Better, Xactus executives on balancing innovation with consumer needs

As the mortgage banking landscape evolves, industry leaders shared their approaches to playing offense as they try to balance new technology and a complex lending environment.

At HousingWire’s Mortgage Banking Summit on Tuesday, Misti Snow, SVP of operations at Better and Sasha Stair, Xactus‘ chief marketing officer, shared that as the mortgage sector is experiencing ongoing consolidation and transformation, companies need to plan for multiple scenarios and keep customer needs at the forefront.

Snow told audience members that mortgage bankers shouldn’t play defense, which she described as reacting to market changes. Offense, meanwhile, involves anticipating needs and planning for various scenarios.

“Defense looks like sitting still. Defense looks like reacting to rates, [and it] looks like expanding and contracting to every market term. So we’re not necessarily just in a turbulent market right now. Our market and our industry are evolving faster than any of us can really reorganize our orgs to keep up. So what offense looks like is trying to anticipate those needs and being ready for anything,” Snow said.

Stair added that it’s not solely the mortgage market that goes through changes. Technological advances, for example, throw curveballs at companies that have become used to the status quo.

That looks like deploying resources and institutional knowledge, Snow said, which starts with having a concrete process to ensure that employees are keeping up with technology, which is keeping up with the market.

Focus on ‘technology, process and people’

“I have this little saying in my head that we just focus on TPP: technology, process and people. So what that looks like for us is constantly evolving technology that can also anticipate a need, so understanding customer sentiment, understanding what the customer needs before they ask, making sure that our models are intuitive and have empathy…and as we evolve that technology, it’s really about being what we need to do with our organization and our culture,” she said.

Stair and Snow noted the growing diversity of homebuyers, from digitally native customers seeking self-service options to traditional buyers desiring personalized guidance. “There’s a way to tailor your path based on what the consumer tells you at the very beginning of the transaction,” Snow explained.

The path buyers want isn’t always tech, Stair said. “No buyer is the same, right? And we know we don’t live in a one-size-fits-all market, no matter how much we want to believe that, from a loan perspective, from a buyer perspective. While we do want more technology, and I think younger generations are going to demand it more, we do still have people who don’t necessarily always want to go the full tech way…you need to manage both needs.”

Snow agreed, adding that today’s consumers want control and a timely transaction, and to self-serve — but only when they want to. “For the traditional, first-time homebuyer, they’re looking for confidence,” Snow added. “They want to know that we have the answer, that we have control, and that we can guide them through this process. So being able to design your process, your people, that’s training and coaching.”

Balancing old and new

Snow and Stair also addressed the challenge of managing current production while piloting new projects. Leaders recommended rapid experimentation, leveraging vendor partnerships, and quickly discontinuing initiatives that don’t deliver results. “Pilot fast. Fail fast. Figure out what works, what doesn’t,” Stair said.

Looking ahead, Snow imagines an interesting theme: lenders’ need for speed. “I think the challenge right now is everyone’s so focused on speed, and I’m not so sure that that’s the right answer for the consumer. I haven’t seen anything to show that the consumer always wants speed. What the consumer really wants is to trust us, and they want clarity.”

Who wins, Snow added, is “a mix of people, process and tech that builds clarity for the customer and anticipates their need before they even ask.”

“Whoever can build trust with the consumer at the speed of their data is going to win in the new frontier,” she said.