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When adding new products to their portfolios, financial institutions have no shortage of providers to consider. A well-thought-out introduction and delivery of new products to your account holders and employees is essential to a smooth rollout. This is especially the case with vehicle protection products like Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP), Major Mechanical Protection (MMP), and SWBC’s newly introduced healthCAR program.
From their first touch of the product to their last, a borrower’s experience should be consistently positive, especially in a digital age where experiences are so easily shared across social networks and review platforms.
With so many vehicle and loan protection service providers in the marketplace, here are the three things you should expect from your partner:
- Effortless delivery for loan officers
- Innovative product development
- Customized Training support
True partners should improve a financial institution’s processes with innovative technology, product development and comprehensive, convenient training facilitated by professional Performance & Training Solutions Consultants
1. Effortless Delivery for Loan Officers
The starting point for effortless delivery of vehicle protection products is the quoting and sales system organizations use to introduce and offer borrowers products. To be truly effective, the technology must be fully integrated with your financial institution’s loan origination system. When it is, the products can easily and consistently be presented during the vehicle loan closing process.
Comprehensive integration combined with a modern aesthetic and intuitive workflow makes offering vehicle protection products effortless because loan officers can work within a single system, rather than toggling between screens and reentering information manually. Offering vehicle service contracts through an integrated system leads to a reduction in errors, faster execution, and an overall smoother process—all of which ultimately create a better experience and more sales.
An important added benefit of an efficient and quick quoting and sales process is that loan officers are more inclined to offer the products to every borrower. This supports your institution’s income-generation goals. When paired with an effective training curriculum, a fully integrated system ensures every borrower receives a uniformly positive experience and is always educated about available coverage options.
2. Innovative Product Development
Consumer needs are constantly changing. It’s important for financial institutions to offer their borrowers products and services that meet their evolving needs and address the challenges they may be facing that are beyond their control—like a global pandemic or supply chain shortage!
It’s important to partner with organizations that evaluate consumer behavior and trends, as well as what’s going on in the marketplace and economy in their product development roadmap. Seek service providers that consistently invest in their current product technology to ensure it doesn’t get stale or outdated. Likewise, you want your partners to be on the cutting-edge of product development, creating and launching new products that bring value to your organization and borrowers.
When SWBC recognized that a segment of borrowers were being left behind when it came to vehicle protection plan options beyond the dealership, we launched healthCAR to give any account holder—regardless of the mileage on their vehicle, whether they recently paid-off their loan, or where their loan is serviced—the ability to purchase an affordable, monthly (plans start at $53/month) vehicle protection option that can help them budget for and prepare for the inevitable expenses that come with vehicle ownership.
3. Training Support
A vehicle protection partner should focus extensively on how their training program can be tailored to meet your institution’s goals and needs. A customized approach to training and product rollout not only empowers your loan officers to sell coverage, but it also grants them a new skillset that improves both product-specific and general sales techniques and knowledge.
A training program should also recognize that goals and achievements are organizational and ensure that managers and supervisors are equally equipped to use and maintain the training provided to sales and loan personnel.
Today’s consumers and employees need flexibility, and this applies to training as well. With hybrid work environments and a digitally savvy consumer base, it’s important your employees have access to a blended learning environment that includes in-person and virtual training solutions. By equipping everyone in your institution with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively educate and sell borrowers on the benefits of vehicle protection, a coverage partner ensures that your customer experience quality is maintained or improved while maximizing potential ROI across the transaction.
Conclusion
In today’s marketplace where consumers are increasingly conducting their financial business on their own using self-service technologies, it’s important to offer new products effortlessly in order to keep borrowers engaged and delighted. When searching for new ways to satisfy account holders while generating non-interest income, ensure your partner understands your institution’s values and goals and provides a clear demonstration of how they will integrate their product with your existing offerings.
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