tavma winter 2008 newsletter

Winter 2009 — TAVMA 3

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Why your company should be a TAVMA member . . . . . . . . . . . .4

What the Vendor Management Industrycan learn from McDonald’s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

The case for the Virtual Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Using LinkedIn for Marketing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

The power of Podcasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Q&A: Lee Howlett of Fiserv . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

About TAVMA

Founded in 1998, TAVMA is a non-profit trade association tasked with enhancing publicawareness and promoting ethical conduct to settlement services industry vendors and serviceproviders. The Association acts as a forum for the exchange of vital information and presentsthe positions of its member companies to media, government, user groups and vendors.TAVMA member organizations are committed to promoting excellence and integrity whileadding customer and consumer value to the settlement process.

Find this and more at www.tavma.org

How did our industry get itsstart? What did it look like in thebeginning and who were the menand women who made it into oneof the largest businesses in thehome finance industry? JeffSchurman takes a look back at thegenesis of the VMC industry.

The Genesis of the Vendor Management Industry . . . . . . . .6

Among the objections I hearfrom non-members of the as-sociation is that TAVMA is

too expensive, that it does “the samethings” as other trade groups they be-long to, or that it doesn’t do anythingthe prospect can’t do for itself. Nowthe sales training seminars would tellme to a) acknowledge the objection; b)restate the objection, and c) overcomethe objection. So I follow the formulabecause it’s the formula. But deepdown what I want to say is this: Everyreal estate settlement service providerin the United States – particularlythose operating in multiple states –needs to support TAVMA. Because, inmany cases, TAVMA is all they’ve got.

At its core, TAVMA exists topromote and protect the real estatesettlement services in-dustry and to provideuseful information aboutthe industry to media,federal and state govern-ments, users and vendorsof settlement services liketitle agency, appraisal,and flood reporting com-panies. We also do itthrough my favoritechannels: speaking at in-dustry conferences andthe annual TAVMA con-ference and exposition.

Did you know that prior to themortgage meltdown I’ve routinely spo-

ken on your industry’s behalf at over adozen conferences per year? Or thatTAVMA representatives have beenquoted in all the major industry tradepublications including the Wall Street

Journal? Or even thatTAVMA has investedover a half-million dol-lars to influence the leg-islative process? Howelse could TAVMA dothis were it not for thesupport of our membercompanies?

If your company isnot a member ofTAVMA or if you are amember but are unsurewhether you’ll renew

your company’s membership in 2009,I‘ll ask you to do me this favor. Go tothe website, www.tavma.org, and re-view our articles, letters to legislators,position papers, newsletters, andother materials. If you conclude thatTAVMA is NOT the settlementservices industry’s best hope forbalanced and fair recognitionamongst media, government, usergroups, and vendors, then don’t jointhe association; you won’t see thevalue. However, if you do see theneed for an industry advocate I’llrespectfully ask you to become aTAVMA member in 2009.

You’ll find more information aboutmembership under the Join Us tabon the website. Moreover, I wouldencourage you to contact any of ourBoard of Directors for a referenceor to gain their insights into theorganization.

I hope you will decide to become aTAVMA member. We need all thesupport we can get... especially nowwhen the market is so unfavorable andour legislators’ urge to regulate is onthe rise.

4 TAVMA — Winter 2009

By Jeff Schurman

Join Us in 2009

LEADERSHIP

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TAVMA membership works out to 41 cents per$1,000 of gross annual revenue. Companies spend morethan that on Starbucks;

ALTA, RESPRO, MBA and other trades provide vitalservices, but to diverse constituencies… TAVMA is aniche trade representative to a niche industry that isoft overlooked and even less understood. TAVMA givesthis unique group a voice to present its positions togovernment and media;

TAVMA is the go-to source to rebut often-criticaland inaccurate portrayals of the vendor managementindustry’s value proposition. How many competitors feelcomfortable doing so themselves? Why paint a target onones back when TAVMA so willingly does so at the cost ofjust 41 cents per $1,000 in gross annual revenue?

Overcoming the objectionThe short version of my overcoming

the objection pitch is this:

Jeff Schurman

Cover Story


How did the vendormanagement indus-try get started? Like

many questions surroundingthe industry, it depends onhow you define vendor man-agement. For some, the rootsof our business trace back toLender’s Service, Inc. (LSI),which opened its new na-tional service center in Pitts-burgh, Pennsylvania back in1984. The NSC opened thatsummer, ushering in the ven-dor management company(VMC) era.

Had the term been coined adecade or so earlier than it was(in the ’90s) surely what LSIdid would have been seen as a“paradigm shift.”

Ray Pronto, a vice-presi-dent at the time who wouldeventually go on to co-foundATM Corporation (AppraisalTitle Management Corpora-tion of America) with Fran

Azur, once described the firstnational service center for meduring a business trip. ebuilding that housed thecompany had an odd designthat seemed less concernedwith optimal space utilizationthan the appearance of worth.e second floor housed theexecutive suites, completewith a large conference room,and later, a solar room com-plete with bar and pool table.e first floor housed a largeair conditioned computerroom, an expansive lobby, anda production area the size ofperhaps two large conferencerooms. As Pronto told thestory to me, the productionfloor consisted of a line offolding tables and chairs,telephones, and map booksand legal sized three-ringbinders for tracking orders inthe pipeline. More on themap books later.

By Jeff Schurman

The Genesis of the

VMC Industry

Bob Murphy, the CEO of LSI,founded in 1967, came to the firmfrom Signal Finance Company, a re-gional consumer discount company(CDC) with offices in the Northeastand Mid-Atlantic regions. CDC’swere comparable to today’s subprimelenders. It was there that Murphy, adistrict manager, took notice of an up-and-coming auditor and manager bythe name of Fran Azur. Several yearslater, Murphy brought Azur to LSI tohelp him to expand the business. Hisformula: win appraisal managementbusiness and then pick up clients' titleand closing orders in states where LSIhad branch operations.

