Whitney McDonald 0:04
Hello and welcome to the buzz of bank automation news podcast. My name is Whitney McDonald and I’m the deputy editor of bank automation news. Joining me today is James White of Total Expert. He is here to discuss today’s macro economy, the rising rate environment, and how banks can use consumer data and automation to ensure consumer financial health.James White 0:23
My name is James White, I’m the industry principal for banking here at total expert came to total expert about five months ago or so. Previous to that I was the president and chief technology officer of a company by the name of RAD and financial, I worked for them for about 23 years or so. They are a division of Fiserv. And my role was really around thought leadership, especially in the FinTech space. And so I was able to bring all of those expertise over to total expert to help make sure that our product is truly purpose built for financial institutions. And as the industry principal, I’m responsible for our banking practice mine. So first off, a lot of banks that I talked to, really are super focused on trying to make sure that they are cleansing their data and getting their sea of data ready before implementing any kind of automation. And they’re looking at things like AI and some of these more complex algorithms. And what I would argue is that all that is super important. But don’t wait, you want to make sure that you’re making an impact now, and then building on that over time.

Whitney McDonald 1:50
Okay, great. Well, thanks, again, for being here. Um, I think that we can go ahead and get into what today’s market looks like, of course, it’s seems to be ever changing. We’re on the cusp of economic downturn, or recession. So I’ll let you go ahead and explain kind of where we stand today.

James White 2:08
Yes, absolutely. So it’s been very interesting, because as the Fed has tried to slow down inflation, they have increased rates, the Fed rate Fed funds rate at an alarming rate, really a historical rate. And what that has done is really caused a couple of different things. One, it’s caused a lot of uncertainty for consumers. But from a financial institution perspective, it has really caused a lot of different issues. One slowdown from a mortgage perspective, refinances are completely dried up. We also still have deposits that need to be repriced, we have liquidity concerns, as well, for banks. And all of those things are really weighing heavy on leadership at banks, because they’ve got to figure out how to reduce costs, because revenue is going to be dropping, and also be able to reprice loans and deposits, all the while trying to make sure that they are staying in front of their consumers and making sure that those consumers are highly engaged.

Whitney McDonald 3:17
So we know that banks are collecting a lot of data, we want to talk through a little bit how this data can be used to help maintain and build client bases during these unique times.

James White 3:34
Yeah, so one thing is pretty interesting, at least from my perspective, is banks had been trying to normalize and understand their data since the 90s. That’s really when data warehouses were really starting to become popular. And that has become very difficult over the years. And the reason why is because banks have been trying to normalize all of this data and understand all of this data instead of focusing on actioning on it. And really, when you want to understand the intent of a consumer, you can use as many data points or as many data elements as you would like. But you can move the needle just with a few things. And we found that a total expert instead of trying to boil the ocean, really focus on making an impact as fast as you can. And the way we’ve done that, as we rolled out a solution this year that we’ve called customer intelligence, that allows us to do some triggering off some just basic data elements that have really allowed us to make a meaningful difference for banks and credit unions. So what it is, is we are able to analyze your customer base, and then look for triggers. And so what we’ve done is we’ve rolled out really four key triggers that allow us to generate leads for the bank. So first is an M LS trigger so that we can tell if your customers have posted their home for sale on the MLS. Additionally, we have a rate trigger. So we’re looking for rates and rate sensitivity. We’ve also done credit trigger. So we know if your customers are pulling their credit elsewhere and perhaps looking for a mortgage elsewhere. And then finally, we’ve looked for equity. And so we’re able to calculate loan to value and make sure that we’re looking at the equity in the home so that we can also generate a trigger for the locks.

Whitney McDonald 5:38
Great, thanks for walking us through that. Now, I know we’ve talked about that the banks, of course, have been collecting data for I think you said since What was the date the mid 90s, mid 90s? How can how can this data that’s been collected now be leveraged to empower lead generation bringing those customers on? And then of course, using automation to empower that? What does that all look like?

