Ben Phillips has seen the mortgage industry from every angle on his way to running his own branch and surpassing his old mortgage branch manager salary. 

Whether as an employee of one of the largest national banks, a manager for a traditional financial institution, a retail branch manager, or owner of his own mortgage brokerage shop, he works to find the lending solution that will get his clients in the right home for the right price. 

Before Making the Jump to Branch Management

Ben first encountered the mortgage industry while working in a bank, and he’s been closing mortgages for 23 years now. 

“When I was at Wells Fargo in 2001, I realized the mortgage side was something I wanted to be more involved in. It wasn’t like making a widget in a factory. It’s about solutions and being valuable to your clients based on what you can bring to the table.” 

– Ben Phillips

Branching Out

Ben’s solutions-based approach rocketed him from an account executive to VP of mortgage operations, where he grew a $10 million branch to $50 million. 

He spent the last two decades securing loans for homeowners, consistently ranking at the top of the field of lenders in Tennessee and nationwide. 

Ben served as the manager of operations for a mortgage company in Tennessee in 2013 when his business partner’s high school buddy reached out to talk about MortgageRight. 

At the time, he didn’t need help growing his business or serving his clients, or at least he didn’t think he did. So he made a note and moved on. 

Discovering MortgageRight

A few months later, Ben was growing frustrated with some of his institution’s technical restrictions, hindering his ability to provide his clients with the best possible service. 

“You either leave because, as a branch manager, something negative is happening at your company or because you think another company can serve you, your team, and your clients better.” 

– Ben

That’s when Ben called MortgageRight. 

“I picked up the phone and said, ‘Hey, we need to meet.’ I was ready to make the switch, and they showed me how to do it.”

– Ben

The team met with him and walked him through every step of the transition process, from working for his institution to managing his own mortgage P&L. The meeting gave him the confidence to advocate for change in his organization. When leadership didn’t budge, Ben quit with the knowledge that he had the support he needed to switch. 

“I went directly to my company at the time with confidence—I had a plan. I knew what to do. And their reaction was their reaction—but guess what? I walked out of there, feeling the weight of the world off my shoulders. It gave me these sort-of wings.”

– Ben

Branch Manager Success and Growth With MortgageRight

Ben has been able to leverage MortgageRight’s P&L model by focusing his investments in the areas he’s strongest in instead of relying on his larger institution to make those decisions for him.

“I have my unique traits and my niche—I make my money off of advertising and repeat business. Because it’s an actual profit-and-loss model, I have control of the decision-making. At the end of the day, it’s me, Ben, who makes that call.”

– Ben

Because his biggest assets are his personability and his solutions-based approach, Ben is a natural at marketing and working with repeat customers. 

Now, a third of his customers are people working with him for a second, third, or fourth time. 

“I’m so thankful I reached out to MortgageRight. I had aspirations and dreams and financial goals. I just had those dreams in my pocket, waiting, but it’s a reality now.”

– Ben

Advice and Lessons Learned

Ben will promote MortgageRight to anyone, but he said the crucial thing is to make sure you choose the best path for you, your team, and your clients. Who is the partner that will allow you to make the biggest positive impact on the next person you serve?

“If you’re thinking about MortgageRight, or talking to them right now, then there is already something on your mind—something bothering you,” Ben said. “Write that down. If you’re not getting the right answers from your company or they’re giving the run-around where you feel less smart than before you asked the question, that’s a red flag.”

– Ben

The best thing Ben did was have an honest conversation with the MortgageRight team, who helped him take a realistic look at all his options, even the ones that didn’t involve MortgageRight.

“These guys are going to keep it confidential. It stinks to have that conversation the first time, but when you share what you’re worried about, you’re going to find out if they can help or if there is another path. They want you to be successful whether you join or not because we like it when good lenders are our competition.”

– Ben

How MortgageRight Helps Support Success 

When you work for larger institutions, you can become a cog in the wheel, another number. Being big isn’t always bad, but when you’re trying to advocate for clients or speed processes up, it is. 

“The great thing about MortgageRight is we act big, but we’re not that big. We have strong processes.” 

– Ben

MortgageRight gives its branch managers access to a platform based on support and transparency. This comes with mortgage underwriting, a broad product mix, tech stack, marketing, and any other support tasks required for the daily operations of a mortgage branch. With the support piece handled, branch managers can focus on growing their book of business and reinvesting in their branches. 

Better culture

Ben said what surprised him most about MortgageRight is how genuinely supportive the culture is. 

“We get together a few times a year and get to know each other. But we’re not only building bonds. We’re shooting clays, but we’re also shooting ideas off each other so we become a more cohesive unit. Because some of their strengths aren’t mine, so I’m learning and making my business better every time we get together.”

– Ben

MortgageRight focuses on transparency and support that is always available but never overwhelming. 

Less Micromanaging

MortgageRight partners with lenders who show unique potential to scale their businesses quickly. Telling those lenders how to run their branches would be antithetical to their success. 

When MortgageRight says we let branch managers make all the decisions, we mean it. The company’s primary focus is removing obstacles that otherwise slow a branch’s growth, leaving branch managers to run the branch their own way. 

Communication and transparency

The MortgageRight business model is built on transparency. Branch managers can call a MortgageRight owner anytime, and nothing is on a “need-to-know” basis. 

MortgageRight encourages sharing rates and maintaining open communication channels between the organization and its partners. 

When a lender becomes a MortgageRight partner, they get access to the whole platform from day one and receive all the support they need to hit the ground running. 

Grow Your Mortgage Branch Manager Salary 

If you think you have what it takes to run a successful mortgage P&L, the team at MortgageRight wants to hear from you. Schedule a live demo to see how you can build a business with no ceiling.