An interview with Wayne Natalie, Senior Vice
President, National City Mortgage Corporation
Part 3 in our series about CRM
A look at the new SAP Business One section of
our
Web site
An Interview with Wayne Natalie, Senior Vice President, Wholesale Lending Division, National City Mortgage Corporation
Based in Miamisburg Ohio, Wayne Natalie is
responsible for National City Mortgage Corporation's
Midwest Wholesale Region.
A reminder for our readers who are not involved in the
mortgage industry: wholesale mortgage is a
business-to-business channel. Account Executives
(AEs) in the Wholesale channel at a mortgage lender
such as NCMC call on mortgage brokers - everything
from mom & pop broker shops to small community
banks and S&Ls. They do not work directly with the
home-buying customer.
Q: Lately everywhere you turn there are articles
about how the subprime slump is affecting home
sales, the mortgage industry and the economy in
general. Yet, your team is doing well even though you
are in what we might call an economically challenged
region. To what do you attribute this? What are some
of the key success factors? How does SMART help?
(Note: SMART is National City's name for
GuideMark's SalesDRIVE CRM system. It stands for
Sales Management Account Relationship Tool.)
A: We are certainly getting some of the overflow as a
result of the non-prime meltdown, but while the profile
of some borrowers may not be as robust as in better
economic times, their credit is not in such disrepair
that they represent an unreasonable risk. It may be
simply that they are a first time home buyer and don't
have any credit. We've developed products, for
example our AltA product, that recognize the risk
factors, are priced accordingly and meet our
corporation's strict credit guidelines. SMART helps in
our sales efforts because it allows us to really
manage our customer base. We have a deep inside
look at each relationship - the type and volume of
business we receive from the broker, their pull-
through rate (Ed.Note: the number of applications that
become closed loans), and a review of how their book
of business is performing from a delinquency
perspective.
Speaking personally, SMART makes it possible for
me to get my job done smarter and faster. Every day, I
get at least one call that goes something like this: an
AE has a "really great customer" who just needs this
one concession, usually on rate or price, and "we'll
get the business."
The first thing I do is I go to SMART and look up the
customer to determine how much business they have
entrusted to us and how that broker is performing on
some of the dimensions I mentioned above, including
the profitability of the relationship. Utilizing SMART, I
immediately have all the information I need to make
an intelligent decision about whether the customer
merits the concession.
The key to success in this business is to know your
customer, and SMART helps us do a much better job
of knowing our customer.
Q: You were involved in the evaluation, decision
and implementation process when NCMC first
deployed SalesDRIVE CRM/SMART. Can you share
with us some of your evaluation and decision criteria?
What were you looking to CRM to accomplish?
A: You are taxing my memory here. Let me tell you
what we expect and need from the system today. The
criteria when we made the decision wouldn't have
been much different. The system needs to be easy to
use, for management as well as the Account
Executives. It needs to provide real time data,
interfacing with our other back end systems. It needs
to be robust in the amount of information it allows us
to obtain about our customers. We also needed
robust, detailed reporting, both ad hoc and standard
reporting. We also were looking for a tool that could
enhance the AE's knowledge of the business and the
customer. The tool has embedded in it a very nice
library for the AEs to reference and use for
presentations. .
As far as what National City Mortgage was looking for
a CRM system to accomplish, our principal objective
was to enhance the quality of our customer base by
zeroing in on and eliminating non-producing, non-
productive relationships. We wanted to take the
guesswork and emotion out of assessing account
value. We wanted facts and information that
were "actionable".
It is very expensive to have non-productive accounts.
When we first installed SMART, our AEs had far too
many accounts. With SMART, we were to scale back
our unproductive relationships, and go deeper, get
more out of the producing ones. In my region, AEs had
about 100-125 accounts before we got SMART, and
now they average 30-40. But more importantly, we are
closing more business and striving to get more out of
each relationship.
SMART also helps us make good customers better,
more productive relationships. With all this historical
and personal information at their fingertips, AEs who
use it properly can look like absolute savants. It is an
excellent tool for coaching and encouraging the
desired behaviors.