James White 6:08
Yeah, so one of the things that we have learned as of late is that consumers or have really changed their behavior, and really changed it dramatically. That started with Amazon quite a few years ago, but really got escalated with regards to the pandemic. And so there was about six or seven years worth of a customer journey evolution just crammed into the 18 months. And what that’s done is change expectations. And so customers aren’t as loyal as they were previously. And the way that you increase loyalty now is not only through service and satisfaction around service, but also keeping them engaged. And so you want to make sure that you are leveraging data to deliver an interaction with that customer that is meaningful to them, because that’s what they expect. And that allows you to really nurture that relationship, and they’re looking for consumers are looking for us to be a trusted adviser, they are very nervous because of the rising rate environment, they are really needing to be educated on how to act in this environment, not only have banks and credit unions not had to deal with a rising rate environment in quite a long time. Neither have consumers. And so we as experts need to be able to leverage the data that we have to interact with them in a real way so that we can then help them, educate them and train them and make sure that they understand that we have their best interests at heart and that they’re going to leverage our financial institution for any future business needs.

Whitney McDonald 7:51
Wondering if you can walk through a use case or an example of how you’ve seen banks improve their lead generation through these tools that you’ve just explained?

James White 8:02
Yeah, so we actually a use case that’s top of mind for me is we have a customer, it’s actually a, an iamb, and a mortgage customer, its prosperity, Home Mortgage, and what we’re able to do, just through a mortgage inquiry alert, which is just a credit poll alert, what we did is we implemented our customer intelligence platform, started to really monitor their contacts or their customers for any type of credit polls. And we were able to generate somewhere around around 2100 opportunities in just a month, that was about 85 loans ended up being somewhere around around $34 million. They also ended up generating somewhere around around 60 new applications, that was about $25 million. And just in a two week period, we help them uncover 2100 opportunities for their loan officers. So just doing those small things, as I mentioned earlier, can really make a big difference. And then building on that you can continue to grow your institution and grow the amount of leads that you’re able to pull in.

Whitney McDonald 9:14
Can you walk us through I know that you gave us the example of what those what that client saw as far as new new leads and new business on a bigger scale, can you can you share a little bit about how total expert can come in where lead opportunities might have been missed before and captured those

James White 9:33
were able to leverage our automation and what we call our intelligent journeys that we set up for that automation to make sure that we are nurturing the consumer or the lead throughout the whole sales process to make sure that there are any gaps and aren’t any drops. And so all of that is what we would call set it and forget it you’re able to set up these journeys. Once you’ve identified the lead feed them into journeys and leverage automation to make sure that you’re nurturing them. Because that rate sensitivity that that’s out there right now really has eroded loyalty even more than ever before, everybody is looking for the best price. And so you want to make sure that you’re leveraging that data, leveraging the automation, which is key to keep nurturing them, those leads to make sure that you’re remaining top of mind, and that you’re building a relationship with them and building that loyalty so that they’ll kind of be

Whitney McDonald 10:34
wondering if you can share a little bit about why these loan applications might be missed, and how that can be avoided.

James White 10:44
Yeah, so those loan applications goes back to that same loyalty that we were just talking about. Right now, consumers just aren’t as loyal as they have been. I’m a little bit older. But I remember it being a big deal to go to the bank and go to the through the teller line and, and get a lollipop. And, you know, it was this big event and, and my parents had built a relationship with the bank, because, you know, maybe they got their first loan there. And we always use that same bank. Well, that’s just not the case anymore. And that loyalty just doesn’t exist, like it used to. And so those loan applications can slip through the cracks, because those consumers aren’t as loyal as they have been historically, and customer satisfaction. And service doesn’t translate to loyalty like it used to. And so if they are Licious, as we’re talking about mortgages, if they are looking for a mortgage, a lot of times they may be referred by the realtor who may not be tied to or referring them to your financial institution or your bank. And so all those leads, and loan applications can be missed. Because you don’t know, unless you’re leveraging data like life events, and like MLS, post and credit polls, you don’t know how that consumer is trying to live their financial life. And so you have to be able to leverage that data and use automation to predict what’s going to happen and really help that customer to be able to know what they need and make good financial decisions, to make sure that they are staying as financially healthy as possible during these times.

