You can recruit talent, but you have to build culture

People matter in the title and real estate settlement service business. Relationships matter. Experience matters. A strong escrow officer or title professional can move revenue and change how a customer feels about the most important transaction of their life.

So, the competition for talent is fierce. Companies want proven producers, immediate credibility and a faster path to growth. Fair enough. But there’s a difference between hiring good people and trying to buy culture. You can’t buy culture. You build it through shared values, consistent leadership and a real commitment to the people doing the work every day.

Buying talent creates short-term movement. Building culture creates long-term strength.

That distinction matters more right now than it has in years. Margins are under pressure. Transaction volumes are uneven. Technology is changing how the work gets done and customers expect more speed, more certainty and more transparency than ever. In this volatile environment, a company can’t afford to make talent decisions in reaction, out of ego or out of fear of losing people. Every hire needs to make sense on its own terms.

Because at some point, the economics need to work.

Why the economics of culture matter

If compensation isn’t supported by production, leadership or the value someone actually creates, that gap doesn’t disappear. It waits. It might even look like a win in year one. But if the numbers don’t pencil, something eventually gives. 

Profitability. Investment in tools and training. The morale of the long-tenured people watching resources go somewhere else. When organizations reward negotiating power more than sustained contribution, they create a culture that values what people can secure for themselves over what they build for the business.

So ask a better question. Rather than asking, “who can we buy,” ask “what are we building, and who’s aligned with building it?”

Culture is built in the ordinary moments 

The best cultures aren’t built around a single producer or team. They’re built around a shared commitment to customers, operational discipline and trust. And they show up in ordinary moments. How fast a team answers a question. How carefully funds are protected. How clearly a customer is kept in the loop when something goes sideways. In an industry that sells certainty, culture is the difference between a customer feeling confident and feeling friction.

Customers experience culture through people. The escrow officer who stays calm under pressure. The title team that resolves a complicated issue before it becomes a closing problem. The sales professional who follows through. The operations leader who makes sure the team has what it needs to perform. None of that consistency comes from a single recruiting cycle. It must be built into how people work.

That’s why the customer experience (CX) and Net Promoter Scoring (NPS) are so important. NPS is not just a marketing metric. It’s a culture indicator; a number that tells you whether people are responsive, whether communication is clear and whether customers would trust a company enough to recommend it.

Building a culture that absorbs change

None of this means you shouldn’t hire experienced talent. Hire them. The industry needs strong professionals, and great outside hires bring energy and expertise the team didn’t have. But hiring only works when there’s alignment. When the person fits the culture and supports the team, rather than sitting outside both. A person brings relationships. The company must build an environment in which those relationships are well-served, retained and grown. That’s the actual competitive advantage.

When a key leader leaves, culture gets tested. The question isn’t just who replaces them. The better question is how you protect the customer experience and move forward with confidence. Strong organizations don’t ignore disruption. They communicate through it. They appoint and announce the interim support quickly. They listen to the team and give people access to leadership. They reassure customers with performance, not promises. And they remind everyone that the organization’s strength was never about one person.

A culture built on teamwork absorbs change. It doesn’t ignore a loss, but it doesn’t get defined by one either. Transitions offer an opportunity to elevate the next leader, reinforce the standard, and recommit to shared goals.

Winning the long game in the title industry

This matters more in the title industry than almost anywhere else. Customers hand over funds, highly personal information and control of one of the biggest financial investments of their lives, and they trust a team to get it right. That trust doesn’t come from one person performing well. It comes from a team that’s aligned, supported and accountable.

Pay fairly. Reward performance. Recognize leadership, customer service and the people who bring in revenue. But compensation has to track with real value creation. Pay too far ahead of actual contribution for too long, and the organization eats the cost until it can’t anymore. A durable talent strategy gives people a reason to stay beyond the paycheck. Pride. Belonging. A future they can see within the organization rather than outside it.

The title industry will continue to see talent movement and market cycles. Experienced people deserve fair pay. That won’t change. But the companies that win in the long term will be the ones that combine fair compensation with a culture people actually want to be part of. Customers can feel it. Competitors can’t copy it.

The real measure of a company isn’t whether it can recruit talent. It’s whether it can build and retain an exceptional team.

Noah Blanton is the Chief Growth Officer of WFG National Title

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: zeb@hwmedia.com.