We have a very well rounded look at our accounts -
volume, mix of business, profitability, historical
performance and pull-through. Being able to go this
deep into each account lets us set realistic
expectations. Once an account knows that you know
exactly what and how well they are doing, and what
your expectations are, it creates a something of a
Hawthorne effect. The personal attention
promotes the positive behavior we want.
This also encourages customer loyalty. How could a
customer not be impressed with the details at your
command, the attention you are paying to the
relationship?
Q: Tell me a little bit about the implementation
process. What do you think worked particularly well?
Is there anything that you think could have gone
better?
A: Training was a priority for us and it went very well in
my opinion. Even though we had a lot going on.
At the same time as our CRM implementation, we
made the use of corporately issued laptops
mandatory. Putting new technology - hardware and
software - in the hands of the sales force was
necessary for our long term success. It was critical
that we give them the training they needed to be
successful with the new tools.
We had aggressive goals on utilization from the start
to make sure that the sales force used SMART.
It takes time to use a system like this, to put the
information in and manage the calendar. The benefits
are well worth it, but, some folks just can't separate
from the tools they've used for years like their Franklin
Planners.
In my region, I would say we have about 70%
utilization. People use it in different ways, and not
every AE uses every bell & whistle, but we do use the
scorecard as a management tool. AEs get points for
using SMART, and managers do monthly counseling
to reinforce utilization.
Top management support is critical, especially in
reinforcing utilization.
What could have gone better? Rolling it out more
quickly. Speed to street probably could have been
better. But, given that we were also adding the new
laptops and needed to make sure they were secure, it
probably couldn't have gone any faster than it did.
Q: What advice would you give to other executives
contemplating CRM?
A: Always reinforce utilization. From the top down. One
of my colleagues coined the phrase "Inspect What
You Expect." Drive the utilization behavior you want by
asking questions, looking closely at the things you
want your AEs to get in the habit of using and doing.
Q: Any other comments you'd like to make?
A: I've been a proponent of CRM from day one.
Personally I'd be at a loss to handle the all the work I
do without it. Anytime I get a call, it's the first place I
look. It lets me separate fact from fiction.
CRM Tips
Using CRM to Wring Up Sales in a Down
Market
Third of Three Parts
by Gene Mehr
Previous articles in this series (November 06 and
Q1 07) covered how to use your CRM to determine the
right prospects and contact frequency. We wrap it up
here with some tips on using your CRM to develop the
right message for your meeting.
The right value proposition
Now that we know the right customers to target and
the right contact frequency, what can your CRM system
do to help you plan your call? How can the system
help you find the value proposition that gets you tuned
into each customers' value proposition ---the WIIFM
you offer that will help each customer sell more,
increase their profits and enhance the decision
makers career path?
First, you can use the CRM's Transaction Dashboard
to identify what the customer has been buying. Think
about how other successful customers are using the
same services/products to create new opportunities in
their business. In addition, use the Transaction
Dashboard to uncover the products and services other
successful customers have been buying that this
customer has yet to discover. Helping your customer
leverage your services/products to create new
business opportunities is the ultimate value
proposition.
Secondly, use your CRM to do a solid, fast review
before you make the call. Check your CRM's shared
Notes and History to review past calls you've made
and recent calls handled by others in your company.
This will not only enhance your preparation for
executing on your originally planned call agenda but
also may cause you to revise your agenda based on
customer issues. In addition, review the customer's
Pipeline, Profile and Scorecard prior to the call. These
can then be reviewed with the customer during the call
and serve as excellent talking points for moving to
presentation of your planned value propositions.
Your CRM system can help you achieve your revenue,
profit and incentive goals by helping you get it right. It
will reinforce your winning sales processes and
practices, help you identify the right customers and
prospects, facilitate planning and execution of the right
contact frequency for your business, and allow you to
quickly analyze and prepare the right value proposition
for each of your customers. It will help you work
smarter and harder so that you will be recognized as a
one of the most competent people in your profession.
Mary
Schmidt's eponymous blog. Straight talk, straight
from the hip, that will help you talk with your customer
or prospective customer, not at them. Mary's blog is
particularly good when she discusses customer
service and the telecom
companies.