Whitney McDonald 12:42
Now, I think that’s a good segue into our last question where where banks need to be leveraging data thinking about automation and using those tools in order to empower their businesses? How can banks be sure that they have those right tools in place? Or what steps could they be taking to ensure that they have the right processes in place to avoid missing those loans and make sure that they do have that relationship building process in the back end to make sure they’re using that data?

James White 13:14
No, I think that’s a great question. So banks, in general have been growing at an alarming rate over the years just because of free money. And just the volume of leads and loans that have been coming in have been so high. And so a lot of banks have just been struggling to try to keep their head above water, and really trying to add staff and ad platforms and things like that, to try to make sure that they can handle the volume. Well, now that it’s starting to slow down, it’s a great time to take a breath, go back and look at all of your processes and procedures, make sure that you are as efficient as possible. Look at platforms like automation that can help you both reduce your effort and also stay on top of the leads that you do get. Because those leads are as valuable now as they have ever been. And you want to make sure that every lead that you have, and every interaction that you have with your customer is a positive one. And so we believe that you’ve got to make sure that you’re doing these things and still stay with the human first connection. So making sure that you’re still building those relationships, so that it helps with the financial health of your customer. All those things translate to making sure that you are leveraging data as I said before, leveraging automation so that you are making sure that you’re keeping your customers and your leads engaged so that they are remaining as loyal as possible to your financial institution and helping you to grow because the The days have grown threefold just by opening the doors are, are probably over for a period of time. And so you want to make sure that you are leveraging every opportunity that you have and making sure that you are keeping your customers as financially healthy as possible.

Whitney McDonald 15:22
You’ve been listening to the buzz, a bank automation news podcast, please follow us on LinkedIn. And as a reminder, you can rate this podcast on your platform of choice. Thank you for your time and be sure to visit us at Bank automation news.com For more automation news

Whitney McDonald 0:04
Hello and welcome to the buzz of bank automation news podcast. My name is Whitney McDonald and I’m the deputy editor of bank automation news. Joining me today is James White of Total Expert. He is here to discuss today’s macro economy, the rising rate environment, and how banks can use consumer data and automation to ensure consumer financial health.James White 0:23
My name is James White, I’m the industry principal for banking here at total expert came to total expert about five months ago or so. Previous to that I was the president and chief technology officer of a company by the name of RAD and financial, I worked for them for about 23 years or so. They are a division of Fiserv. And my role was really around thought leadership, especially in the FinTech space. And so I was able to bring all of those expertise over to total expert to help make sure that our product is truly purpose built for financial institutions. And as the industry principal, I’m responsible for our banking practice mine. So first off, a lot of banks that I talked to, really are super focused on trying to make sure that they are cleansing their data and getting their sea of data ready before implementing any kind of automation. And they’re looking at things like AI and some of these more complex algorithms. And what I would argue is that all that is super important. But don’t wait, you want to make sure that you’re making an impact now, and then building on that over time.

Whitney McDonald 1:50
Okay, great. Well, thanks, again, for being here. Um, I think that we can go ahead and get into what today’s market looks like, of course, it’s seems to be ever changing. We’re on the cusp of economic downturn, or recession. So I’ll let you go ahead and explain kind of where we stand today.

James White 2:08
Yes, absolutely. So it’s been very interesting, because as the Fed has tried to slow down inflation, they have increased rates, the Fed rate Fed funds rate at an alarming rate, really a historical rate. And what that has done is really caused a couple of different things. One, it’s caused a lot of uncertainty for consumers. But from a financial institution perspective, it has really caused a lot of different issues. One slowdown from a mortgage perspective, refinances are completely dried up. We also still have deposits that need to be repriced, we have liquidity concerns, as well, for banks. And all of those things are really weighing heavy on leadership at banks, because they’ve got to figure out how to reduce costs, because revenue is going to be dropping, and also be able to reprice loans and deposits, all the while trying to make sure that they are staying in front of their consumers and making sure that those consumers are highly engaged.

