707% Sales Volume Increase While Maintaining 92% Staff Satisfaction
The culmination of a number of efficiency projects, including a simplification of the application process, numerous efficiency improvements, and the enhancement to the data systems to make intelligent decisions.
Challenge
IAF Canada had been stagnant for the past several years. Topping out at delivering roughly $2.5-3MM of loans per year, the incumbent management team was unable to originate or process more loans. They seemed to be at their limit.
Upon assessment, there were a number of challenges identified:
The cost to process a loan was incredibly high
Part of the reason for this was the largely manual (aka paper) aspect of the process
Website conversion rates were low, resulting in higher than necessary customer acquisition costs
Staff morale was very low as a result of the fear-based leadership of prior management
The Solution
This was a complicated challenge that required a number of different innovations and changes. First, the culture had to be transitioned from a fear-based one to one of innovation and creativity. Management hierarchies were flattened, and staff were now expected to participate in identifying problems and solutions. Next, the entire tech stack of the organization was changed, eliminating paper and manual processes. This also served to drastically improve access to data for decision making. Finally, the application and origination processes were simplified for the client, leading to 40% higher conversion rates for the application. All of these contributed to a massive increase in loan volumes.
The Impact
The impact to the organization was dramatic. The improvements to the data systems meant that decisions were now data-driven. The efficiency gains from the process improvements were partially re-invested towards improving the customer experience. Finally, the heavy investment into cultural change and staff development meant that this tremendous period of change was met with increased staff satisfaction.
Overall outcomes:
707% increase in loans approved to over $26MM per year
46% reduction in delivery costs per client
92% staff satisfaction score
92 NPS
