Pamela Bott and Lauren Liberto of Wachovia work as mortgage consultant partners at Wachovia Mortgage Corp. in Southside. They’ve been a team for four months.
HOW DID THEY MEET?
They met while working at Wachovia. Liberto was a personal assistant to Milton Nuckols, the previous mortgage banking director, and Bott had just started as a mortgage consultant. Shortly after, Liberto also became a mortgage consultant.
WHAT MADE YOU TWO DECIDE TO BECOME PARTNERS?
“We had talked about partnering when we met but I needed to get a little bit more experience,” said Liberto. About four months ago, Bott’s volume took off and she needed help, so she and Liberto decided to team up.
BOTT’S HISTORY?
Bott worked for Citibank for three and a half years in collections and litigation. “We did a lot of research on credit reports to decide whether or not we would litigate and it got me interested in the loan approval process. When I bought my first house, it was a very bad experience. The loan process was unorganized and there was a lack of communication. There were little things that could have been done to make a difference and make it smoother, better process. It intrigued me so I left Citibank and started with a broker to get lending experience.” She worked for a broker, Allied Capital Mortgage, for about six months and then joined Wachovia two years ago as a mortgage consultant.
LIBERTO’S HISTORY?
Liberto earned a bachelor’s degree in English and communications from Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. She worked at the Fox network in Charlotte, producing commercials for the network for a year, before she decided to get into the lending industry. Her mother had worked for Wachovia for 25 years. Nuckols was a friend of her mother’s and gave her the job as his personal assistant. He asked her to move to Jacksonville where she worked for him for a year. She then worked for Brad King, mortgage banking director, as a mortgage sales production assistant (junior loan officer) until she joined Bott as a mortgage consultant.
BENEFITS FROM THE PARTNERSHIP?
“One of the biggest benefits is that if a customer can’t reach one of us, they can usually reach the other one,” said Liberto.
WHAT TYPE OF LOANS DO THEY DO?
Residential mortgage loans.
STRENGTHS EACH OF YOU BRING?
Liberto brings organization to the team. “She keeps us organized by keeping our calendar scheduled and oversees the different data bases that we have,” said Bott. “She also handles our marketing.”
Bott has more loan experience. “She is really good at structuring the loan,” said Liberto. “We complement each other.”
WHAT’S DIFFERENT ABOUT SELLING AS A TEAM INSTEAD OF ALONE?
“Wachovia offers so many different products that are unique to each customer’s background,” said Liberto. “I might understand a product that fits a different clientele than she (Bott) understands. So instead of handing that customer off to another loan officer because we don’t know that product, there are two of us who can bounce ideas back and forth and find a way to help that customer and do what is best for the customer.” They also schedule days off and vacations so that one of them is always available for the customers.
BEST PROFESSIONAL ADVICE YOU’VE EVER RECEIVED?
“Take it one day at a time,” said Liberto. “This is a very stressful environment, so you just have to take it one day at a time.”
Bott said she was told to always do right by the customer. “What comes around goes around and if you do the right thing for the customer the right way, it will come back to you ten-fold.”
LESSONS LEARNED?
“I think the most important thing is to not give a customer false expectations,” said Liberto. “If it doesn’t look good from the start, you don’t want to promise something you can’t deliver.”
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS?
Both are members of NEFAR and NWFBA’s Sales and Marketing Council.
- by Michele Newbern Gillis