold you accountable. While goals should be ambitious and bold at times, they also need to be achievable, so people don’t feel defeated before they even start.
Ambition is one of the key attributes George is looking for when adding people to his team. He wants people who are ready to think differently, work hard, achieve the big goals, and grow with the company. But it’s also up to great leaders to set them up for success.
References:
1Inside Mortgage Finance® Top Mortgage Lenders Q2'25
2World Sub-4:00 Mile Alphabetic Register - Track & Field News
For real estate and mortgage professionals only and not intended for distribution to consumers or other third parties.