Committed to helping more people achieve their economic potential, Credit Union 1 (CU1) serves more than 110,000 members across 16 branches in Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, and Georgia, and many more nationwide via its highly rated mobile app, 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs, and 5,000
shared-branch locations.
But in 2019, CU1 executives decided existing sales and marketing processes needed a complete digital transformation. And they came up with a unique way to vet the best ideas.
After secluding all business unit leaders at an offsite retreat, execs required each one to develop and present a plan — “Shark Tank”-style — outlining exactly how they would grow their unit if budget weren’t a factor. It was then that Vice President of Mortgage Sales Jennifer Poniatowski pitched her idea for how to enable CU1’s retail loan officers to easily build their own, individual brands and marketing presences while more efficiently tending to the routine sales and marketing tasks that took up too much of their time.
“I wanted each of our 15 loan officers to work like they’re the CEO of their own world, stepping beyond traditional outreach efforts to engage leads and enhance their member experiences,” says Jennifer. “But to do that, we had to equip them with the right digital tools. We wanted to use Salesforce as our primary CRM, but we knew we would need to augment it with technology that could give our loan officers the powerful, self-service email marketing capabilities they really needed.”
Why Total Expert
After a trusted colleague at another credit union told her about Total Expert’s strengths in the digital mortgage space, Jennifer did her own due diligence. And she quickly selected Total Expert as the marketing automation platform CU1 would pair with its Salesforce CRM and member engagement platforms. Total Expert for Salesforce will enable deeper marketing and customer engagement within Salesforce on behalf of customer-facing teams.
Explains Jennifer, “Total Expert was the right platform to help us connect key sources of data. With it, we could get the improved, holistic view of member data and the email marketing capabilities we needed to deliver increased value to each member via personalized messaging that really resonates with their unique financial experience. Not to mention, Total Expert’s customer support really outshines the rest, too.”
Solution to Date
The retail team at CU1 is currently implementing Total Expert for Salesforce, and they’re also integrating the credit union’s Encompass loan origination system and their core system.
“I was a loan officer once, so I understand how important it is that technology is easy to use — there’s not a salesperson alive who wants to wait for anything,” Jennifer explains. “With Total Expert, our sales team can grow our lending practice by easily surfacing new leads and opportunities before they slip through the cracks. They can better market their personal brands on social media and in person. They can more efficiently
make themselves better known in specific markets.”
They can also do a much better job cross-selling. “In mortgage lending, every connection we make today is a potential refinance tomorrow,” Jennifer explains. “When the market shifts suddenly away from purchase, like it did recently, a platform like Total Expert can help credit unions like us quickly shift to cross-selling other products and services, like deposit accounts.”
“Credit unions and mortgage companies won’t survive without modern financial marketing technology like Total Expert.”
Jennifer Poniatowski,
Vice President of Mortgage Sales
Results to Date
Though still early in the implementation, Jennifer remains confident Total Expert is the right choice to help CU1’s loan officers strengthen their relationships with new and existing members.
“Now that the pandemic’s mostly subsided, we’re boots on the ground with our realtor partners, doing oldschool things like hosting open houses and sponsoring mixers,” she says. “But it’s really hard to keep track of all those partners and prospective clients — or the contact spreadsheets used by our outside sales contacts — if you do it manually. Total Expert will make all that manual work go away and give us so much additional value to boot.”
Predicts Jennifer, “Credit unions and mortgage companies won’t survive without modern financial marketing technology like Total Expert. It’s the only way to meet consumers where they are, be the trusted financial advisor they seek, and help them become able
to better achieve their financial goals.”
