Account origination is important for financial institutions (FIs) because selling credit products is how they increase revenue. While selling has always been a large focus of these institutions, it is often gone about haphazardly with no thought to how the consumer wants to be sold to and what methods would be most beneficial to both parties. Product offers are often generic, not tracked, and can be dreaded by CSRs and customers alike.

The mistakes often made when trying to sell credit products can be summed up simply and easily: customers are offered products when the bank wants to offer them, how the bank wants to offer them, and at the terms the bank wants. Please notice the discrepancy between being focused on the consumer and being focused on the bank. While FIs do have to still make a profit and cannot give offers at unprofitable terms, they need to cater to the customer as well in order to maximize profitability.

Instant prescreen software is one solution to help banks focus on the needs of consumers while not increasing risk and improving the cross-sell experience for both the consumer and the customer service representative. Prescreen software is used to collect consumer data (both internal and external) and analyze it to find the offer that the consumer is most likely to accept. It analyzes credit worthiness as well as what channels are utilized, how often, and what products the consumer already has, as well as demographic data. With all of these factors combined, the prescreen software is able to return offers to the point of contact; the point of contact can then present the offer to the consumer. These offers are also likely to be accepted because they are made in realtime when the customer is in the mood to buy.

Other benefits associated with the prescreen method are numerous. The offers can be presented to the consumer in the channel that is most utilized (meaning the customer is 'choosing' how to be contacted) and there is even an offers repository that tracks offers that have been made. This repository tracks what offers have been made, which offers have been accepted and rejected, and which ones the consumer has not yet responded to. This makes it simple to make additional offers for which the consumer may be interested, or if they were not interested, to eliminate this product from being offered again. The experiences of the consumer and CSR are also improved because the consumer is receiving offers that are relevant to them rather than generic offers and the CSRs have a higher success rate for the offers they make.

Financial institutions have always focused on ways to sell additional credit products to their consumers.

Prescreen solutions offer a way to increase account origination while improving the experiences of customers and CSRs alike.

Kelty Wallace is an online marketing intern at Zoot Enterprises in Bozeman, Montana.

http://www.zootweb.com/origination.html