Company: Residential Finance Corporation, Columbus, OH
Company Description: Residential Finance Corporation is the nation’s premier home mortgage lender specializing in FHA mortgage refinance. RFC is “Full Eagle” certified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, offering refinancing borrowers the security and great rates of government-insured home mortgage loans.
Nomination Category: Sales Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Sales Department of the Year

Nomination Title: Residential Finance Sales Team

Tell the story about what this nominated department achieved since January 1 2008 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

In 2008, mortgage lender Residential Finance (RFC) increased sales staff
capacity in their Tampa location by 100%, increased productivity (defined as
sales per agent) by 51%, and increased revenue per agent by 38%. 
It is noteworthy that increases in productivity at RFC are offset by record
bank closures, mortgage industry consolidations, layoffs, and decreased
originations throughout the industry during the same time period.  According to
MortgageDaily.com, over 9,000 mortgage industry positions were eliminated in
the third quarter of 2008.

RFC President & CEO Michael Isaacs attributes these results to two key
factors:  Executive Management and Training. 

“In 2007, RFC had record-level productivity and revenue in the company’s 12
year history.  Despite this, WE believed it was time to invest in key hires and
other investments in Sales and Training.”  Isaacs continues, “While most
companies ceased non-revenue generating investments in 2008, RFC increased
expenditures in training by 123% and marketing by 102%.”   

In 2008, Obiora Egbuna was hired to fill a new position as Vice President of
Sales.  Egbuna is charged with leading RFC through a 300-percent increase in
sales staff through a planned three year expansion strategy. In Egbuna’s 4-
months at RFC, productivity increased 52% and revenue per agent increased 21%. 
This has been accomplished through leadership by cultivating a team-based,
customer-driven sales culture.  Egbuna’s management style cultivates personal
empowerment, ethical responsibility, and emphases the importance of coaching
and mentoring. 

President Michael Isaacs stated “Such personal empowerment has resulted in
increased performance for many of our salespeople. One of our sales agents,
Erika Butler, won the Spirit of LendingTree Award in 2008, the highest honor
given to one individual, amongst thousands from LendingTree network lenders.”
RFC increased investment in sales training by 123% in 2008 from 2007.
Investments include increasing staffing both at the executive and non-manager
level as well as a partnership with industry consultant, trainer, author, and
14 year industry speaker and consultant, Dale Vermillion.  

Starting in April 2008 RFC retained Dale Vermillion, author of “Navigating the
Mortgage Maze” (Northfield Publishing, 2009) as a consultant to lead training. 
Vermillion’s quarterly sales training sessions, coupled with ongoing in-house
training ensures that RFC sales staff have the greatest depth of product
knowledge, backed with expert sales techniques to help borrowers find the best
mortgage option to meet their needs, and provide a smooth process for
customers. 

Dale Vermillion stated “RFC experienced impressive and consistent improvements
to results for 8 straight months due to their management team’s dedication to
excellence in training as well as the sales team’s commitment to providing
options and solutions to help their borrowers go beyond just mortgage
refinancing to true financial freedom.  This includes understanding their
client’s short and long term needs and offering appropriate solutions to not
just reduce rates and payments, but shorten mortgage terms, provide tax
reduction strategies and identify additional ways to save money!
Congratulations to RFC for its outstanding commitment to excellence and record
performance.” 

List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/fha-refinance-specialist-residential-finance-corp-explains-obamas-stimulus-plan/
https://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/2546859
http://www.allbusiness.com/banking-finance/banking-lending-credit-services-mortgage/10527593-1.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS133501+20-Jan-2009+BW20090120
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS168104+04-Mar-2009+BW20090304
http://www.mortgagemag.com/news/2009/0301/1000010213070.htm
http://money.aol.com/article/mortgage-lender-residential-finance-corp/417776?icid=sphere_searchsphere_news
http://www.mortgagemag.com/news/2008/0916/1000009546070.htm

Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated organization/department:

Obiora Egbuna is VP of Sales at Residential Finance. Egbuna will lead RFC’s
development of its production team by 300-percent, through a planned 3-year
expansion strategy. Prior to joining RFC, Egbuna was senior vice president of
sales and served as co-head of retail franchise for Delta Funding / Fidelity
Mortgage. Beginning as a loan officer, Egbuna rose quickly through the ranks to
become Fidelity’s top loan officer, then to regional management and eventually
to his senior leadership position where he managed the lender’s explosive
growth. Egbuna holds a degree in civil engineering from New England College.