Meridian mortgages

Meridian Mortgages has been helping customers buy their dream homes for over 25 years. The team’s extensive knowledge and experience, along with access to a comprehensive range of mortgage products across the UK, including access to exclusive deals, enables them to find the most suitable mortgage for applicants’ circumstances while making the process as simple as possible.

Meridian’s previous on-premise Mitel solution worked fine in the office, and produced fairly solid call-wait times (15 secs), but the ringing of all phones for any call meant the working atmosphere was noisy and full of distractions. It also made it easy for team members to rely on others to answer calls, hiding in the ‘background noise’.

Staff were limited to deskphones, and while the team had attempted to virtualise the Mitel system to enable working from home, it was incredibly complex, so Meridian’s Operations Director knew a new solution was needed to enable robust, productive and secure remote working!

Furthermore, Meridian’s SQL based CRM couldn’t integrate with the Mitel system, and the reports that the previous system produced weren’t easy to scrutinise, leading to a lack of productivity reviews. The regulations of the financial industry also had to be considered so that Meridian’s new system remained in compliance with data protection guidance.

Plus, Meridian was incredibly keen to explore how modern communication channels such as WhatsApp and web browsers could help Meridian introduce new virtual experiences that would reduce lead drop-off and enable estate agents to do more, with fewer resources!

Meridian’s team can now make and take calls from home and the office. Plus, agents can call prospects directly from their web browser, which has drastically reduced the time between ingesting customer information and making contact, greatly increasing the chances of capturing the customer before they shop around and find another mortgage provider!

These have helped to shorten sales cycles by engaging potential customers as soon as they provided their details, whether by phone or webchat.

The staff experience is far better too, with a less chaotic shop floor, where calls are only directed to team members who can deal with the call. As a result, Meridian’s time-to-answer statistics have dropped significantly, from a solid 15 seconds to a super-responsive 8 seconds!

While Meridian’s costs haven’t changed, the Team can now work from home securely, and deliver more engaging conversations thanks to CRM information pulled through into Puzzel, which represents far better value for money than its previous, rigid Mitel system.

In fact, Meridian is so pleased with its new Puzzel solution, it’s already looking to add further value to the system by incorporating even more channels, such as video and automated SMS to enhance its customer experience even further!