Wachovia wraps themselves in their warm cozy self-made blanket of innovation for their customers. Most recently, announcing a new podcast, full of drool economic psycho-babble with no words for real people.
This performance makes clear how Wachovia approaches Internet innovation and Internet consumers–slap Web lipstick on the old fat ugly pig.
Here is the real consumer kicker. Did you know? If you fill out one of their Web forms or one of the thousands of consumer inquiries they buy per month from lead providers you get slapped into some arbitrary loan officers email inbox?
That’s right, you get the same consideration as the viagra ads, the stalking boyfriend, mom’s latest chain letter to save their soul, and a flurry of jokes and stupid YouTube clips!
Where is the obligation to the consumer? Forget for a moment their stupidity in flushing marketing ROI down the toilet. Where is there respect for you–the consumer? We just gave you our personal info. How about a little consideration.
I am not a lead! I am a consumer with power! I think I will stop answering your haphazard phone calls and throw away your direct mail.
-Silence Dogood
silencedogood [at] gmail
With the declining conversion rates of internet leads due to poor generation practices, and unscrupulous lead providers who are short term opportunists, the lead, in many cases, is as valuable as the chain letter from your Mom.
Wachovia’s lack of a centralized lead management system has been a topic of significant discussion within the walls of their corporate headquarters. They have a team dedicated to this project.
Let’s just focus on the real problem here. Let’s make the product that Wachovia is treating like spam, more than spam. When that happens your flabbergast about their lack of lead management will have more legitimacy.
Fundamentally though, I agree with you.
… big bank drool… sloppy customer service/relationship management… unsavory leadgen practices… bait-and-switch, verbal loan proposals with no written disclosure… sounds like there’s a big opportunity for improvement here for someone that sides with the consumer… ultimately that’s where the power lies…
Raj,
Granted there is a lot of validity to the sentiment that lead providers need to get more innovative and more consumer focused. And I think a lot of them are beginning to get focused on this issue. However, I am going to depart with you there. I think the biggest part of the conversion equation, and where the buck should stop, is in the management of the lead.
(full disclosure: I sell lead management software, but I was an Internet originator/lender for years and got into this business because I saw this statistical significance as an opportunity)
This is my support to the argument: a large percentage (I have seen as high as 65%) of Americans are homeowners. Therefore, if I have any name and phone number and an effective way to manage that name and number over an extended period of time. I have a decent shot at a sale.
It is about the consumer. It is about building a relationship and understanding their needs. That can happen in a sales process–not so much in lead generation.
If this is true about Wachovia. Raj, you, Jeff, and I should do an unsolicited RFI’s, have them chose one of us, and save the Internet consumer from this undoubtedly frustrating experience. If we don’t and we have large volume lead buyers out there delivering this experience it won’t matter who is at fault–we’ll all be losers when consumers leave the channel!