Rate Is the First Objection. It Is Rarely the Real One.
Chris Sund speaks to loan officer meetings, mortgage company kickoffs and state mortgage bankers association conventions about the sales side of lending: winning referral partners, handling rate objections with the LAARC method, keeping a pipeline moving with LOCKS, and keeping the loan officers who produce. He is not a mortgage professional and says so. He brings the sales frameworks he taught to 800+ sellers at the Definitive Healthcare sales kickoff.
Where Mortgage Teams Book Chris
Lending is a relationship business sold one conversation at a time: with a borrower comparing quotes, with a real estate agent who already has a lender, with a builder deciding who gets the next referral. Chris works on what happens in those conversations.
Loan Officer Sales Meetings
A working session on the objections loan officers hear every week, with LAARC practiced on your own scenarios.
Mortgage Company Kickoffs
The general session that sets the year: consistency, ownership of the number and two frameworks the whole sales team shares. See sales kickoffs.
Mortgage Bankers Associations
A convention keynote or breakout for state mortgage bankers association members, built for originators and the leaders who manage them.
Producing & Branch Manager Retreats
For managers who carry their own pipeline and coach a team: pipeline discipline, coaching objections and keeping producers.
Why Do Loan Officers Lose Deals They Should Win?
A borrower says another lender quoted a better rate. A real estate agent says they already have a lender they trust. A pre-approved buyer goes quiet. Most loan officers answer those moments with a rate sheet or a follow-up text, and the file goes somewhere else.
Chris teaches loan officers to treat those lines as information. LAARC (Listen, Acknowledge, Ask, Respond, Confirm) is the conversation that finds out what the borrower or partner actually needs. LOCKS tells a loan officer which of five conditions is missing when a deal stalls. Neither is a script. Both work inside your own compliance rules, because they are about listening and asking, not about promising.
- LAARC on the objections loan officers hear most: the better rate somewhere else, waiting for rates to drop, and “let me think about it”
- Referral-partner objections: what to do when an agent or builder says they already have a lender
- LOCKS for pipeline discipline: which condition is missing when a pre-approval never becomes an application
- Stakes: showing the real cost of waiting without fake urgency
- Consistency and rejection resilience for originators who hear no all week
- Why good loan officers leave, and what sales leaders control
Proof: Sales Kickoffs and Objection Sessions
Chris delivered You Are Capable of More: Sales at the Definitive Healthcare Sales Kickoff in Boston, to 800+ sales professionals and leaders. The session covered a consistency system, objection handling through LAARC, rejection resilience, ownership of the number and conviction that transfers.
He teaches the same objection work to business owners and professionals at the emPower Breakfast: at the Sarpy County breakfast, and as the featured speaker at the Lincoln emPower Breakfast on October 15, 2026 with You Are Capable of More: Handle Objections to Achieve Success. He has also taught LAARC at LeadingAge Illinois, which published the method in its annual conference program, and at the POWER Conference.
Chris would be an incredible addition to any live audience. I’ve seen him speak multiple times, including our Sales Kickoff in front of 800+ people, which he crushed. Each time he finds a unique way to connect on both a personal and professional level.
Having Chris Sund as a Sarpy County emPower Breakfast speaker was a breath of fresh air. Before I heard him I thought, “nice title, I wonder if he’ll deliver any new ideas.” He was amazing! He brought up all the things that make us a little crazy and gave us new ways of handling objections. I would always be happy to recommend Chris.
Three Lending Objections, Worked Through LAARC
A preview of how the session runs. Before the event Chris asks for the objections your loan officers hear most and builds the practice around those.
“Another lender quoted me a lower rate.”
Listen and acknowledge: comparing quotes is smart. Ask what was in the other quote and what matters most to them besides the rate: closing on time, a responsive contact, fewer surprises. Respond to what they name, then confirm. Often the real concern is Confidence in You, not the number. More in How to Handle Price Objections.
“I already have a lender I send my buyers to.”
From a real estate agent, this is not a no. Acknowledge the relationship, then ask what that lender does well and what happens when a file goes sideways. Respond with one specific thing you would do for their clients, ask for one referral to prove it, and confirm how they want to hear updates.
“We’re going to wait for rates to come down.”
Ask what the move is for and what waiting changes for them besides the rate: the home, the timing, the rent they keep paying. Lay the two paths side by side and let them choose. That is Stakes, shown honestly. If waiting is the right call, agree on when you will check back, and do it.
LOCKS for a Mortgage Pipeline
Five conditions a borrower or referral partner has to reach before a file moves. When a deal stalls, one of these is usually missing.
Love the Product
Does the borrower want this loan and this plan, or only the lowest number they saw online?
Own Belief
Do they believe they can qualify, afford it and get through the process? Fear of the paperwork is a belief problem.
Confidence in You
Do they trust you to close on time and pick up the phone when something changes?
Kickoff Plan
Can they see the path from application to closing: what you need, when, and who does what?