It is Fran Azur who is regarded bymany, including me, to be the Father ofthe National Service Center model formanaging title, appraisal, and closingorders nationwide from a centralizedprocessing facility. In the early 1980’s,Azur started to re-think the brick andmortar strategy in place at the time. Upuntil then, LSI’s strategy had been toopen regional offices in cities in whichits big clients had a presence. Regionaloffices grew to include Cleveland andColumbus, Ohio, Towson, Maryland,Richmond, Virginia, Merrillville, Indi-ana, and Pittsburgh, Penn. Interest-ingly, many of the executives whomanaged these regions played notablerolls in sprouting the next generation ofVMCs. ose stories, I save for later.

Yet while Azur conceived the NSCmodel, arguably, it wasn’t he who in-vented the vendor management indus-try; nor was it Bob Murphy. Thatdistinction belongs to Bruce Felder,who in 1959 founded Legal Messen-ger Services, a small company inCleveland, Ohio. But it didn’t staysmall for long. In fact, it grew veryquickly. And it got a new name: RecordData, Inc.

The beginning of an eraIt was a simple enough proposition.

A real estate loan application was

made, and if the credit report checkedout, an appraisal order was placed witha VMC. A few days later, the appraisercalled with a “verbal report.” The hardcopy appraisal followed.

The verbal report was just that, theappraiser calling in particulars aboutthe subject: property address and abrief description of the neighborhood,site, subject property and comparables.And of course the one thing thebranch manager really wanted: themarket value. Verbal report in hand,the branch was authorized to make theloan, and if the value was high enoughto up-sell the customer to a higher loanamount. Of course, the other salewould be insurance: life, householdgoods, and disability.

Certain characteristics pervadedCDC customers. Many had credit

troubles, lots of debt, and a habit ofmaking the rounds from one financecompany to the next in pursuit of adebt consolidation loan. When thecustomer arrived at the CDC to refi-nance, one of the rituals was to obtaincredit checks from other creditors, inmany instances payoff quotes. This setoff alarms at the competitor’s officeand it wasn’t long before a representa-tive of that CDC was on the phone so-liciting the borrower as well.Therefore,speed was of the essence in getting theborrower to the closing table.

Vendor management companies be-came the go-to source for obtainingappraisals turned around quickly. Evennow, some thirty-five years later,VMCs still maintain these very sameturnaround times, much to the chagrin

of local appraisers who simply don’t seethis need for speed.

One of the truisms in vendor man-agement is that no one who ever cameinto the industry did so to fulfill a life-time dream. They started out aspiringto do something else – law, customerservice, journalism – before fate andopportunity brought them here, oftento Pittsburgh. Most had no clue aboutwhat the industry was prior to the firstjob interview. Even preparing for thatinitial interview was difficult due to theutter lack of publicly available infor-mation. Even today, careers in vendormanagement are often born of hap-penstance. This was certainly the casefor a young student from ClevelandHeights, Ohio.

Bruce Felder was attending JohnCarroll University in pursuit of a dual

major – business and law – when heenvisioned a new industry. This was inthe late 1950’s and Felder was enrolledin a program at John Carroll that al-lowed students to earn a Bachelor ofScience degree upon completion ofLaw School. In order to pay the tu-ition, Felder had a side job searchingtitle records in Cuyahoga County,Ohio. His decision to quit law schooland search records full-time was thegenesis for what would eventually be-come a $3.5 billion industry employ-ing over 10,000 people.

When Felder landed a part-timejob working afternoons in the Officeof the Cuyahoga County Clerk ofCourts, he didn’t realize at the timethat his life was about to take a turn in


continued on page 8

It is Fran Azur who is regarded by many, including me,to be the Father of the National Service Center modelfor managing title, appraisal, and closing ordersnationwide from a centralized processing facility.

a new direction. His job was to reviewlegal filings dropped off at the court-house by local attorneys, and enter in-formation into the public docket.Some of his friends from law schoollanded part-time jobs in local banksand finance companies. Several upper-classmen translated thesepart-time gigs into full-time positions upon grad-uation. Knowing thatFelder worked in theClerk’s office they’d oftencall him to check if therewere mortgages, tax liens,judgments, or other en-cumbrances on recordagainst their customers orcollateral. Felder refused to acceptmoney for these look-ups because hewas on the county payroll at the time.He did them as favors for friends.

It wasn’t long though before Felderrealized there was a business opportu-nity there. So on May 1, 1959, Felderquit his job with the County Clerk andopened a one-man-and-his-wife oper-ation called Legal Messenger Service.

The early yearsFriends in the banking and con-

sumer finance industry tipped Felderoff to a persistent obstacle to obtainingtitle searches: title insurance agents.For one thing, they were expensive,charging what Felder described as anarm and a leg for searches. Moreover,they often viewed consumer financecompanies to be second-rate citizens ofthe banking industry. Felder likenedthe prevailing view of the consumer fi-nance industry back then as being justa step or two above the loan-shark in-dustry. Besides, banks in the 1950’s andearly 1960’s were where the action waswhen it came to mortgage lending.

By law, banks had the corner onfirst-lien mortgages; home improve-ment loans, too. They’d hold the firstmortgage on a piece of property and

make a home improvement loan on theassumption the property value wouldrise sufficiently to cover the additionalmonies lent. Small loan companiescouldn’t compete for first mortgagesand were locked out of second mort-gages as well.They were limited by lawto securing loans with cars, furnishings,

and personal belongings, all of whichdepreciated faster than real estate andhad more risk. Real estate was an ap-preciable asset. “First in time, first inright,” Felder called it.

But beyond the legal constraints ofthe day, title agents had purely eco-nomic reasons to steer clear of this seg-ment of the industry. Prior to passageof secondary mortgage acts in Ohio,Pennsylvania and Maryland in 1963,consumer finance companies couldonly lend up to $5,000. Given thechoice between doing title work on an$80,000 mortgage loan from a savingsand loan customer and a $5,000 loanfrom a consumer finance customer, itmade sense for title agents to put theless profitable CFC work on the bot-tom of the pile, often for weeks on end.By the time the title agency got aroundto processing the property report ortitle search the customer was longgone.

