Communication director roles and responsibilities

Mortgage Communications Director

Colleagues:

We have before us both a significant challenge and a tremendous opportunity. The first few weeks of a new operation can establish the course that the company will follow for years to come and so I'm very excited to have been hired as the new Director of Communications for this group of mortgage professionals who are taking over this mortgage group. We have a number of key issues immediately before us and I will be issuing a series of memos to address these in turn.

This first memo addresses the most pressing need facing our Group, which is the need to raise $3 million in capital to complete the acquisition. This must be done quickly or a number of key personnel will be lost. While the company has some real assets - including its name, its current contractual agreements and its IT system, the real worth of any company lies in its workforce.

In order to convince investors of the necessity of moving quickly to help us maintain as an intact working unit I have assembled a portfolio outlining the skills and talents of each of the team members as well as presenting a list of the projects that they have worked on. This serves the dual purpose of demonstrating to investors the value of the Group that they are buying into as well as demonstrating the need for urgency.

In addition to this push to show that the property is available in its current state of value for only a brief period of time, I have also put together a prospectus that outlines the benefits of early investment. Although these methods are not of course in any way unique to us, we are offering the usual incentives, including a lowered stock price and an impressive array of future stock options. However, even as we recognize the importance of such tactics, what we feel that we most have to sell is the strength of our business plan. We do not want to give the impression (by relying too heavily on the importance of stock splits, etc.) that the business plan is not in and of itself a sufficiently good reason to invest in this company.

In agreeing to be our first private label credit union, GEM has agreed to provide us with a package of mortgage services that will allow us to beat our competitors in both speed and quality of service. This is essential in our being able to succeed as a company because we are offering what is at base the same service that is offered by all other mortgage companies given that interest rates are the same for all of us. What we have to offer - both in terms of our investors and in terms of our customers - is not a better product per se but a better way to deliver the same product.

GEM's association with us will allow us to do precisely this in the following ways:

Its online mortgage application and lending system is designed to be user friendly. We have found through a fair amount of research that even people who are generally comfortable around computers are still somewhat leery of using them to conduct financial transactions. Gem's system has built into it a number of security precautions that will reassure theses customers. And its overall simplicity will help to reassure those who are not in fact comfortably with computer technology

With the software that GEM is bringing to this acquisition we will be one of the few companies that is able to offer mortgage application and approval in real-time via the Internet. This is an very important issue for customers. In today's competitive housing market, a property may only be available for a very short period of time. If we are not able to get people approved within that period of time then we will lose their goodwill. By offering them almost instantaneous service, they will have the chance to bid on properties that they have fallen in love with and this will generate a great deal of goodwill for our Group

The automated underwriting system that will allow us to offer nearly immediate approval to customers is also far more flexible than that offered by other firms in that it can process any type of loan, Fannie Mae, FHA and/or Sub-prime.

The entire online process has been streamlined. Our customer research on the mortgage-approval process has shown that the aspect of the process that customers dislike the most - even more than being turned down - is its complexity. In an instantaneous society, people have little tolerance for lengthy paperwork, especially in the case of a mortgage in which the bank has a substantial asset that it is holding and in which the bank will make a substantial profit. To combat the frustration that people feel with the traditional mortgage process, Gem has developed a program in which there are only ten questions and twenty-five possible mouse clicks

We also offer a face-to-face option with a loan officer for those who simply do not want to use the computer. We believe that the online option may be especially attractive for those who are afraid of being turned down as well as those who believe that the online option is more efficient. By offering both options with no penalties for either we will be able to compete with both more traditional firms as well as upstart companies that offer only internet access. We can offer both our investors and our customers the best of the traditional mortgage business and the best of the new mortgage business.

We have a sound business plan and a highly attractive product that we are offering to investors along with excellent incentives to our investors. Given that we have only 20% of the company available for capital investment we should have few difficulties in meeting our investments goals.

Memo #2

Colleagues:

We have now arrived at another critical point in the acquisition process: The agreement to acquire has been signed by all concerned parties but the company personnel have not yet been acquired by the new entity. This memo is therefore directed primarily at those new personnel and is designed to address some of the concerns that they no doubt have.

The new Unit will have all the advantages of the current staff. I understand that it's traditional at a time like this to praise that staff in an attempt to get those staff to stay on and I can't say that that isn't what I'm doing. However, that in no way means that it isn't also absolutely true that this new Unit will be far stronger with your continued contributions.

But we can hardly expect you to continue with this company if we are not offering you something valuable for your time and for the transferal of your loyalty. We believe that we do in fact have something valuable: A sound company with a well-thought-out business plan that is able to present the customer with service that he or she will be unable to find anywhere else.

More specifically, we are able to promise that each one of you is unlikely to see any dip in personal commissions, always an important issue when a company changes hands. It is true that Citibank will be taking its leads with it. This is only proper as those leads were a part of the company's overall assets and they properly are taking them with them. However, one of advantages that we are beginning the life of the Unit with is the fact that GEM has negotiated a substantially reduced volume price of $18.50 for the purchase of 22,500 leads for our three-month initial start-up period. The following assessment comes directly from GEM:

GEM expects that within a relatively short time (perhaps as short as 6 months) it will be possible to bring the loan production in the Target back to the impressive levels achieved under Citimortgage. Although there may be some variance in the average customer demographics, due to a number of strategic improvements, the per loan profit levels should very quickly surpass those previously achieved.