Stakes
What does waiting cost them? Show both paths side by side and let them decide.
Programs for Mortgage and Lending Teams
Every session is customized to your loan officers, your partners and your year.
You Are Capable of More: Sales
The kickoff keynote: consistency, rejection resilience, ownership of the number, and two frameworks loan officers use the next day.
The LAARC Method
Listen, Acknowledge, Ask, Respond, Confirm. The objection conversation, published by LeadingAge Illinois and written up by Cisive and NAHCR.
The LOCKS Framework
Crack the Code of the Deal: the five conditions a buyer needs before a deal closes, so loan officers know which one is missing.
How to Handle Objections
The full objections program as a keynote or working session, with live practice on your scenarios.
Sales Training Workshop
A hands-on half day or full day where loan officers practice both frameworks on their own pipeline.
Employee Retention
For owners and sales leaders: why producers leave, and the leadership behaviors that keep them.
Formats
Each program runs as a keynote, a half-day workshop or a full-day workshop. A common format is the general-session keynote followed by a working session where loan officers practice on their own files.
Keynote
Opens or closes the meeting for the whole room, with LAARC and LOCKS built around the objections your people hear most.
Half Day
The keynote plus practice. Small groups role-play LAARC on real objections and run LOCKS against live files or relationships.
Full Day
A full day for a sales team, or for the managers who will coach the frameworks after the event.
Who Books This Session
Related pages: AI Speaker for Real Estate · AI for Banks & Credit Unions · Real Estate Keynote Speaker · How to Handle Objections in Real Estate · Banking & Financial Services Speaker · Bank Sales Culture Speaker · Credit Union Keynote Speaker · Insurance Keynote Speaker · How to Handle Price Objections · How to Close More Deals · How to Increase Sales
What Mortgage Event Planners Ask
Is Chris a mortgage professional?
No, and he says so from the front. He has never originated a loan and does not speak to rates, products, underwriting or compliance. His subject is the sales conversation and the people having it, built on frameworks he has taught to sales teams including 800+ sellers at the Definitive Healthcare sales kickoff.
Will the content fit our compliance rules?
Yes. LAARC and LOCKS are about listening, asking questions and finding the real concern, not about promising rates or terms. Before the event Chris asks for the objections your loan officers hear most and builds examples around them, and your team can review the examples in advance.
Can it cover referral partners as well as borrowers?
Yes. Many mortgage teams want help with the agent or builder who already has a lender. The session covers that conversation alongside the borrower objections, using the same five LAARC moves.
Does it work for a mortgage bankers association convention?
Yes. Chris speaks at state and national association conventions as a general-session keynote or a breakout. See association conference speaking.
Can the keynote be paired with a working session?
Yes, as a half-day or full-day sales training workshop. A common format is the keynote in the morning and practice on real scenarios in the afternoon.
Can every loan officer get a copy of the book?
Yes. Kickoffs often pair the keynote with a copy of You Are Capable of More for every loan officer. See bulk book orders for pricing and signed editions.
You Are Capable of More
The bestselling book behind the keynote, and the 2026 Paris Book Festival winner in the How-To category. Ten principles for closing the gap between what a team is producing and what it is actually capable of.
Mortgage companies often give every loan officer a copy at the kickoff, and Chris can run a signing table after the session. Bulk pricing and signed editions are available.
He Builds Sales Teams in a Relationship Business
Chris is President & COO of Uniti Med and GQR Healthcare and COO of Nebula. He has spent the past decade in healthcare staffing, a commission-driven, relationship-driven sales business where producers can leave for a competitor any week.
He took Uniti Med from startup to one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the US: 10x revenue growth on the core brand, #3 on the Inc. Regionals list of the fastest-growing companies in the Midwest, and a Fortune Best Workplaces award along the way.
Before healthcare he spent ten years in restaurants and beverage, finishing as head of sales and marketing for a brewery, where he got his product into the biggest retailer in the country by showing the buyer what saying no was costing him. That is the Stakes letter of LOCKS. He is the bestselling author of You Are Capable of More, a Maxwell Leadership Certified coach, and writes for Inc. and Forbes.
Stages I Have Spoken On
Where Sales Audiences Have Heard Chris
Kickoffs, breakfasts and conferences where Chris has taught objection handling and sales performance.
Definitive Healthcare SKOBoston, MA · 800+ sellersemPower Breakfast LincolnOct 2026 · Handling ObjectionsemPower Breakfast Sarpy CountyHandling ObjectionsLeadingAge IllinoisPublished the LAARC MethodPOWER ConferenceOmaha, NEBeatStars Company MeetingVirtual · May 2026Also: Real Estate · Bank Sales Culture · All Sales Speaking · See all speaking engagements →
Bring Chris to Your Mortgage Event
Tell Chris about your loan officers, your referral partners and the objections that cost you the most files. You’ll get a fast, straight answer on fit and availability.
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