Naturally, title agents then as nowpreferred to conduct full title searchesrather than the low-cost current ownersearches that were popular among con-sumer finance companies. They sawcurrent owner searches as underminingtheir ability to earn a living. What theydidn’t see was an even greater threat to

their bottom line. Bruce Felder saw it.Here is what Felder told me in an in-terview a few years ago:

“Historically, title loss claims camemostly from inaccurate courthouserecords. Order-entry errors, encroach-ments omitted by a surveyor and prop-erty line disputes accounted for claims.

Title loss claims didn’t typ-ically arise between the lastowner and the owner intitle at the time of thesearch. This created an op-portunity for us; offering toinsure title but only search-ing (public records) back tothe last owner or purchase-money mortgage.”

is observation wouldlater prove to be a competitive differen-tiator between vendor managementcompanies and traditional title agencies.Whereas title agents routinely conducteda 60-year title search, VMCs, with un-derwriter approval, often searched as farback as the last owner of record or insti-tutional lender.e significant volume oftitle policies that VMCs generatedprompted most underwriters to assumethe risk that the prior policy did not missa cloud in the chain of title.

Felder attributed his observation ofthis title loss characteristic on his ex-perience in the bowels of a countyrecorders office. He told me that hedidn’t believe his competitors to theeast (in Pittsburgh) would have figuredthis out on their own because they, un-like him, weren’t “title guys” as he de-scribed himself. They were salesmen.

From the first day in business,Felder said, Legal Messenger Servicewas on a roll.

Record DataThe demands on Felder’s time were

beginning to stack up. He needed tobe out of town visiting clients andopening new offices. He switched totaking night classes that began at 6:00PM. However, he’d succumb to the


continued from page 7

Cover Story

Executives discovered over time andthrough audits of numerous chargedoffloans that small loan office personnel werenot necessarily title or valuation experts.Many didn't know how to evaluate a reportor where to find critical information.


long hours by falling asleep at his desk.Realizing he couldn’t continue to do itall he had to decide what he reallywanted to do. So he quit law schooland launched what would becomeRecord Data Incorporated (RDI), thefirst vendor management company.Twenty-nine years later, with 83 officesin 40 states,TRW made an unsolicitedoffer to buy the company.

From 1959 to 1963, Felder cultivatedhis small business. During those years,he created a way to franchise offices inOhio, thus enabling the company tominimize the need for employees. AsRDI expanded be-yond Ohio the fran-chisee concept wasphased out in favorof company-ownedbranches processingtitle orders, and laterappraisals. Also be-ginning to evolvewas the consumer fi-nance industry thatRDI served.

Trad i t iona l l y,title and appraisalorders were man-aged in-house bylocal branch man-agers at such com-panies as TheAssociates Finance,Beneficial Finance,Dial, and others.Executives discovered over time andthrough audits of numerous charged-off loans that small loan office person-nel were not necessarily title orvaluation experts. Many didn’t knowhow to evaluate a report or where tofind critical information.

Record Data addressed this need bycreating educational programs and anoperations guide to teach loan officersthe ins and outs of title and appraisal.They created standardized report for-mats and held seminars consisting ofline-by-line descriptions of the infor-

mation within data fields. Moreover,they taught loan officers about themeaning and legal significance of suchthings as quit claim and warrantydeeds. RDI’s objective was to enablemanagers across the United States toread and understand the “same” reportsno matter where they were.

The end of the roadRecord Data always had a good re-

lationship with the big conglomerateTRW.They’d have booths next to eachother at industry conferences. Andthey talked. Routinely someone from

TRW would approach Bruce Felderwith an “If you ever decide to sell letme know…” pitch. TRW was inter-ested in making a buy. But someoneelse beat them to it.

Out of nowhere a West Coast out-fit called to arrange a visit to Clevelandwith the intent to offer Felder a dealfor Record Data. They’d been buyingup title companies recently and learnedfrom a mutual acquaintance that RDIwas doing a lot of business. Withindays, a small private jet touched downat the local airport with 3-4 well

dressed executives carrying expensiveleather brief cases. The deal fell apartwhen the offer consisted of a lot morestock than cash. Felder smiled when hetold me he had worked “too hard towake up in the morning to find out(they) made the wrong decision aboutsome other company” they bought out.

Soon after, Felder mentioned thesuitor to a friend at TRW. His contactwanted to talk. As Felder toldthe story:

“I kid you not. They came in andasked ‘what do you value the company?’I put my forefinger in the air like this

(as if to test thewind direction).We always knewwhere we werewithin 30-days…we really ran atight ship as faras operating ex-penses. We al-ways knew whatour NOI was.They said fine,we have a deal. Isaid ‘all cash?’They said ‘allcash.’ Within afew days we hada letter of agree-ment. Within2 weeks theycompleted thedue diligence. It

closed. I’d wake up in the morningand slap myself to see if it wasreally happening.”

The acquisition of Record DataIncorporated closed in 1985.

This article is an excerpt fromJeff Schurman’s upcoming book on thegenesis of the vendor managementindustry. Anyone with experience inthis industry that would like to sharetheir memories for this project shouldcontact Jeff directly at [email protected] arrange for an interview.

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From the beginning, the Vendor Management Industrybrought a new set of tools to the lender.

In our business, the value we offerour clients is a product of three in-terrelated elements: Providing a

better product, providing it faster, andat a lower total cost then a client couldget it through any other means. Most ofthe folks working in our business knowthis, which is probably why the vendormanagement industry is so closely asso-ciated with the Better-Faster-Cheapermantra. Or as I prefer to think of it, asa value proposition triangle.

rough vendor management com-panies, lenders have the opportunity toreallocate resources so that they canfocus on lending instead of finding ap-praisers, title abstractors, closing agents,and flood determination providers. Tothem it’s simple outsourcing, convertingfixed costs into variable costs, improvingproductivity and long-term profitability.ey seek out the best value and sendtheir work in that direction.

