There was a time when Deshawn Smith did not have a title. He had a spreadsheet. It was a Google Sheet with 95 lenders listed in no particular order, no tagging system, no guidelines, no logic to how they were organized. Loan officers would scroll through it, guess which lender might work for their borrower, and hope for the best.
That spreadsheet was the starting point. Not a mission statement, not a strategic plan, but a messy, overstuffed Google Sheet that was slowing the entire company down. Deshawn looked at it and saw what most people would have ignored: an operational problem disguised as a minor inconvenience.
He fixed it. Then he fixed the next thing. Then the next. That is how CMS Mortgage's operational backbone was built, one system at a time, by someone who was not interested in credit. He was interested in clarity.
What Does a COO Do at a Mortgage Brokerage?
A Chief Operating Officer at a mortgage brokerage is responsible for the internal systems, processes, and team structures that allow loan officers to focus on selling and serving clients. The COO ensures that every stage of the loan process, from lead intake to closing, runs efficiently and consistently. At CMS Mortgage, this role includes managing technology platforms, developing standard operating procedures, and supporting a team of 136 loan officers.
Ten Years of Building
Deshawn has spent more than 10 years in the mortgage industry. The last five have been fully committed to his role as COO of CMS Mortgage Solutions, the company his mother Corrina Carter founded and leads as CEO.
Working alongside family in a high-growth business is not simple. It requires a different kind of trust and a willingness to have hard conversations without letting them become personal. Deshawn and Corrina have built that dynamic intentionally. She casts the vision. He builds the infrastructure to support it. The division of labor is clear, and the respect is mutual.
"Execution is the brand," Deshawn says. It is a phrase he returns to often, and it captures his philosophy in five words. Vision matters. Culture matters. But without execution, none of it becomes real. CMS Mortgage does not talk about being a Top 50 brokerage. It performs like one because the systems behind the scenes make that performance repeatable.
You Sell. We Scale.
If there is a single phrase that defines Deshawn's approach to operations, it is this: "You Sell. We Scale."
The idea is straightforward. Loan officers should spend their time doing what they do best, building relationships, educating borrowers, and closing deals. Everything else, the CRM workflows, the lender management, the compliance checklists, the onboarding sequences, should be handled by the operations team.
This is not a theoretical framework. It is how CMS Mortgage actually operates. Deshawn has built more than 22 operational playbooks covering every major function of the business. These playbooks are not binders collecting dust on a shelf. They are living documents, regularly updated, that new team members use from day one and experienced team members reference when processes change.
According to McKinsey's 2023 research on operational excellence, companies with documented and regularly updated standard operating procedures see up to 25% higher productivity compared to those relying on informal knowledge transfer (McKinsey & Company, 2023). Deshawn did not build his playbook system because he read that statistic. He built it because he watched what happened when processes lived only in people's heads. People leave. Processes should not leave with them.
The Systems Behind the Numbers
CMS Mortgage supports 136 loan officers across multiple states. Coordinating that many producers requires more than good intentions. It requires systems that work whether Deshawn is watching or not.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
HighLevel CRM: The company runs on HighLevel, a CRM platform that Deshawn has configured with custom pipelines, automated follow-ups, and lead routing. Every borrower inquiry triggers a specific workflow. Nothing falls through the cracks because the system is designed to catch it before a human has to remember.
Lender Management: That original Google Sheet with 95 lenders? It has been replaced by an organized lender management system where loan officers can filter by product type, underwriting flexibility, turn times, and borrower scenario. Instead of guessing, they search. Instead of scrolling, they match.
SOPs for Everything: From how to submit a file to how to handle a rate lock extension, there is a documented process. This consistency is what allows CMS Mortgage to maintain a 14.5 business day average close time across thousands of files per year. Speed at that scale does not come from rushing. It comes from removing friction.
If you are a loan officer looking for a brokerage with this level of operational support, get started here.
The Ownership Mentality
"Everything is your responsibility." That is not something Deshawn says to his team. It is something he says to himself.
The ownership mentality means that when something breaks, the first question is not "whose fault is this?" It is "how do we fix this and make sure it does not happen again?" This approach trickles down through the operations team and into the broader company culture.
