It has been widely discussed for seemingly many years about the importance of having access to and using the absolute best that technology can offer will be beneficial to any mortgage and protection business.
In an age where speed of communication becomes ever more important, where people expect everything now or sooner, working in an industry which reputationally has always been a little slow to say the least this has been an eye opener. A successful business has had to adapt or be adapting currently to take advantage of what modern technologies can offer. This can then help make sure the business is on the front foot to meet customer expectations, rip out unnecessary administration and become more efficient. This has become even more important as the housing market has softened over the last 12/15 months.
So, ensuring your business is geared up and ready for 2024 and beyond is particularly important. Additionally, being prepared to change and adapt is even more important and not simply rely on old practices and old customer habits. Help yourself get ahead of game.
Having systems that enable you easy, safe and secure access to client files, documents and data is essential. Being able to keep track of what your clients have, what they want and having access to key dates i.e. Dates existing mortgage products expire, current deal information, anniversary dates is common sense.
Having access to systems that allow you quickly and pro-actively to access Key Information at the touch of a button, run a report, identify key activities for the business for the day, week, month or whenever should be the norm. Staying connected with your hard won over customers likewise is a no brainer for us all. Keeping an existing client should be easy through great service, regular communication, professionalism and is by comparison easier than hunting down new business opportunities.
Do your systems allow you access to that level of data and allow you to easily communicate with clients whether through e-mail, text, notes and record that communication against a client file? Do your systems allow you to record those key dates and run those key reports?
Does your technology at a time of heightened security as scamming, theft of data and similar become more high profile, allow your clients to communicate with you securely and send you their important personal documents in a secure and efficient manner? If not, why not? Why create additional workload and increased administration time by not having such technologies and systems in place?
Integrated sourcing whether for mortgages or protection has been around for some time so having such systems fully integrated within your CRM systems should be well established. Ensuring that those integrations work as well as they can, ensuring that all relevant documents including research, illustrations and key product documents available and automatically against a client file seems sensible. Having those documents available from within your technology to send out (again securely) to a customer at the touch of button with accompanying communication and recording that activity would surely be a great idea.
Allowing your customers to receive such information quickly and efficiently has become a common expectation of customers. Allowing the customer to acknowledge receipt of such documents, provide you with confirmation to proceed at key points electronically providing quicker and more efficient processing and will become the industry norm. Of course, systems would be able to evidence and record such permissions.
Covid and subsequent lockdowns focused a lot of people’s minds on using technology either at home and/or for business purposes so, aversion to technology from a customer perspective has dropped significantly as the population becomes more tech savvy so we shouldn’t be afraid to also to keep up with the technology available to us.
Remote business (Not seeing the customer in a face to face environment) is now the norm although face to face business I am sure will still be favoured by some. Increasingly though more business is transacted remotely by phone or by video conference call. Having not only the technology but also the ability and permission to do so from your network or compliance functions is crucial.
In a similar vein marketing and the use of social media is exceptionally important. Using your client data, keeping in line of course within GDPR and compliance guidance, is an ever increasing part of a successful business. Receiving training and guidance in these areas as part of a successful business plan and using your technology to record such communications is key in a modern world sometimes obsessed with Mobile Phones, the internet and similar. Having an attractive, clear and easy to use website is often a valuable part of the successful businesses armoury.
As the New Year is now upon us, perhaps now is the time for you to review your technology and processes and build on your successes to date.