But you can’t do that, say the skeptics.After all, haven’t we all heard theconsultant’s favorite joke: Better, faster,cheaper—pick two! e idea is thatsomething that is good and fast won’t becheap; fast and cheap won’t be good, etc.Yet if quality, timeliness and price boildown to a pick-two choice, how do weexplain McDonald’s?

Building a betterBetter-Faster-Cheaper triangle

McDonalds offers an interesting illus-tration that shows us that, in reality, it’snot always true that having two elements

negates the possibility of the third. WereI to explain the Better-Faster-Cheapertriangle while waiting in line at the localMcDonald’s, and ask a nearby patronwhich of these three value characteristicsthe restaurant empha-sizes, would it be fairto guess that manywould choose Fast? OrCheap? Probably, butdoes that mean thatthe same patron, oranyone for that matter,would suggest that thefood is not also Good?

Founded in the1950s by Ray Kroc,a man who sold milk-shake mixers to restaurateurs, McDon-ald’s has grown into the most successfulfast food restaurant in history. is sto-ried franchise could not have done so forvery long without fusing quality, timeli-ness and cost.ey accomplished this featin large part by creating a tightly con-trolled bureaucracy. In fact, it is one of ourbest examples of a modern bureaucracy.at’s right. McDonald’s is a compellingexample of bureaucracy as being a forcefor good.

If you ask a McDonald’s managerwhat the firm does, you’d hear that thecompany provides fast food, an industrythe company basically created. It’s alsoinexpensive, as dine-out food goes.Would our consultant be justified inconcluding then that its food can’t bevery good? But that’s not what millionsof people around the world think.

In fact, McDonald’s cares immenselyabout quality and delivers it despite the

chain’s equal devotion to treating cus-tomers to fast and cheap meals. ecompany has taken the value propositiontriangle and matched up all three sides.

e firm has achieved this, in part,

through focus. If you approach a Mc-Donald’s counter and ask for a peanutbutter and jelly sandwich, you’ll proba-bly be disappointed; so too if you ordereda Delmonico steak. e company bu-reaucracy is not set up to offer cus-tomized meals. Certainly, the managercould order a clerk to run to a local gro-cery to pick up peanut butter, jelly, and aloaf of bread. But doing so wouldn’t bevery fast and it wouldn’t be cheap. Bybuilding its business around a specificmenu of services, consistently producedand delivered (think technology,process,well-trained personnel, and stringentquality controls),McDonald’s has growninto one of the most respected organiza-tions in the world.

When we talk about bureaucracy,what we’re referring to is a set of stan-dardized and replicable procedures thatrequire tasks to be performed in exactlythe same way at prescribed times, usingprescribed materials. This way of


By Jeff Schurman

Can Vendor ManagersLearn from McDonald’s?

You bet they can, if they can fathom how toput a bureaucracy to work in their business.

Vendor Management

Can Vendor ManagersLearn from McDonald’s?

When we talk about bureaucracy,what we’re referring to is a set ofstandardized and replicable proceduresthat require tasks to be performed inexactly the same way at prescribedtimes, using prescribed materials.

thinking about manufacturing (andservice businesses in more recenttimes) goes all the way back to thework of Frederick Taylor, one of thefirst management consultants, duringhis groundbreaking time studies.

Virtually everything McDonald’s em-ployees do on the line is timed.ey knowhow long to leave the fries in the grease,how many hamburgers and cheeseburg-ers to make in a measurement period,andthe order in which condiments hit thebun.Everything is designed to ensure op-timum efficiency in the production of aunique and valuable product, which is anultimate goal of a perfect bureaucracy.ForMcDonald’s, this means that a Big Macin Pittsburgh tastes the same as it does inAruba,minus the sunshine.Peanut butterand jelly doesn’t fit into this system and soit’s not on the menu.

Avoiding commoditizationBy providing good products that are

cheap and delivered fast, McDonald’savoids the trap of commoditization,which can happen to companies thatoffer products that are in demand butsupplied without any qualitativedifferentiation. If the companyignored the quality metric infavor of low price and speed,it would lose its distinction inthe marketplace and losemarket share. at’s a trapthat vendor managersmust avoid falling intowhen delivering their services.

In the vendor management industry,we commoditize our products by allow-ing lenders to assume that all VMCs offergood products fast — and then press us tooffer our services for less. We allow our-selves to fall into that commodity zoneand give up our qualitative differentiationin the market. e challenge for compa-nies in our space is to differentiate themselves while still balancing between fasterand cheaper.And saying ‘no’when a clientwants a peanut butter and jelly sandwichif it’s not on our menu.

To do that, companies must first focuson their strengths and put a realistic valueon those strengths. e next step is toalign their entire organization to thosestrengths, creating a unique value propo-sition in the market. A value propositionis anything a company does that improvesproductivity, lowers overall operatingcosts, or provides the customer with astrategic advantage not available any-where else. It’s doing in practice what yousay you’re going to do in selling situa-tions… and doing so consistently.

Every company should have a processin place—part of their own bureaucra-cies—that deals with issues customersbring regarding products they have re-ceived. When a customer complainsabout the quality of a deliverable, man-agement must take those complaints se-riously and take action to learn from themistake and write it into new processesto prevent similar problems in the future.Many successful pioneers in the vendor

management industry combined stan-dardized processes, technology and well-trained personnel to produce better,faster, and cheaper title, appraisal andclosing products and services.

