Mr. Cameron S. Hunt
OI 361
July 16, 2014
Ms. Susan Sapp
Innovation Creativity Design Paper
This paper is a detailed look at the company of McBride Financial Services which provides financial consulting, low-cost mortgage loans, and related financial packages to first-time and veteran home-buyers. Featuring state-of-the-art technology in real-estate and mortgage brokerage techniques designed to garner the highest returns for its customers. They have 5 mid-west locations to serve the public.
Their business philosophy is that “our customers will receive the most efficient and effective processing of mortgage applications from inception to closing” (Virtual Organization Portal, 2011). I understood this to mean that this company is dedicated to the customer in speed and efficiency. They serve the general public from professionals in purchasing a primary or secondary property, retirees interested in investment property purchases and families interested in purchasing vacation or investment properties. Additionally, they will provide credit report retrieval, home inspections, appraisals, and a competitive mortgage interest rate for a price of $1,500.
Innovation
McBride Financial Services has had steady growth and gains since its inception that was able achieve financial stability within 6 months of its start-up operations. Additionally, the company projections depict that they will reach a profitability margin within the same 1st year of its initial operations. The primary innovation technique employed was their ability to leverage new technology that enabled the company to minimize cost and capitalize on gains for their customer-base. This distinctive feature was focused on the acquisition of properties and the brokering of new mortgages. McBride Financial has had steady successes in that their target customer base has been strictly focused on business professionals, retirees, and investment property investors. It is in these innovative targeted approaches that have allowed them to emerge as frontrunners amongst their competitors. In our reading it states that, “Companies aiming to become more innovative have to embrace the thought of allowing their strategy to emerge. To be innovative is to pursue opportunities that were neither known nor available before, and which cannot possibly be planned or scheduled” (Von Stramm, 2008, Chapter 6).
Creativity
Amongst the many creative projects that McBride Financial has employed to bolster their success, the ones that garner recognition are a modern, easy-to-use web site that features a front and back end application form that has increased the processing of mortgage applications. A modernized friendly office environment that the web site also reflects; this feature allows for greater customer ease and satisfaction. The usage of refined focused marketing techniques. The employ of career-professional associate brokers strategically located in branch locations to support sales and to act as career subject-matter experts. One of the most uniquely creative techniques that they use is in their marketing of their business ethos which states, “Our product will be the most efficient and user friendly mortgage application process available obtained by leveraging technology” (Virtual Organization Portal, 2011). The concept is that the easier they make the process of securing a mortgage or filling out a mortgage application for the customer, the more prone a customer will choose them for their mortgage needs; i.e. hassle-free-mortgages. This is accented with a simplified application to be completed either by online access, or by utilizing traditional customer service technicians that will assist in the application process facilitating a faster closing of the mortgage.