Southwest Business Corporation brings some "unity" to cross-selling

DALLAS - Southwest Business Corporation is looking to bring some "unity" to the lending and insuring process. SWBC's Unity software application is helping credit unions give their member service reps and call center reps access to all of a CU's loan and insurance products from one desktop application. One of the logistical problems a call center representative or loan officer faces when taking applications is negotiating the various screens to provide members with all of their loan and insurance options. "The biggest obstacle is the amount of time in front of the members. With loan applications done over the phone through a call center or central loan department, the rep usually only gets about six minutes of a member's time," said David Wilcox, vice president of residual and mechanical breakdown insurance products division for SWBC. "There's no way you can go to all the different software systems and present different quotes to the member in that time," said Wilcox. With Unity, instead of toggling from application to application, reps can quote conventional and residual loans from the single application, finding the best deal for members. "Time is of the essence, especially in call centers," said Wilcox. It's not just loan information call center representatives have to present to members. There are a number of insurance products-including credit life, credit disability, GAP, and mechanical breakdown insurance-that, if they have the time, reps should be offering members. This goes to the concept of cross-selling products, something Wilcox said credit unions want to get more focused on. "The call we were hearing from credit unions is that Y2K was a long experience in getting compliant, but now they want to step up and create a retail environment, a sales culture," said Wilcox. Wilcox said another benefit to CUs is Unity's reporting capabilities. The system builds management reports on the number of loans closed and insurance products sold that month and can transmit them electronically to the appropriate parties (carriers, agents) for reporting purposes. "Besides just building loan reports, managers can see what penetration levels are for each officer and evaluate how well they are presenting their products," said Wilcox. Wilcox noted that Unity isn't just a software application, it's a concept. "The reason we say that is we provide marketing, training, and advice from a management standpoint, it's about cross-selling as a concept." Approximately 140 credit unions are currently using Unity. -pgentile@cutimes.com