Preparing for the futureat level of control is one of the most

important benefits the vendor manage-ment industry brings to lenders.We con-trol the vendor engagement, monitor thestatus of orders in the pipeline, the deliv-ery of the work, and keep the lender and

vendor at arms-length. Our ability toperfect this control is central to our valueproposition. Our ability to master thebureaucracies needed to standardize theseprocesses across geographies is whatkeeps us in business.

ere is one important caveat.Amongbureaucracy’s dark sides is that it canthreaten creativity.Creativity possesses anorganization with better decision-mak-ing, fresh ideas, foresight into futuretrends,ability to learn from past mistakesand build systems to avoid their reoccur-rence. It is among the most valuable qual-ities employees bring to a company.Bureaucracy is like a Light Saber: It cutsboth ways…sometimes lopping off bodyparts.us, it is best used wisely.

A bureacratic system that neitherpromotes nor celebrates creativity, es-pecially at the top of the organization,will sacrifice a critical competitive ad-vantage. It will also make it more diffi-cult to recruit and keep good people.

is is particularly true now, as weare entering a new age. Our society haslived through the agricultural age, the

industrial age, and the informationage. Now, we’re entering the cre-

ativity age, also referred to bysome as the age of ingenuity.

It’s not just the informa-tion that matters now, butthe ideas that the datasparks in the minds oftoday’s executives.

Consequently, I expect tosee some companies working to be

much more forward thinking in the daysahead, and avoiding some of the old-school line of outdated thinking aboutvendor management that goes back formore than 30 years now. Do I expect tosee a bunch of McDonald’s clones work-ing in the vendor management space? No,but I do expect to see tomorrow’s com-petitors bringing something new to themarket. ey will use new ways to com-municate with their clients and vendorpartners. And they will not sacrifice anyside of the value proposition triangle.


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One of the first budget items tobe cut in a downturn is execu-tive travel. In the U.S. financial

services industry, arguably the hardesthit by the current economic downturn,conferences across the country haveseen attendance fall off dramatically,even in the most attractive conferencedestinations. While everyone under-stands the need to cut costs, especiallyduring a downturn of such historic pro-portions, the need for accurate industryinformation is also higher than ever.

In fact, a downturn is precisely whencompanies need up-to-date intelligenceon what is happening in the industry andwhat their competitors are doing.is iswhen it becomes more important thatexecutives have access to thought leader-ship and networking opportunities.

With modern technology, confer-ence planners and exhibitors have anopportunity to bring this information tointerested parties in a way that providesvalue at the same time it builds a rap-port with these prospects that can beconverted into future sales.

The move toward virtual eventsLast year, we saw a number of con-

ference planners edging into the onlineworld by providing additional contentor networking opportunities via socialmedia sites. The MBA recently pro-vided a feed from its 95th annual con-vention for the benefit of memberswho could not be present. Interthinxprovided a live news feed from a num-ber of fraud-related conferences thispast fall on its website.

While these efforts are good, most

fall short because they:• provide information that benefits

sponsors or exhibitors more thanthe target audience

• do not provide an easy method forgetting and sharing feedbackfrom the audience

• provide no way to field questionsfrom the audience and provideadditional targeted information

• are not well publicized as they canleach away from paid attendees

While web-based seminars, or webi-nars, have been gaining traction in thebusiness-to-business marketing space forsome time, they still don’t offer the bene-fits of a life conference.ey can providea lively forum for sharing information,butit’s still a one-way communication processand interaction with the audience is lim-ited. Generally, there are no provisions toallow audience members to interact withone another—one of the biggest advan-tages offered by live conferences.

Even so, thanks to webinars, mostexecutives have experienced at leastsome aspect of an online event.ey arenow familiar with the concept of usingthe Internet to tune in to see and hearsomeone present information.Today, wehave access to some very exciting toolsthat can allow an organization to pro-vide a conference experience in an on-line environment that goes far beyondwhat most executives areused to experiencing.

Going beyond the webinare answer is the virtual conference,

an online event that mimics the experi-ence attendees have when they attendactual business conferences.Virtual con-ferences combine multimedia,broadbandinternet connections and new social net-working technology for the Internet withreal industry experts to provide all of thebenefits attendees expect from a live con-ference without the travel expenses.Using these tools it is possible to:


V irtual Conferences

Virtual ConferenceBy Rick Grant

Virtual Conference

• stream audio and/or video at ascheduled time to provide keynoteaddresses or panel discussions.

• capture content and provide iton demand, free or for a fee

• provide any number of PowerPointpresentations with audio/videoannotation

• pre-produce audio and videofor streaming at a certain timeor on demand

• link this material to web pages, toprovide speaker bios, contactinformation, backgroundor downloads

• link all of this to a NING or othersocial network site to allowattendees to interact

• provide social bookmarks related tothe content via Delicious.com andlink to this material

• provide blog or twitter supportduring the program to increaseattendee participation solicit andcapture attendee feedback duringeach event

• tell sponsors exactly who came totheir virtual booth, what they werelooking for and for how long

Virtual conferences have manyadvantages over live events.

The most obvious advantage to avirtual conference of this kind is that iseliminates the need to travel and re-moves those expenses from the budget.During a downturn, this allows com-panies that would have attended theshow to avoid canceling. In addition,and perhaps even more importantly, itallows companies that might neverhave attended a live conference to takepart in the event.

Another advantage of the virtualconference is that the conference plan-ners can provide a much deeper level ofmaterial. Instead of a live presentationand a set of PowerPoint slides, attendeescan witness the live event on video, readbackground articles by the speakers,download and browse the slides andparticipate in a live chat with other at-tendees, either during the presentationor afterward. In addition, it will be eas-ier to attract high quality presenterswho won’t have to travel or take time offof work to attend.

Executives can experience a rich, fullconference experience without everleaving their office. Multi-tasking willallow attendees to browse session con-tent at the same time they keep tabs onimportant company projects.

Finally, while there are plenty ofways to allow attendees to interact withone another in a virtual conference, theability to offer content in an on de-mand fashion will give more peoplemore opportunity to experience it.Once the conference is over, the mate-rial is easy to archive as it’s already in afully digital format.

