Client Need: A regional bank wanted to review its sales processes and effectiveness for consumer, home equity, small business and mortgage products sold through the branch channel. Recent benchmarking exercises had shown that its branch home equity sales performed below industry averages. This also prompted a review of its origination processes to determine where opportunities for improvement might exist.
Solution: BenchMark completed an assessment, which included visits to sample branches and the contact center to understand sales activities, assess employee product and process knowledge and skills.
The client’s current performance was compared to that of best-in-class industry peers and from that analysis, recommendations regarding organizational reporting, application processing, underwriting and auto decisioning were made. BenchMark also recommended an increased branch focus for small business and mortgage originations.
Results: The origination r ecommendations alone resulted in the identification of $1.1 million in annual savings.