This should reassure those who have been working at the company that their personal income should not fall as a result of the transition. We can understand how current workers, who have an understanding of how Citimortgage works, might consider following that company. We certainly agree that Citimortgage is an excellent firm with reputable and sound business practices. However, we believe that our own business plan is more cutting edge and will provide us with a competitive edge that more established companies do not have. Given this fact, all that we need to succeed is a priming of the pump. These leads that GEM has provided for the start-up period will provide that priming action. The overall business strategy that we have in place will allow the company to proceed in helping you and the company make money after this period.

One change that will occur as a result of the system that GEM is introducing is a greater level of accountability, with each mortgage officer being able to track the length of time that each mortgage takes from initiation to final result as well as the percentage of offers of each type of loan that is accepted by our customers. Under the previous management employees had relatively little control over the acceptance rate of the various products that they were offering since they had essentially no flexibility in changing the conditions of those offers.

Differences in the levels of performance therefore resulted either from pure sales quality (not a characteristic to be dismissed, obviously) or on what we might call simple the luck of the draw. Often because of the ways in which However, with daily feedback supplied to each employee on the rates of acceptance of different types of mortgages, each employee will know exactly how well he or she is doing. Each employee will also have the option of offering additional incentives for certain types of mortgages if there is an overall or divisional decline in acceptance for those types of mortgages.

The system that GEM is introducing is a form of Customer Resource Management and the goal of this system, like other CRM systems, is as follows:

To provide better customer service

To make call centers more efficient

To cross sell products more effectively

To help sales staff close deals faster

To simplify marketing and sales processes

To discover new customers

To increase customer revenues (http://www.darwinmag.com/learn/curve/column.html?ArticleID=104).

A more comprehensive description of the CRM strategy that will be introduced is described below:

Customer Relationship Management is a comprehensive strategy and process of acquiring, retaining and partnering with selective customers to create superior value for the company and the customer (Parvatiyar and Seth 2001).

By acquiring and examining in a careful and critical way all of the information that is available through the system that GEM is introducing, it will be possible for the information that is coming into the company to be used in an efficient a way as possible. The new software system is vastly more efficient than that which had been used before and will allow employees to increase their commissions while at the same time increasing the overall sales of the company. By integrating a traditional reliance on the importance of accurate information about customers with a CRM/ERP reliance on information about how the staff is using this information, GEM will provide entirely new pathways for securing mortgages, as outlined in the business plan:

Utilizing the new fully automated web driven paperless system, the Team will open up new markets and origination opportunities that were technologically previously unattainable. The vast majority of lending organizations that do not currently have a mortgage department have chosen to stay out of the business because of the inherent difficulties in managing and running a mortgage operation. Businesses such as small community banks, credit unions and mortgage sales people who have a client base but are unable to deal with backroom complexities, would be interested in offering mortgage solutions directly to their customers via the internet.

Because the company will be a self-sufficient mortgage unit in the future rather than a subsidiary unit of a larger firm, it will have far greater autonomy in establishing its client base. This should allow for a greater integration of information throughout the company. While before different divisions tended to horde information from other divisions, there will be no need to do so anymore.

Furthermore, employees who aid others in completing sales (a process that can be tracked through the new software) will be given appropriate credit for the new sales.

Memo #3

Colleagues:

critical moment is at hand in terms of the transition from a subsidiary unit to a completely freestanding one. However, this does not mean that all of our work is behind us in any way. The following steps will be instituted beginning at 5:30 P.M. Friday and 7:30 A.M. Monday. It is imperative that all staff members review this memo carefully so that they can ask in advance any questions that they have either of myself or of any of the new corporate officers.

Each employee should receive on Friday:

new computer access key software manual

For non-clerical staff) A selection of leads (divided randomly)

Company-wide goals for 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day periods

Loan-type (i.e. Fannie Mae) goals for ninety-day and 180-day periods

Manual on CRM philosophy

Video on online mortgage application

Employees will notice certain key differences when they arrive on Monday, including the requirement that they use their new password. However, the platform on which the software will be run will not be changed. This will allow for a smooth transition over a single weekend. A number of features have been added to the software that will make it more efficient for tracking information. However, this runs automatically and will not require employees to change what they do.

As time permits on Monday, each mortgage officer should use the video provided (there is also a version installed on one's computer) to go through the process of applying for a mortgage online so that each employee will understand the process and be able to advise those who call and ask which way they should proceed. Until the employee feels comfortable with the new system, he or she may simply guide the customer to apply in person or by phone. Most of those inclined to apply online will do so without asking for advice; the system is, after all, designed to be self-sufficient and will be fully operational by Monday.

A number of physical changes will be made in the offices over the weekend. These include:

new paint job in a different color - a real blow to those of us who have almost gotten used to the orange and white. You will recall the blue, teal and white won handily in the straw poll. All of the physical work in transforming the office has been contracted out and is already scheduled

New exterior signage. This is a somewhat expensive shift but is essential. There are few things that can undercut the confidence of the public more than seeing the name of a new company temporarily and haphazardly pasted over the old company name

New business cards, stationery and monogram pens for each employee

New employee manuals and benefits pamphlets. Even though benefits will not change at least for the rest of the year we are under legal obligation to provide new versions of these benefits to each employee

New telephone directories that allow for a four-button rather than a five-button intra-office dialing function

We expect there to be a certain amount of confusion during the first day and throughout the first several weeks. We will provide each employee with an hourly update (via computer) on everything that we believe will help make the transition as smooth as possible. However, this cannot possibly succeed unless we get everyone to complain about everything that they do not like.

We can understand that there is likely to be a significant amount of reluctance on the part of employees to begin this new venture by complaining. However, to make it as clear as possible that the new management is committed to a team atmosphere in which the opinions of each and every one are valued, we will award a $10 bonus for each problem that each employee comes up with during the first ten days. (If two or more employees cite the same problem, the winner will be the person who cites it first).