In the ever-evolving world of mortgage servicing, delivering an exceptional customer experience at every stage of the customer journey is a critical differentiator.
Having spent my career focused on transforming and maintaining great customer experiences specific to our industry, I’ve learned that creating customer-centric teams doesn’t happen through policy, technology, or even training. That’s because, more than anything, it’s a cultural issue.
At Sagent, we understand that to truly transform the customer experience, leaders across the organization must serve as cultural ambassadors, equipped with the tools and shared priorities to drive innovation and enhance the customer experience. I want to share some of the strategies that enable us to execute with excellence as we build the future of industry services.
1. Empower the team with an agile culture
The agility of mortgage servicing gives teams the freedom and ability to quickly adapt to changes and meet customer needs effectively. Empowerment through a culture of positive coaching and development can lead to outstanding results, and cultivating a positive company culture is key to achieving these results.
At Sagent, we embed agility into our mindset, mission, vision and values (Relentless, Relevant, Reliable) to streamline work processes and foster a culture of continuous improvement – a strategy we are always fine-tuning.
One might ask, how can a culture focused on agile methodologies truly enhance the customer experience?
The following three reasons can help explain:
Anticipate changes and respond quickly: It provides the ability to quickly resolve customer issues and implement feedback (immediately), ensuring a more responsive service experience.
Collaboration and transparency: promotion cross-functional Collaboration and transparency, breaking down silos and enabling teams to work toward a common goal – exceptional customer satisfaction.
Iterative improvements: By adopting an iterative approach, we continually improve our processes and technology, ensuring our services evolve with our clients’ needs.
2. Open communication and strengthen collaboration
Effective communication is the lifeblood of any organization. Continuously collecting and listening to customer feedback allows us to develop creative solutions to meet their needs, especially in a market that is constantly changing and adapting to new rules and regulations. Without effective communication, how can we create better, faster, more efficient tools for the customers we serve? In our industry, it is important for services and service providers that we always listen to feedback from our customers and look for ways to help them overcome their challenges.
Open communication isn’t just for external purposes. This tool should be deeply engrained in all teams in every organization, starting at the leadership level and flowing throughout the organization to our front lines and those who work directly with customers.
Promoting and encouraging open communication can and will enhance internal processes and help produce positive outcomes.
That’s how possible it is.
Promote trust and transparency: Open communication lays the foundation for trust and transparency among team members, making it easier for them to share ideas, provide constructive feedback, and resolve conflicts effectively.
Encourage innovation and creativity: When team members are willing to share their ideas and suggestions openly, it creates an environment where innovative ideas and creative solutions thrive, resulting in more effective problem solving and project results.
Enhance team cohesion and consistency: Clear, open communication ensures everyone is on the same page about goals, responsibilities, and expectations, thereby increasing team cohesion and alignment, ultimately leading to better collaboration and productivity.
3. Cultivate a customer-centric culture
A customer-centric culture is critical to delivering exceptional service.
Putting customers at the center of everything, ensuring their needs and preferences guide strategic decisions, is exactly the type of tool needed to drive innovation across the industry.
My colleagues in product, engineering, and customer success are always looking for ways to improve internal processes and ensure that every decision and action is designed to enhance the customer experience. Each of our leaders and their teams always puts themselves in the customer’s shoes and asks the questions they want answered, and that’s how successful results are achieved.
By always listening to our customers’ feedback, ideas and needs, we overcome challenges and advance our mission to lead the evolution of lending by solving the most complex problems. There is no doubt that having a customer-centric culture will fully enhance the customer experience. Here are some reasons why.
Empower employees: We empower our employees to make decisions that prioritize customer satisfaction and foster a sense of ownership and responsibility.
Continuous feedback loop: By actively seeking and taking action on customer feedback, we create a dynamic feedback loop that drives continuous improvement of our services.
customer initiative: We advocate for our customers, building trust and long-term loyalty by resolving their concerns promptly and effectively.
Transforming the customer experience in mortgage servicing requires a holistic approach that integrates agile methods, open communication and a customer-centric culture.
At Sagent, we are committed to leveraging these leading strengths to create a seamless, responsive and personal service experience for our customers. In doing so, we not only meet but exceed their expectations, setting a new standard for excellence in mortgage servicing.
