A Discussion with Alex Offutt and Team, Constructive Capital
The Lending Industry is Changing and Lenders Must Adapt a Client Focus
The lending industry has evolved and continues to do so. It has gone through many cycles and adaptations over the years. The industry has expanded and diversified, and as a result innovative lending models have emerged along with an increased focus on customer service.
Alex Offutt currently serves as Managing Director of the Wholesale and Correspondent Divisions of Constructive Capital. REI INK discussed with Alex and members of his leadership team how wholesale capital providers are adapting a client-focused mentality and why that focus is so important in our current market conditions.
Alex, first off, just a brief synopsis on Constructive Capital?
Alex Offutt // Constructive Capital is a nationwide provider of stable capital for business purpose loans.
We built the company to be an efficient engine that can help our clients, both big and small, continue to grow their businesses. These relationships form the framework of how we approach each day and each loan entrusted to us. Given the changes we have seen industry-wide over the last few years, and the changes that are certain to happen in the future, our goal is to remain a constant for our clients and their borrowers.
We also have several members of the Constructive team with us. Kyle, from a client’s perspective, what are some elements that are crucial for success in this current market?
Kyle Concannon // Clear and concise communication around underwriting conditions is crucial. As the overall credit market continues to tighten, we routinely see new capital market guidance which influences our underwriting and credit criteria. If these changes are not communicated in a timely matter it can lead to a less than optimal timeline and closing experience for the borrower(s).
Our clients trust us to execute on their borrower’s loan and earn repeat business. The sales team is trained to think like an underwriter. We think through the loan from submission to closing and identify issues early in the process. We also perform quality checks throughout the life of the loan while it is in process with us.
Our clients routinely tell us that they are able to keep borrowers returning to them and earning new referral business from many of those same clients.
Benn, is there anything you want to add?
Benn Jackson // Our clients repeatedly tell us their end goal is to close loans as quickly and efficiently as possible. To meet our clients’ needs and expectations, we prioritize complete file submissions. Our clients appreciate our approach because it increases file velocity. Once their complete file hits our portal, we move fast.
We empower our brokers by giving them a significant amount of control. They choose the AMC and Title company, and other third-party vendors. Our best clients spend time pre-submission putting documents together with care and with intention resulting in a higher quality file that consistently closes faster. We routinely close files inside of a week. In fact, 64% of all our submitted files close within 14 days.
We love working with organized professional brokers who want to leverage our speed to gain client satisfaction.
Michael, customer loyalty is key. Why do your clients keep coming back?
Michael Fuller // Our clients consistently tell us that there are many reasons why Constructive Capital is their go-to source. These reasons range from our competitive prices to our speed of execution. But in my experience, the number one reason we have so much repeat business, and referrals from our clients to others, is the personal service we give to each of our partners and their clients. Between weekly calls and monthly office visits to my clients, they know that we care about them and their borrowers and that Constructive will do anything within our power to get their loans closed.
We are not just faceless names behind a cell phone number, but real people who have many years of experience in the Business Purpose Lending (BPL) industry. Our clients value the communication, transparency and diligence of our unparalleled operations team that ensures a smooth process, from opening to closing.
Also, it is imperative that we constantly keep our clients up to date on all guideline and policy enhancements and changes, so that our clients can execute for their borrowers in the most efficient manner possible. We routinely hear that this regular communication between us and clients is invaluable as nobody likes to be surprised for any reason when a loan is submitted.
This unrivalled transparency is a key tenant of our client relationship. Most importantly, our clients regularly tell us that we continue to earn and keep their business because we always answer the phone and are always available to our clients, even when we know we must deliver the occasional piece of bad news.
Ashley, what do your clients tell you about their experiences with Constructive?
Ashley Jackway // Our clients tell us that there is a demonstrative advantage of working with Constructive, through the eyes of their borrowers. This stability is key. They love being able to set an expectation for turn times, and then being able to exceed the expectation by closing quicker than what the original set goal was. Our clients vocalize regularly how smooth our process is and how easy it is to work through challenging situations and loans with our entire team.
Our clients are always complimentary of our ability to handle difficult scenarios. Our ingenuity and creativity in constantly working to solve problems gives our clients the confidence to keep sending us more business, which in turn helps them continue to grow their business.
Alex, you get the final word.
Alex Offutt // At Constructive Capital, our highest focus has and always will be on our clients.
To that end, we are regularly engaging with our clients for feedback, both positive and negative, to continuously enhance our overall product and client experience. Stability, transparency, efficiency and execution are not just words for us, but rather are fundamental building blocks of our company’s DNA.
We get feedback from our clients on a regular basis and most importantly we actually listen to what they have to say.