Deshawn draws influence from several thought leaders who have shaped his approach:
- Simon Sinek and the concept of starting with why. Every system Deshawn builds starts with a clear reason for existing. If he cannot articulate why a process matters, he does not build it.
- Gary Vee and the emphasis on execution over theory. Deshawn consumes content, but he does not let consumption replace action. Ideas are only valuable when they are implemented.
- Tony Robbins and the importance of energy management. Leading operations for a company this size requires sustained focus, and Deshawn is intentional about maintaining the energy to show up fully every day.
These influences converge in a leadership style that is direct, human, and results-oriented. Deshawn does not micromanage. He builds systems that make micromanagement unnecessary.
Clarity Beats Complexity Every Time
One of Deshawn's guiding principles is that clarity always wins. In a business with regulatory requirements, multiple lender relationships, and a large distributed team, complexity is the default. It takes intentional effort to simplify.
"Clarity beats complexity every time," he says. This shows up in how he communicates with his team, how he designs workflows, and how he approaches problem-solving. If a process cannot be explained in plain language, it is too complicated. If a system requires a 30-minute tutorial before someone can use it, it needs to be redesigned.
This principle also applies to how Deshawn thinks about scaling. His framework is methodical:
- Master it first. Understand the process deeply before trying to improve it.
- Clean it up. Remove unnecessary steps, redundancies, and confusion.
- Make it bulletproof. Document it, test it, and build in fail-safes.
- Then scale it. Only after the first three steps are complete does expansion make sense.
This approach explains why CMS Mortgage has been able to grow its loan officer count without sacrificing close times or client experience. Growth at CMS is not chaotic. It is engineered.
Leading Out Loud, Building in Public
For years, Deshawn built quietly. The playbooks, the systems, the processes, all of it was created behind the scenes while loan officers focused on production. He was the operator in the background, and he was comfortable there.
That changed. Not because the work changed, but because Deshawn recognized that sharing what he was building could help others in the industry and attract the right people to CMS Mortgage.
"Leading out loud. Building in public." This shift from private operator to visible leader is intentional. Deshawn now shares operational insights, hiring philosophies, and lessons learned from scaling a mortgage brokerage. The goal is not personal branding. The goal is transparency, showing what it actually takes to run a high-performing mortgage operation.
The National Association of Mortgage Brokers reported in 2024 that broker-channel market share grew to 25.4% of all residential mortgage originations, the highest level since 2009 (NAMB, 2024). As more loan officers move to the broker channel, the demand for well-built operational infrastructure is growing. Deshawn is building for that future, and he is doing it where people can see.
What Comes Next
Deshawn is focused on what comes next for CMS Mortgage's operational capacity. That includes expanding the tools and technology available to loan officers, refining the onboarding experience for new team members, and continuing to document the systems that make a Top 50 brokerage run.
He is not chasing trends. He is building infrastructure. The difference matters.
For loan officers who want to sell while someone else handles the systems, CMS Mortgage was built for you. Explore the available loan products or connect with the team.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the COO of CMS Mortgage Solutions?
Deshawn Smith is the Chief Operating Officer of CMS Mortgage Solutions. He has more than 10 years of experience in the mortgage industry and has spent the last five years fully focused on building the operational systems that support CMS Mortgage's growth.
What does "You Sell. We Scale." mean at CMS Mortgage?
"You Sell. We Scale." is CMS Mortgage's operational philosophy. It means that loan officers focus on client relationships and closing deals, while the operations team, led by Deshawn Smith, handles systems, technology, compliance workflows, and process optimization.
How many playbooks does CMS Mortgage have?
CMS Mortgage has more than 22 operational playbooks covering every major function of the business. These include processes for lead management, lender selection, file submission, compliance, onboarding, and more.
How many loan officers does CMS Mortgage support?
CMS Mortgage currently supports 136 loan officers across multiple states. The operational infrastructure built by Deshawn Smith and his team is designed to scale this number while maintaining consistent close times and client experience.
Is CMS Mortgage a good fit for new loan officers?
CMS Mortgage provides documented systems, training playbooks, CRM automation, and access to 100+ wholesale lenders. New loan officers receive structured onboarding and ongoing operational support, making it a strong environment for both experienced producers and those building their careers. Get started today.