According to the local weather guessers here in Southwest Ohio, the thermometer is finally on the rise following several weeks of bitter cold weather that forced me to stay in my spaceship. No matter, as it gave me time to perform required and much overdue maintenance checks and tests. It also permitted me time to write some posts for my blog.
As is part of my typical blog post writing practice, I grabbed my materials and resources and slinked over to the Starlight Lounge (that’s what I call my recreational and rest area on the ship – it has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?). Once there, I settled into my biomorphic lounge apparatus, took a deep breath and spent a moment looking at the world around me. In doing so, I peered out one of my observation windows to see the snow, ice, frost and visible breath of those unlucky enough to be outdoors during these frigid temperatures. This very sight gave me chills, so I needed something to keep me warm all through my body and tentacles. I opted for one of my favorite Earth breakfast delicacies: oatmeal. Due to the limited size and storage space in my galley, I opt for the instant variety of oatmeal. A big shout out to anyone who can guess my favorite flavor – put your answer in the comment section below.
The thing about instant oatmeal is that it can be tricky determining the right amount of hot water to use, especially if you don’t have proper liquid measurement devices suited for a kitchen. Like I said, limited storage space.
When mixing your oatmeal, if you put in too much water, it becomes a liquid mess with oats swimming in a cloudy pool. If you don’t use enough water, once the oats soak it all in, you’re left with a gooey, sticky ball of mush that you can barely work your eating utensil into. Add to this the fact that the amount of water can vary between the different brands and flavors of instant oatmeal, and you’ve got potential breakfast issues. And it stirs up the question, “How much water do members need in their oatmeal?”
As the credit union mortgage lending “chef” to your members’ homeownership must-haves, it’s up to you to determine and provide the critical information your members need in the proper quantities. This applies across the entire homeownership spectrum – be it education, marketing, process checks, servicing updates or TLC, it’s up to you, their trusted credit union mortgage lender, to get and deliver the mix of information and communication just right.
There’s no standard recipe or process to reference here because just like the different brands and flavors of instant oatmeal, each member is a little (or a lot) different from another. What may resonate with one member could completely fail to register with another.
To achieve the right balance for each member, you must ensure you have the tools needed to achieve solid communication. A great tool could be a robust CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system that offers you insights and trends on current and potential borrowers and pairs that information with outreach systems, processes and materials, such as educational and marketing flyers. For example, action-specific processes can be set up for borrower needs ranging from buyer education to loan status updates to current loan servicing needs.
To facilitate these processes – or journeys, as we like to refer to them at myCUmortgage – your system should provide controlled and automated outreach via communication channels preferred by your borrowers. The most effective channels will be different from borrower to borrower, so it’s a good idea to have the ability to incorporate their preferred methods to receive communications into your processes, such as email, text, telephone calls or mail.
Do you have CRM tools in place as part of your credit union mortgage business? What works best with your members? What doesn’t work so well? Please share below so that we can all learn more about CRM and communicating with members.
As I enjoy my perfectly blended bowl of instant oatmeal, here’s to each of you achieving the perfect blend of information and communications for your members and borrowers. Bon appétit and stay warm!