March 14, 2022 — The past couple of years have been TOUGH on most vendors seeking to sell products and services. Why so difficult? The Refi Boom.
Lenders of every shape and size simply could not push away from the ‘Refi feasting.’ The global pandemic drove interest rates to their historical lows, causing Refi volume to set records. I envision cleaning crews and receptionists even being asked to put away their tools of the trade and jump in to help process applications. ALL HANDS ON!
Very few lenders spent an ounce of energy making any changes to their stable of vendors. That takes time, effort and resources – which was a NO GO since during the ‘feasting first’ time period.
With the industry rapidly flipping to a purchase market, lenders now appear to be playing catch-up on the vendor front. We see this in the volume of traffic coming in to Vendor Surf (the only search engine around), and via incoming consulting requests, such as:
- Writing lender RFPs
- Helping vendors respond to RFPs
- Our joining lender due diligence teams (vendor searches)
- Comprehensive assessments of lender’s stable of vendors, seeking recommendations
- And other similar requests
It appears that there are four primary motivations behind the increased lender activity on the vendor front:
- A major focus on the finances. More automation, efficiency and cost reductions. Retreating to lender core competencies kept in-house, letting technology and third-party partners manage the rest
- Vendors that give lenders and MLOs lead generation visibility; With the Boom ended, lenders must get back to being proactive in prospecting
- Technology upgrades
- Replacing under-performing vendors
How Vendor Surf Can Help
LENDERS –
As the ‘authority’ on the vendor marketplace, we can understand your needs and offer recommendations on vendors to consider… helping you choose wisely.
VENDORS –
Consider leveraging our platform, network of thousands and ‘pundit status.’ Vendor Surf traffic is continuing to trend upward. Whatever your path, lenders are looking and you must be visible in their hangouts. Be ‘top of mind’ and not back burner. The lender search (and find) process often happens fast.
FYI - Our expertise and content are also a MAJOR reasons why Google sends us over HALF of all site traffic — without any Google Ads.
If they can trust us so much, we hope you will too
Thanks for reading.
President