Making it happenCreating a virtual conference takes

all of the skill sets required to launchand run a live event with the addition ofa technical team to handle the Internetaspects of the show. New media skillsare necessary as is a good understand-ing of the Social Media tools availableto present and share information andallow for attendee interaction.

While good moderators are impor-tant for live events, community managersare useful in an online environment.ese professionals take charge of ses-sion pages and facilitate interactionamong attendees. is is accomplishedby contacting attendees directly and so-liciting their comments. ey also takean active role in promoting live events onthe session pages.

Exactly as with live events, thebiggest challenge to anyone planning avirtual conference relates to pullingtogether the kind of information thatwill truly add value to attendees. Anyeffort to provide meaningful informa-tion to a target audience must startwith an analysis of the informationneeds of that audience. Regardless ofthe technologies employed to presentit, if the session material doesn’t di-rectly impact the conference planner’starget market, the event will not besuccessful.

In addition to targeted content,attendees at live conferences expecta certain level of information to beavailable, such as:

• what the speakers said duringthe session

• what the audience response wasto the speakers

• what was said in the hallwaybefore, during and afterthe speakers spoke

• who was exhibiting at the showand what new offerings theywere promoting

• who was meeting with whomat the show

It is possible to provide all of thisand more in the virtual environment.Conference planners who learn how todo it will be successful even if theirtarget markets do not have the budgetto travel.

In spring 2009, TAVMA will hostits first virtual conference. Stay tunedfor more information about this up-coming event.


�

Live events require an executive travelbudget. Virtual conferences are a moreaffordable alternative.

Participation on social network-ing web sites like LinkedIN.com hasavalanched as of late. First it was one in-vite, then another, soon a flurry ... andnext thing you know an avalanche ofLinkedIN requests in my email. So Ijoined, and I linked, andI found it to be truly oneof the most advanta-geous business to busi-ness marketing toolsavailable... and it’s free!

e key withLinkedIN is to look at itas a marketing tool foryour business... it’s not a“I need a new job” toolor a “catch up with oldfriends” tool (Use e-Ladders.com or Face-book.com for either ofthose). It’s an excellentprofessional network-ing site where you canconnect with past colleagues, possiblymeet new business partners or cus-tomers, and join shared-interestgroups where you can build yourbusiness.

While your LinkedIN profile isabout you, think of it more like an ad-vertisement for your business, for yourcompany. People buy from people ... es-pecially in a service-driven business liketitle and settlement services. People buy

from YOU - not the company youwork for (or the company you own).

Social networking web sites are nota “get me new business leads now”

marketing tactic, but instead a longterm referral-based marketing tactic.Its effectiveness grows over time, andincreases with how often you partici-pate in the networking. Here ar sometips for effective marketing through

social networking:

1. Pick one ortwo professional

networkingwebsites...

using too many di-lutes your effectiveness.How do you decidewhich one? In your in-dustry, among yourcontacts, which sites dothey use most often?Use the websites’“search for people” fea-ture to look up highprofile professionals inyour industry... use thatsite. I’ve spoken about

LinkedIN in this article because it isthe best site for my industry... market-ing; I have also found that the ap-praisal, title, and settlement industrypredominately uses this website as


MARKETING

Linked IN: Marketing Yourself ...Marketing Your Company

Today, I installed LinkedIN on my new iPhone. Am I an early adopter?Am I on the bleeding edge of technology? Actually, No. I’m whatmarketers call a “late majority” consumer. My colleagues usually drag me

kicking and screaming into the next new technology. Back in the 90’s, my grand-mother had a cell phone “just for emergencies” even before I had one. And, muchlike a cell phone — I strongly resisted the “social networking” fad. Until it seemedlike everyone I knew was “IN.”

By Raelin Musuraca

LinkedIn brings your network together online.

well. See the side bar for other socialnetworking websites.

2. Build a robust,professional profile.

While the profile is about you, useit to promote your current companyas well. Add to it over time... whenyou update your profile a message issent to all your contacts ... this isgreat way to stay top of mind. Youdon’t have to make a career change toupdate... just change the way a sectionis worded... or rewrite your Summaryto include more recent topics... andbe sure to use the “What are YouWorking On?” to promote projects,accomplishments, etc.

3. Join and participatein Groups.

Groups come together from a vari-ety of organizations, from collegealumni groups to professional associa-tions. I’ve seen a group of “alumni”come together from a certain companyto share information. Groups allowyou to put logos on your profile (thinkof the third-party credibility) and havediscussion boards where you can par-ticipate and communicate with therest of the group. This is an excellentway to promote your products andservices — but be careful — don’t selltoo hard. If you are on LinkedIN, lookfor the “Title Insurance and Settle-ment Services Network.”

4. Respond, searchand update.

Don’t just join and let it set. The

goal is to increase your professionalcontacts. When people email you ask-ing to Link to them, always allow thisright away (it’s as simple as clicking ahyperlink) — but then also take thetime to look at their contacts. Who doyou know? Who can you link to? Igenerally spend 30 minutes each weekupdating my contacts, participating indiscussion boards, or making edits tomy profile.

What’s important to keep in mindis that social networking is not justabout Facebook and hooking up

with friends (I also have a Facebookpage that I use for personal network-ing NOT professional). It’s about ex-tending the core of any good saleseffort .... that is, networking ... onlineto the Internet. It’s no different thanthe networking you do at a trade showor conference... it’s just on a web site.

It’s easy, it’s low maintenance - andit’s free! So ... get online and get IN...If you’re new to social networking, youcan get started by sending me an emailand I’ll send you a LinkedIN invita-tion to get you going. If you have aprofile, but it’s out of date — don’twaste another minute ... get online andget that profile updated!

About the Author:Raelin Sawka Musuraca is President ofSharp Creative. She can be reached [email protected]


�

LinkedIN is the largest business networking site.As of October 2008, LinkedIN had more than 30 millionregistered users, spanning 150 industries. Other busi-ness sites include Plaxo.com and Ryze.com. For a list ofother professional, social and interest-related sites goto http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_network-ing_websites.