Whitney McDonald 3:17
So we know that banks are collecting a lot of data, we want to talk through a little bit how this data can be used to help maintain and build client bases during these unique times.

James White 3:34
Yeah, so one thing is pretty interesting, at least from my perspective, is banks had been trying to normalize and understand their data since the 90s. That’s really when data warehouses were really starting to become popular. And that has become very difficult over the years. And the reason why is because banks have been trying to normalize all of this data and understand all of this data instead of focusing on actioning on it. And really, when you want to understand the intent of a consumer, you can use as many data points or as many data elements as you would like. But you can move the needle just with a few things. And we found that a total expert instead of trying to boil the ocean, really focus on making an impact as fast as you can. And the way we’ve done that, as we rolled out a solution this year that we’ve called customer intelligence, that allows us to do some triggering off some just basic data elements that have really allowed us to make a meaningful difference for banks and credit unions. So what it is, is we are able to analyze your customer base, and then look for triggers. And so what we’ve done is we’ve rolled out really four key triggers that allow us to generate leads for the bank. So first is an M LS trigger so that we can tell if your customers have posted their home for sale on the MLS. Additionally, we have a rate trigger. So we’re looking for rates and rate sensitivity. We’ve also done credit trigger. So we know if your customers are pulling their credit elsewhere and perhaps looking for a mortgage elsewhere. And then finally, we’ve looked for equity. And so we’re able to calculate loan to value and make sure that we’re looking at the equity in the home so that we can also generate a trigger for the locks.

Whitney McDonald 5:38
Great, thanks for walking us through that. Now, I know we’ve talked about that the banks, of course, have been collecting data for I think you said since What was the date the mid 90s, mid 90s? How can how can this data that’s been collected now be leveraged to empower lead generation bringing those customers on? And then of course, using automation to empower that? What does that all look like?

James White 6:08
Yeah, so one of the things that we have learned as of late is that consumers or have really changed their behavior, and really changed it dramatically. That started with Amazon quite a few years ago, but really got escalated with regards to the pandemic. And so there was about six or seven years worth of a customer journey evolution just crammed into the 18 months. And what that’s done is change expectations. And so customers aren’t as loyal as they were previously. And the way that you increase loyalty now is not only through service and satisfaction around service, but also keeping them engaged. And so you want to make sure that you are leveraging data to deliver an interaction with that customer that is meaningful to them, because that’s what they expect. And that allows you to really nurture that relationship, and they’re looking for consumers are looking for us to be a trusted adviser, they are very nervous because of the rising rate environment, they are really needing to be educated on how to act in this environment, not only have banks and credit unions not had to deal with a rising rate environment in quite a long time. Neither have consumers. And so we as experts need to be able to leverage the data that we have to interact with them in a real way so that we can then help them, educate them and train them and make sure that they understand that we have their best interests at heart and that they’re going to leverage our financial institution for any future business needs.

Whitney McDonald 7:51
Wondering if you can walk through a use case or an example of how you’ve seen banks improve their lead generation through these tools that you’ve just explained?

James White 8:02
Yeah, so we actually a use case that’s top of mind for me is we have a customer, it’s actually a, an iamb, and a mortgage customer, its prosperity, Home Mortgage, and what we’re able to do, just through a mortgage inquiry alert, which is just a credit poll alert, what we did is we implemented our customer intelligence platform, started to really monitor their contacts or their customers for any type of credit polls. And we were able to generate somewhere around around 2100 opportunities in just a month, that was about 85 loans ended up being somewhere around around $34 million. They also ended up generating somewhere around around 60 new applications, that was about $25 million. And just in a two week period, we help them uncover 2100 opportunities for their loan officers. So just doing those small things, as I mentioned earlier, can really make a big difference. And then building on that you can continue to grow your institution and grow the amount of leads that you’re able to pull in.

