Ep #48: Funding $434 Million With Shant Banosian

Shant Banosian breaks down exactly how he scaled from struggling retail LO to $434M/year producer, covering agent relationships, the doctor-model loan process, team structure, and how to shift clients off rate conversations. Essential listening for any purchase-focused LO who wants to understand what systematized volume actually looks like operationally.

Takeaways you can run this week

• Every Friday, send a broadcast email to your entire realtor database letting them know you are available for pre-approvals that weekend. Shant credits this single habit for winning first-time referrals from agents who had previously gone silent.
• When meeting a new agent, spend most of the meeting asking questions — their goals, what they value in an LO, how they got into the business — then explicitly ask: 'Would you mind sending me your next deal?' Follow up with calls, emails, and texts until you get one shot.
• Require agents to set up cross-qualification pre-approvals on their listings, especially in multiple-offer situations. Shant uses this to meet new agent relationships and win deals where buyers are waiving mortgage contingencies.
• When an agent opens with co-marketing (Zillow, etc.) before any business relationship exists, shut it down immediately: 'That's not how we enter into business relationships. If we do a bunch of business together, it's something we'd be open to, but not how we start.'
• When hiring your first assistant (target: when you hit $30–40M), write two lists — high-leverage activities you want to keep, and everything else. Train your hire on the second list with explicit scripts, checklists, and sample objections, not assumptions that they'll figure it out.
• After closing, send a survey asking clients to rate the process 1–10 and provide written feedback, then distribute results to every team member who touched the file. Use negative feedback as process improvement data, not something to dismiss.

The playbook

1. 1. Client calls — set an appointment, direct them to complete the online application and upload docs before the call.
2. 2. Team member (not Shant) takes application over the phone if client won't self-serve online.
3. 3. Shant joins the call fresh: reviews completed application, builds rapport, educates on credit/income/assets/payments/products/closing costs, issues pre-approval.
4. 4. Team handles all follow-up during home search via email and text check-ins ('How's your search going?').
5. 5. Offer accepted — Shant re-engages, locks the loan, selects investor/product, and sends detailed processing instructions to his team.
6. 6. Processing team owns condition clearing, document collection, condo docs, appraisal review, and borrower communication from here.
7. 7. Shant steps back in only for questions about rate, product, or closing costs.
8. 8. Post-close: survey sent to client, team reviews results; email campaigns go out for refi/purchase follow-up; implementing twice-yearly check-in calls.

Worth quoting

“All I'm looking for is one deal — because I feel like my process and communication are so good that if we do one deal, they're going to keep coming back.”

“If I hire this person, am I either going to do more business, or am I going to get some of my life back?”

Best for

LOs doing $20–50M/year who are still processing their own loans and want a concrete model for building a team that lets them sell all day.