Getting signed up on LinkedIn is easy. Some functionality requires an accountupgrade, but everything in this article can be done with a free account.

It was the Apple iPod that opened the door to thisnew media format and the name was created by combin-ing iPod with broadcast. In reality, podcast are narrow-casting, where content developers create and deliveraudio or video files to a select group of people who askfor it by subscribing. This ability to let content consumers“pull” the information they want to them is attractive tomarketers as it tends to be more effective than the old“push” method of bombarding prospects with materialuntil they buy.

In fact, marketers are finding out that well producedpodcasts can be very effective at shortening the sales cycleas they open doors with prospects even before a companysalesperson makes the call. The key, of course, lies in pro-ducing good podcasts.

How to Produce a Good PodcastWhile producing multimedia may be viewed by many as

an art form, there is more science than art in producinggood podcasts. Good production is primarily a result ofknowing who the podcast will serve and what the companyhopes it will accomplish. It starts with making some deci-sions about the show to be produced.

What is the key objective of the podcast?To keep listeners engaged, your podcast should only in-

clude information that supports the end goal. If your ob-jective is to inform listeners about a new company initiative,don’t waste time talking about the weather in your homecity. Capturing listeners within the first few seconds is im-portant. In addition, if your objective is to get listeners to

download a white paper, make sure this opportunity ishighlighted throughout the podcast.

What value does the podcastoffer the listener?

Marketers are often so focused on the messages they mustdeliver to target markets that they forget to add value inevery communication. Prospects will not “pull” informationto them that does not add value. Failure to remember this isa major cause of podcast initiative failure.

What technology will be employed?There are many different software applications that can

be used to create a good podcast, but the technologyshould never be visible to the listener. They don’t care howyou made the podcast, they only care about the value itbrings to them.

What is the call to action?There should be a call to action in every podcast. Even

shows that are designed primarily to educate a group ofprospects should have a next step that is easy for thelistener to take. Without this interaction, the podcast losesmuch of its power. Even though web statistic tracking canshow you where your listeners are coming from, you won’treally know who they are unless you can get them tointeract with you.

Promoting the podcastWhile having a well produced podcast is certainly an

accomplishment to be proud of, it does the company little


Podcasting as aNew Media Marketing Tool

Podcasting as aNew Media Marketing Tool

New Med ia

By Rick Grant

Wikipedia.com describes a podcast as “a series of audio or video digital-mediafiles which is distributed over the Internet by syndicated download, throughWeb feeds, to portable media players and personal computers.ough the

same content may also be made available by direct download or streaming, a podcastis distinguished from other digital-media formats by its ability to be syndicated,subscribed to, and downloaded automatically when new content is added.”


good if it is not viewed and enjoyed by the target audience.Here are some ideas for promoting your finished podcasts.

Post it to your website.Your website will benefit from multimedia assets because

these are the elements that create interest.ey bring in web-site visitors and they keep them on the site longer. But don’thide the Podcast under a text link at the bottom of the page.Create a colorful graphic and post the show above the fold.

A well produced Podcast will do a better job of explainingyour value proposition then many pages of boring websitetext. If you have agood site master,you can embed theMP3 audio file intoa flash box. You canget as fancy as youwant. If you chooseto go with a simplelink, make sure youlet your website vis-itors know what toexpect. Let visitorsknow that it’s anaudio file and givethe size in megabytes.at way, if the filetakes a few secondsto load (which islikely, given that thevast majority of businesses are wired with broadband) theywon’t be as likely to click away in fear.

Send it to your mailing list.Just like the rest of your company news, the very best place

to send your new podcast is to the people you want to buyyour products or services. Most companies already know whothey want to sell to. ey have pre-qualified many of theirprospects and are in the process of working them through thesales cycle.While these folks may not be the most eager to getyour news, they’re the people you most likely had in mindwhen you created the Podcast. So make sure they get it.

If your podcast is well designed, packed with valuable in-formation that is critical to their success, they’ll receive thematerial gladly and your corporate goodwill will increase.Furthermore, they will become more educated and will bemoved automatically further along in the sales cycle. Even if

you know your clients have subscribed to your RSS feed andwill automatically receive your next Podcast, send them a no-tice. And be sure to ask them to pass it along to others thatmight be interested in the material.

Send a link to the media.Send news of the podcasts to the reporters and editors that

write about your part of the business. ese guys are alwayslooking for good stories and Podcasting is a hot story rightnow. Make sure you’re your public relations firm knows youwant to release the fact that you have produced a newprogram so they can get the news out to the trade press.

Producing a Pod-cast is a good newsitem that is likely toget covered.

Send it to thebloggers.

It ’s great tohave people talkingabout your com-pany. It’s even bet-ter to have themtalking about it in aforum that is opento a big audience.Even though WebLogs (blogs) aren’tconsidered massmedia because they

typically cater to niche audiences, many blogs in the realestate and financial services businesses are becoming fairlyprominent.There are a number of bloggers in this space thatwould also like to hear about your new Podcast. Find outwho is blogging about your industry and make sure you sendthem a link to your new show.

Add Podcast Links to Marketing Material.Your marketing department already uses a number of tools

to get the word out about what your firm offers.Make sure thatyou add a link to your Podcast program on each of these tools.Many can remember back to the days when a corporate e-mailor website address was rarely seen on a business card.Few com-panies fail to include that important information today. In thenear future, the company’s Podcasts will be just as important asthey will be the first stop a new prospect makes before decid-ing to purse a deeper relationship with the company. Point tothem in ads and other marketing material. �

Podcasts don't require an iPod. Any computer can play them.

Q:How does Fiserv define itselfthese days and what are you

offering the industry?

A: Fiserv Fulfillment Services Division is an outsourcingsolution to the real estate lending industry focused onproviding innovative, streamlined solutions for loanoriginations, servicing and loss mitigation. We featureend-to-end solutions for lead generation, loan processing,origination products as well as complete settlement/closing srevices nationwide.

