Quicken Tour…Day 2
Posted by mkdryden on August 10, 2007
Day two started off with meeting the metrics team. Nicole Martin, who ironically was hired and worked with Bizdom U’s very own Ross Sanders, taught us the importance of following the numbers. The numbers that are collected in anyone’s business can help you make decisions based on data. The various data can help you to see how to predict and avoid problems.
The data that the metrics team collects comes from internal systems such as LOLA. Tim Sudz, who is a training leader, showed how using metrics helps bankers. The systems help predict what potential customer has the best odds (and characteristics) of closing a loan. At this point you can see how data is so important to the loan process.
After Tim showed us how the data can help steer the company in the right direction Brad explained what the Mortgage Insiders do. The Insiders are committed to servicing Quicken employees and its affiliates with quicken products and services. This is a prime example of the ism “eating your own dog food.” In any business you should always patronize your own company. Also you should make sure that your own employees take advantage of the products you produce.
Following up the Insiders was another internal organization. Nick Flees is with the Rat Pact, which is part of the Mouse Trap. The Rat trap is responsible for identifying opportunities for growth and improving the business’s performance. In our future business’s it is important to “always find a better way.” We did an exercise that showed how there is constant variants that can cause things to go awry. As a business owner you must see these changes and create solutions and implement them.
This concludes our tour of Quicken Loans. I can see now how Quicken is able to perform at such high levels. They have the processes and technology that keep them ahead of the game. These factors cannot be easily duplicated. As to how this tour relates to us as future business owners?
There were many valuable lessons that I learned. To insure that your business succeeds you must build quality measures into its fabric. Business owners must pay attention to data and have a culture that is proactive and solving problems.
