HomeEquity Bank (HEB) is the only bank in Canada that focuses solely on the needs of homeowners aged 55 and older. New customer leads are almost exclusively inbound. HEB advertises online as well as through direct media channels, and it receives a number of leads from partner networks such as banks, wealth advisors, and mortgage brokers. 

HEB is committed to enhancing its processes so its customers receive the best possible banking experience tailored to their individual needs. That’s why the bank knew it needed help when the call center and mortgage specialist teams raised concerns about its aging Salesforce platform and the ability to efficiently handle incoming leads. 

HEB selected Slalom to help it upgrade Salesforce as well as redesign the underlying process and data models to streamline end-to-end operations.

“At Slalom, we approach transformation engagements by first learning about existing processes, the people who use them, and what they are trying to achieve,” said Ramapriyan Gopal, senior director of client services, Slalom. “That informs our strategy and vision, which we then leverage to recommend tailor-fit solutions.” 

To that end, Slalom conducted user and technical interviews with a number of stakeholders across departments at HEB. Reviewing current process flows and technologies gave Slalom’s team a clearer picture of the obstacles employees were facing—and the solutions that would be the most valuable to them. 

One of the most significant challenges was the way leads were assigned. When an incoming lead contacted the call center, an agent would vet the person and assign them to a mortgage specialist. This process was done manually and randomly, without a system to ensure each specialist was receiving the same amount of qualified leads. 

“We had no way to control the assignments coming out of the call center,” said Martin Bell, vice president of enterprise systems, HomeEquity Bank. “Our team was frustrated by this system because it sometimes led to an unfair distribution of leads, where one specialist might receive several while another wouldn't receive any in the same time frame.” 

A number of other challenges created inefficient workflows and employee frustration, including: 

• Over-customization of Salesforce, which created the need for duplicate data entry and caused data accuracy issues
• Inconsistent activity and goal management due to both technical limitations and user adoption
• A lack of end-to-end data visibility thanks to a patchwork of processes in different technologies
• Limited and inaccurate reporting
• No pipeline visibility, trend analysis, or analytics capabilities to drive performance and sales tactics 
• Inability to track the impact of marketing campaigns and touchpoints against a lead or contact

Together with HEB, we designed a strategy to address the underlying technology foundation causing the majority of pain points. This came to life by upgrading the Salesforce user interface from Classic to Lightning. 

The modern user interface helped create a streamlined experience for employees, with the entire workflow from lead to close in one dashboard. Salesforce Sales Cloud helps HEB manage leads, track progress, and automate sales processes. 

“One of the most impactful things we did was create a better process for managing, prioritizing, and assigning qualified leads to mortgage specialists,” said Eric Zurfluh, director of Salesforce delivery at Slalom.

In addition to smoothing out the lead assignment process and bringing crucial functions together on a centralized dashboard, HEB’s new Salesforce platform replaced its over-customized and imprecise system with standardized, out-of-the-box, cutting-edge capabilities the team could rely on. 

From data and pipeline visibility to reporting accuracy and marketing performance tracking, the new solution improved the efficiency and effectiveness of a wide variety of processes. This led to higher user adoption and deeper insights for HEB’s leadership to identify strategic priorities for the business. 

By streamlining workflows and increasing the team’s capacity to manage the volume of leads, the optimized platform has helped HEB increase loan originations by 23%. In turn, customers are happy to receive prompt and efficient service. 

HEB’s leadership was thrilled with the results of the partnership with Slalom—so much so that both teams are now moving toward a follow-up project to identify more opportunities to optimize digital processes. The goal will be to better understand the customer journey, further strengthen the employee experience, and empower greater success for partners.