At Atlantic Bay, my role as the CRM Team Lead is to make life easier for our mortgage bankers. Like most businesses, we’re on the lookout for ways to increase efficiency and give our team the best tools to succeed. For a long time, that meant navigating a disconnected tech stack, where essential systems weren't talking to each other.  

We needed a centralized platform that could not only automate tasks but also provide valuable insights. All the while keeping our team focused on what we do best: building relationships. That’s where our partnership with Total Expert came in.

Internally, we call the program "Catalyst CRM—powered by Total Expert," which perfectly captures our mission. Our goal is to cover every single customer touchpoint with automation. So, from the first inquiry to post-close follow-ups, we’re at the ready to equip our mortgage bankers with the real-time data they need to take the next best action.  

We're leveraging every tool in the Total Expert suite, including Customer Intelligence, Engage SMS, and Pipeline Views, to identify the most promising opportunities and drive meaningful conversions with minimal friction for all involved. It’s no small task, and we wouldn’t be able to do it without Total Expert.  

Driving Adoption Through Strategic, Human-Centered Pilots

Getting mortgage bankers to embrace a new platform can be a challenge. But we found a way to make it work. Instead of a mandatory, company-wide rollout, we launched new features through opt-out pilot groups.  

This approach gave us a dedicated, engaged group of users who are excited to test new technology. It also helps us gather honest feedback and optimize campaigns before a full launch. Just recently, we piloted Engage SMS and the mobile app, getting valuable input that helped us refine the process for a wider rollout.

This strategy takes a lot more than just technology. It requires building a culture of accountability and success. We show mortgage bankers exactly how many opportunities we're surfacing for them and how their follow-up is converting to loans through different dashboards and analytics. This provides tangible proof—not intuition or guessing—of the platform's value. And that motivates them to engage more deeply.  

We also host roadshows and regional meetings to have direct conversations with our team. These personal interactions have more impact than any email ever could. Now our mortgage bankers can have their own “aha!” moments, where they see for themselves how this technology helps them win.

Empowering Our Team with Timely Intelligence

Stepping back, one of our biggest wins has been with Customer Intelligence alerts. These alerts are a complete game-changer because they help our mortgage bankers prioritize their outreach. Instead of sifting through a list of former clients, they get real-time notifications about people who are actively looking for a loan. They know right away when key events like a recent credit inquiry or a rate change happen. This gives them a legitimate, timely reason to reach out.

One of our mortgage bankers got a $1 million construction loan after he followed up on an alert that a past client had a credit pull. Another time, a mortgage banker told me he just answered his phone after an alert came in and got a loan. He came by laughing and said, “'I didn't do anything. I just answered the phone and got a loan!” Successes like these make it easy to keep the momentum going.  

The common theme in all these stories is that automation isn't replacing human interaction. It’s sparking it.  

This same strategic thinking extends to our partnership with Total Expert. I've worked with many vendors, but Total Expert’s team is in a league of its own. They are truly dedicated to supporting us, and they are always proactively looking for ways to help us stay competitive in the industry.  

It's never just a simple "fix-it" request. Instead, we’re in a true partnership. One where we’re constantly asking, "How can we make this better?" This is why we’re always collaborating with them on new solutions and features, because we know they’re in it with us for the long haul.