Industry leaders share strategies for title business growth

As title professionals move from reactive to proactive strategies, reimagining revenue streams, strengthening transaction security and leveraging technology are essential to stay competitive in a rapidly shifting market.

Recently, I had the opportunity to host a webinar featuring leaders from across the industry: Mary Schuster, Chief Knowledge Officer at October Research; John Contreras, Director of Sales and VP Strategic Accounts at Vantage Point Title; and Matt Oster, Director of Closing Services at Radian.

Mary opened by sharing insights from October Research's annual "Voice of the Title Agent" survey, which revealed the top three focus areas of title professionals today:

"Agents aren't just trying to survive, they're trying to set themselves up to thrive when the market turns," Mary explained.

Read on for key insights for any title business looking to build a sustainable future.

Generating new revenue in the current market isn't just about processing more transactions. It requires reimagining how to connect with clients and deliver value. John shared that the most impactful actions a title professional can take to achieve these goals include “being present, going to events and networking and getting in front of people.”

Matt emphasized the importance of staying close to existing clients and cross-selling strategically. "If you're in the door with a client or a lender and you have a certain product or service that you're working with them on, just stay extremely close to them. Have your monthly calls with them, have a newsletter…to promote your other services."

John also highlighted how providing lead generation tools has become a differentiator for Vantage Point. By partnering with ICE to offer property-level data through TitlePro247 and competitive lead lists, they're addressing what lenders need most. "The lenders are very anxious to focus on [lead generation] especially with the changing interest rates, and we get that through ICE."

Both panelists agreed that clear communication and technological efficiency are non-negotiable. Matt noted that clients are "becoming a lot more efficient and faster when it comes to technology.”

Fraud schemes continue to evolve, making prevention a business necessity that every office must prioritize. The panelists shared multi-layered approaches that agencies of all sizes can implement.

Matt outlined how his organization leverages remote online notarization (RON) technology through ICE’s The Closing Exchange to add extra security layers for day-to-day operations. "Not only is there the [knowledge-based authentication] KBA, there's additional ID verification as well, which is really important and gives you an extra layer of security."

John identified land fraud as a particularly concerning threat. "The big thing that we are concerned about is land fraud. It’s a very quick, serious, expensive fraud that's being actively pursued on a daily basis."

On wire fraud prevention, John emphasized consistency: "We ask the borrower at signing to tell us where the wire is going to go. We will not make a change. Any deviation from that is not permitted."

For smaller agencies with limited budgets, training and vigilance don't require large investments. John explained that it’s about making sure the proper fraud training protocols are in place and making sure clients are well informed of them.

Mary added practical, low-cost solutions: "Making sure your staff really understands the features of the new real IDs… rich with features that if you don't stop to learn about them, you can miss." She also recommended free phishing awareness training to help staff "stay more vigilant."

As title companies adapt to do more with less, the key is balancing automation with human expertise to build truly scalable operations.

Matt discussed how his team automates redundant tasks, "removing the person from doing those redundant tasks and having them focus on customer service driven items." His team uses technology for tasks like sending notary confirmations, freeing staff for higher-value work that drives efficiency and scalability.

John highlighted enhanced integration as another scalability driver, specifically mentioning ICE's evolution "from the SDK to the new integration through the EPC." This connectivity enables more efficient document routing: "to be able to specifically send the policy to the closing department, the preliminary report to the processing department, and the CD to the closer."

But John emphasized that automation has limits: "A lot of these processes are automated and they do 8 out of 10 things. But those last two things, a human has to do those last two things and verify the things that are outliers." This balance between technology and human oversight is what creates sustainable, scalable operations.

When choosing technology partners, the panel urged title professionals to look beyond price and focus on long-term value and scalability potential.

John recommended peer validation as a means to vet providers. Mary cautioned against leading with cost: "A lot of agents make the mistake of starting with how much does it cost. For me, I want price to be the last discussion we have because I want to know if I'm going to engage with you before I know how much it costs."

Her advice was to understand the value proposition first, making sure the vendor can deliver on must-haves and nice-to-haves before completing the ROI picture with pricing. As Mary concluded, "If you're trying to position yourself for this whole new world and you have a provider who's not quite able to have you walk down the street, let alone skip and turn cartwheels, it's going to limit your strategic ability to grow."

Beyond the highlights covered here, the full webinar dives deeper into practical applications, including how to build referral networks with other title agents, implement cost-effective daily fraud prevention protocols and evaluate whether your current technology stack can support your strategic growth plans.