Every year, the nation wide Benchmark family comes together during our annual Production Trip to celebrate our Core Values, and to learn ways to better serve you, our amazing clients. This year, we invited Todd Duncan to join us.

Last week in Miami, our team sat down with Mr. Duncan to discuss High Trust Leadership, leveraging relationships, and delivering amazing client experiences.

Here are three highlights from Todd Duncan’s talk:

“Trust is the hardest thing to gain. It’s the easiest to lose. And the most important to hold onto.” — Todd Duncan

Todd is right. If you have ever had to earn someone’s trust, you know. It takes persistence, and it can take a long time. For something that takes so much to acquire, it is strikingly easy to lose. Trust is developed when expectations arise, which are then consistently and faithfully fulfilled. It only takes one unmet expectation for a crack to form in the bedrock of trust. Just like a house on a bad foundation, a relationship standing on unsure footing is precarious indeed.

“The more you do what you don’t want, the more of what you don’t want you will get.” — Todd Duncan

Following the logic of the above, it follows that the more you do what you want to do, the more you will get what you want. When Benchmark was founded in 1999, our founders had a vision of not only helping families achieve the American dream of owning their own home, but of being a mortgage company which the best in our industry would want to join. Our core values were formed during a round table discussion several years into our journey, and they resonate to this day. As of writing, we have grown to more than 80 branches nationwide, with an annual trip which we unofficially and affectionately refer to as our family reunion.  At Benchmark, we do not wish to deliver an image to deliver numbers; we wish to deliver service to develop relationships. It turns out, the more we have done that which we set out to do, the more success we have built. So focus on the positive. The future looks bright for those who do.

“To be an effective leader, it is important to reflect regularly on your growth, and the growth of your team.” — Todd Duncan

Good leadership requires perspective. Looking back at your team’s, as well as your own progress and growth, will help you gain a high level perspective and sense of direction. Looking ahead, are you pointed the right direction? Look back, how often have you wavered? How far have you come? In order to lead effectively, it helps to have a clear vantage point in both directions.

We are a community of mortgage professionals: experts to help you through every step of the process. Our team of loan officers, underwriters, appraisers, and funders work tirelessly to close your loan as quickly as possible. We measure our success on the growth and efficiency of our entire team to deliver the best service and experience possible. Learn more about Benchmark at https://whois.benchmark.us.