We have some world class brands and partnerships,such as the Fiserv Case-Schiller Index, and ourS&P/Moody’s relationship. Our expertise in large scalefulfillment services historically exceeding millions oforders per year has been most recently leveraged in thisdistressed market to provide loan modification servicesto consumers, including outbound call center contact,counseling and document production with a capacity ofmore than 10,000 files per day.

Q:Where do you think theindustry is headed over the

next 12-18 months?

A: Certainly we are in a very difficult and challengingenvironment. There is little market stability, the govern-ment is trying a host of actions to resolve the creditcrisis and consumers are bearing the brunt of growingunemployment, declining home values and a 40% loss inthe stock market wealth.

For the next 12-18 months, FSD will be focused onproviding solid service on core products as well as scal-ing and meeting the need for loan modification and lossmitigation services to keep customers in their homes.

One silver lining is that the declining home values andrecent interest rate reductions are creating a whole new eraof affordability for first time homebuyers which may helpput a floor under the marketplace.

Sadly, many service providers will not survive this

About Lee Howlett


A Conversation

Q & A

Lee Howlett is the President & COO ofFiserv Lending Solutions -- FulfillmentServices Division. Formed by the combi-nation of Integrated Loan Services (ILS)and General American Corp. (GAC) it is aunit of Fiserv, Inc. (NASDAQ: FISV), thatprovides the lending industry's mostcomprehensive origination and settle-ment services. The Fulfillment ServicesDivision of Fiserv Lending Solutions(FSD-FLS) delivers a comprehensivesuite of innovative solutions for lendersfrom automated valuation models(AVMs) to traditional title searches. FSDproducts include the CASA AVM, Quick-Close Lien Protection Insurance, theGATORS settlement management system,a full menu of appraisal products, bro-ker price opinions, flood certificates,title insurance, closing services andoutsourced loan processing solutions.For more information, see www.ils.com.

A Conversation

with Lee Howlett of Fiservwith Lee Howlett of Fiserv


period and only those with a strong balance sheet, stayingpower and the ability to marshal creative talent will be ableto solve the ever changing landscape of lending in thisunprecedented period.

Lastly, while we are focused on today’s needs, we also arebeginning to plan for what the new lending world may looklike after current reform and transformation cycle is past.

Q:What do you thinkmortgage lenders should be

focusing on now?

A: First, resolving the many roadblocks to free up theflow of credit to worthy consumers is paramount to renewedearnings and growth. I think the local and regional lendersget this and have done a fairly good job of delivering ontheir promise to the people in their communities. However,with a few bright exceptions, most larger and national in-stitutions are still struggling with tightened lending stan-dards caused by unresolved balance sheet risks that turnaway many good borrowers.

Secondly, helping peoplestay in the homes they loveis critical to stabilizing thehousing market and stop-ping this downward spiral.Lenders, with the assistanceof government funds, needto get ahead of the con-sumers that are in distressand deliver quick, simpleloan modification solutionsthat work for all concerned.This effort cannot happenquickly enough at this point.

Q:What’s next forGators Systems?

A: GATORS remains a strong product and great toolfor many established and new industry participants. It’sniche is that it shares the attributes, learning experiences,

affiliate networks and business intelligence of the entireFSD enterprise to make it a business solution as well as avery robust technology platform. It is deliverable to largescale users in a licensed environment or to start-ups as avariable cost ASP version.

Given the new regulatory environment emerging fromsuch issues as the pending Home Value Code of Conduct,RESPA reform, the demand for greater appraiserindependence, the return to more traditional title/closingproducts and greater efficiency/reporting, we have seeninterest in GATORS growing directly with lenders andVMCs despite the market turmoil.

Q:How important will trade groupslike TAVMA be in the days ahead?

A: TAVMA is more relevant and important today thanever before. It is the only lending industry vehicle whosemission it is to act as a single voice for management com-panies to address the regulatory and oversight changesbeing thrown about at the state and federal level. The

challenges on the horizonranging from the HVCCrules to RESPA reformrepresent an opportunity forTAVMA to be a key influ-encer and industry leader.

Individually, we all strug-gle as single companiesto make our voice heard,but when we pulled togetherthrough TAVMA we have amuch larger stage and loudervoice. Given the financial

constraints on our firms, we are understandably scrutiniz-ing every cost with memberships to trade groups beingeasy targets for cuts, but in the case of TAVMA we shouldnot be pennywise and pound foolish. Supporting andparticipating in TAVMA is, both personally andprofessionally, the right thing to do.

Lee Howlett is division president and Chief OperatingOfficer for Fiserv Lending Solutions.

��

Certainly we are in a very difficult andchallenging environment. There is lilemarket stability, the government istrying a host of actions to resolve thecredit crisis and consumers are bearingthe brunt of growing unemployment,declining home values and a 40% loss inthe stock market wealth.

Marketing & Public Relations support for the Real Estate Industry

You’ve noticed a change in the environment. How do you plan to come through the downturn?

Find out what RGA can do for you today by surfing to www.rickgrant.net or dialing 800-979-9049.

In every environment, you have choices.

Experts are comparing today’s events to those preceding the Great Depression. We’ve already lost hundreds of mortgage banks and now even traditional banks are failing. Those that remain are forming new partnerships with Wall Street firms just to stay alive. It’s a new environment all right. It’s making for some tough choices. Some will choose to hunker down, pare their operations to the bone and count on their cash reserves to see them through. For some, it might work. Others will take a different ap-proach, a head-on strategy that pits their brightest experts and best product specialists against those who dare to suggest that America’s financial services industry is beyond repair. Every crisis in American history has been answered by innovation bred of our free enter-prise system. The answers are in the minds of our top business leaders. We give those leaders a voice. We’re your industry’s best corporate storytellers and we want to help you tell your story, because speaking up now will make all the difference.

tavma winter 2008 newsletter

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