{"id":49907,"date":"2026-05-07T23:20:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/onetrust-reverse-mortgage-leader-gabe-bodner-on-personal-branding-tactics\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T23:20:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T20:20:49","slug":"onetrust-reverse-mortgage-leader-gabe-bodner-on-personal-branding-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/onetrust-reverse-mortgage-leader-gabe-bodner-on-personal-branding-tactics\/","title":{"rendered":"OneTrust reverse mortgage leader Gabe Bodner on personal branding tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this week\u2019s Reverse Mastermind Summit in Tennessee, Gabe Bodner<\/a> of OneTrust Home Loans<\/strong> gave a detailed presentation on how reverse mortgage originators can achieve better marketing<\/a> results. A key takeaway is that loan officers need to build a support system for these tasks rather than trying to go it alone.<\/p>\n

Bodner joined OneTrust in late 2024 and has more than 20 years of industry experience, with prior stops at Fairway Home Mortgage<\/strong> and Cherry Creek Mortgage<\/strong>. HousingWire<\/strong>\u2019s Reverse Mortgage Daily was at the summit<\/a> to capture his remarks, which are summarized below and edited for clarity.<\/p>\n

\u2018I believe we are the product\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I\u2019m here to talk about personal branding, but I took note of a couple things from this event already. Shannon Hicks<\/a> talked about being curious versus being able to explain the product. Dan Hultquist<\/a> said the secret is personal relationships. Christina Harmes<\/a> talked about storytelling. Lisa Moriello talked about the importance of taking responsibility and owning your business.<\/p>\n

George Vrban<\/a> talked about building trust and that\u2019s almost entirely what my presentation is about. Selling is about a transfer of positive energy \u2014 and to feel good about the product you sell, you should have trust, energy and consistency. Here\u2019s the reality: In today\u2019s market, especially with reverse mortgages, we\u2019re not just selling a product. I believe we are the product.<\/p>\n

No one, I assure you, is closing a reverse mortgage<\/a> because of the rate sheet. No top producer in this room is winning a deal because they\u2019ve got the best rate. They\u2019re choosing you because they\u2019re trusting you to guide them through this process, which can be complicated. The product can be complicated, and once again, they\u2019re trusting you to guide them through this process.<\/p>\n

In my opinion, the goal is to be remembered, trusted and referred to. That\u2019s where branding comes in. So let\u2019s start with something simple: Branding is not something new that you have to learn. It\u2019s everywhere, every day, in our lives. What do you feel when you see the Nike<\/strong> logo? Action, motivation. What about Costco<\/strong>? You can\u2019t get out of there without a huge amount of bulk items. Toyota<\/strong>? It\u2019s all about reliability.<\/p>\n

When you look at these brands and that feeling, it\u2019s not complicated, and it\u2019s truly happening whether you control it or not. That\u2019s what branding actually is \u2014 it\u2019s not the logo, it\u2019s not the colors, it\u2019s the feeling that people have and what they actually expect from you.<\/p>\n

Most of us don\u2019t have the luxury of a big bank<\/a>\u2019s brand name. Loan officers at big banks borrow trust from that brand. But for us as reverse mortgage loan officers, not only do we not have trust, there\u2019s also distrust<\/a> in both our product and us as people. So we have to establish that trust \u2014 and we have to establish it immediately.<\/p>\n

How to get the ball rolling<\/h2>\n

Let me give you a very simple, three-part framework. Don\u2019t overcomplicate this. It\u2019s really about three things: visibility, consistency and credibility. If people don\u2019t see you, you just don\u2019t exist. If you show up differently every single time, no one remembers you. And with credibility, if people don\u2019t trust you, none of it actually matters.<\/p>\n

If I ask your top referral partner<\/a> how they would introduce you to a prospective client, what do you want them to say? You offer the lowest rates? Absolutely not. For me, I want people to say I\u2019m educational, relationship driven and straightforward. What are your three words? If you have not defined them, you need to.<\/p>\n

This is where people get stuck, because they think they have to do everything. I started with a weekly newsletter. You can repurpose content. I take my weekly newsletter and I create a podcast<\/a>. I also use that newsletter to write for my local newspaper. After a year and a half of writing for the paper, I took all that content and wrote a book.<\/p>\n

You do not have to do everything at once, but you do have to pick one or two things and do them consistently. Here\u2019s the other key: Do what you enjoy. If you don\u2019t enjoy writing, don\u2019t start writing, because you\u2019re not going to be consistent. If you don\u2019t like being in front of a camera, don\u2019t start doing YouTube<\/strong> videos, because you\u2019re not going to be consistent. Do what you enjoy that will allow you to be consistent.<\/p>\n

Why are most loan officers not doing all of this? People don\u2019t have time or marketing support. They don\u2019t know where to start. They don\u2019t have systems. They might have company compliance concerns.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot of people in this room, I believe, who can help you get where you want to be. You need website support, advertising, social media, CRM systems, content creation. REVERSE plus<\/a><\/strong> and Reverse Focus<\/a><\/strong> have great technology and great support. When this is in place, branding actually becomes relatively simple. It allows you to be consistent and ultimately scale your business to a place where George Vrban has gotten.<\/p>\n

The question is, are you being intentional about your brand or is the market defining it for you? In my honest opinion, the LOs who will be successful<\/a> in the next five years won\u2019t be those with the best interest rates. It will be the people who are known and trusted.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At this week\u2019s Reverse Mastermind Summit in Tennessee, Gabe Bodner of OneTrust Home Loans gave a detailed presentation on how reverse mortgage originators can achieve better marketing results. A key takeaway is that loan officers need to build a support system for these tasks rather than trying to go it alone. Bodner joined OneTrust in…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49907"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}