Whitney McDonald 9:14
Can you walk us through I know that you gave us the example of what those what that client saw as far as new new leads and new business on a bigger scale, can you can you share a little bit about how total expert can come in where lead opportunities might have been missed before and captured those

James White 9:33
were able to leverage our automation and what we call our intelligent journeys that we set up for that automation to make sure that we are nurturing the consumer or the lead throughout the whole sales process to make sure that there are any gaps and aren’t any drops. And so all of that is what we would call set it and forget it you’re able to set up these journeys. Once you’ve identified the lead feed them into journeys and leverage automation to make sure that you’re nurturing them. Because that rate sensitivity that that’s out there right now really has eroded loyalty even more than ever before, everybody is looking for the best price. And so you want to make sure that you’re leveraging that data, leveraging the automation, which is key to keep nurturing them, those leads to make sure that you’re remaining top of mind, and that you’re building a relationship with them and building that loyalty so that they’ll kind of be

Whitney McDonald 10:34
wondering if you can share a little bit about why these loan applications might be missed, and how that can be avoided.

James White 10:44
Yeah, so those loan applications goes back to that same loyalty that we were just talking about. Right now, consumers just aren’t as loyal as they have been. I’m a little bit older. But I remember it being a big deal to go to the bank and go to the through the teller line and, and get a lollipop. And, you know, it was this big event and, and my parents had built a relationship with the bank, because, you know, maybe they got their first loan there. And we always use that same bank. Well, that’s just not the case anymore. And that loyalty just doesn’t exist, like it used to. And so those loan applications can slip through the cracks, because those consumers aren’t as loyal as they have been historically, and customer satisfaction. And service doesn’t translate to loyalty like it used to. And so if they are Licious, as we’re talking about mortgages, if they are looking for a mortgage, a lot of times they may be referred by the realtor who may not be tied to or referring them to your financial institution or your bank. And so all those leads, and loan applications can be missed. Because you don’t know, unless you’re leveraging data like life events, and like MLS, post and credit polls, you don’t know how that consumer is trying to live their financial life. And so you have to be able to leverage that data and use automation to predict what’s going to happen and really help that customer to be able to know what they need and make good financial decisions, to make sure that they are staying as financially healthy as possible during these times.

Whitney McDonald 12:42
Now, I think that’s a good segue into our last question where where banks need to be leveraging data thinking about automation and using those tools in order to empower their businesses? How can banks be sure that they have those right tools in place? Or what steps could they be taking to ensure that they have the right processes in place to avoid missing those loans and make sure that they do have that relationship building process in the back end to make sure they’re using that data?

James White 13:14
No, I think that’s a great question. So banks, in general have been growing at an alarming rate over the years just because of free money. And just the volume of leads and loans that have been coming in have been so high. And so a lot of banks have just been struggling to try to keep their head above water, and really trying to add staff and ad platforms and things like that, to try to make sure that they can handle the volume. Well, now that it’s starting to slow down, it’s a great time to take a breath, go back and look at all of your processes and procedures, make sure that you are as efficient as possible. Look at platforms like automation that can help you both reduce your effort and also stay on top of the leads that you do get. Because those leads are as valuable now as they have ever been. And you want to make sure that every lead that you have, and every interaction that you have with your customer is a positive one. And so we believe that you’ve got to make sure that you’re doing these things and still stay with the human first connection. So making sure that you’re still building those relationships, so that it helps with the financial health of your customer. All those things translate to making sure that you are leveraging data as I said before, leveraging automation so that you are making sure that you’re keeping your customers and your leads engaged so that they are remaining as loyal as possible to your financial institution and helping you to grow because the The days have grown threefold just by opening the doors are, are probably over for a period of time. And so you want to make sure that you are leveraging every opportunity that you have and making sure that you are keeping your customers as financially healthy as possible.

Whitney McDonald 15:22
You’ve been listening to the buzz, a bank automation news podcast, please follow us on LinkedIn. And as a reminder, you can rate this podcast on your platform of choice. Thank you for your time and be sure to visit us at Bank automation news.com For more automation news