Whether it was a new smart phone, tablet or laptop my guess is that the latest technology featured pretty heavily in the presents that were placed around your Christmas tree.
It’s pretty mind-blowing what some of these devices can do, but at their core they are designed to help us communicate with each other, whether that’s at home, in the office or when we’re on the move.
One of the more popular communications tools on offer is instant messaging. It is perhaps more associated with social interaction on things like Skype or Yahoo Messenger but it has now become a serious business tool with organisations such as O2 and Sky employing it as a frontline customer-facing communications channel.
At NatWest Intermediary Solutions, we have pioneered the use of instant messaging with the intermediary community for just over three years now. When we launched Live Talk, many people pooh-poohed the idea saying that brokers would only tolerate talking to someone on the phone.
That’s one myth I would like to dispel straight away. Live Talk is not an automated system, it’s manned by real people – a team of very experienced individuals who interact personally with each broker who uses it. This ensures that the answers you get are in direct response to your query and not generated by a logarithm.
This dovetails with the contact brokers have with our team of business development managers (BDMs). When BDMs are having busy days, where they go from meeting to meeting, they are not always able to respond immediately to calls from their panel of brokers.
In 2012, we held over 130,000 online conversations and achieved an average satisfaction rating of over 90%.
But with instant systems like this you can get an answer about a case prior to submitting an application immediately. It means brokers won’t waste time waiting in a queue on the end of a phone line.
If you have a new case you can use instant messaging systems to clarify information such as the specific types of income that are acceptable; get confirmation of lending criteria; check rates or LTVs; get guidance on application packaging; as well as running through the specific circumstances facing a client.
In addition, brokers can use it while they’re on the phone to a client or with a client in a face-to-face meeting. They can be sent links to documents or web pages such as rate guides and the whole transcript of the conversation can be emailed at the end of the session meaning you don’t need to worry about making notes along the way. You can access Live Talk on a desktop, tablet and mobile phone, and it’s free.
Brokers are increasingly making use of the flexibility that Live Talk offers, meaning that wherever you are you can still get a quick response to your questions.
