Since Robert Klein founded Safeguard Properties in 1990, the mortgage industry has undergone significant change. Today, with more than 600 employees and a network of thousands of contractors, Safeguard is the nation’s largest privately held mortgage field services company, and each month, it inspects and maintains more than 1 million defaulted and foreclosed properties nationwide for banks, mortgage servicers and investors.
Klein, the National Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year winner in the services category as well as a regional winner, shared his thoughts with Smart Business about how he communicates with his team and keeps his company on the industry’s cutting edge.
Q: Your business operates nationwide, which doesn’t allow for easy face-to-face meeting with your team. What is your philosophy of people management?
For one thing, we don’t use voice mail during the workday. If someone isn’t in the office, their call is directed to a colleague who picks up the phone on their behalf and takes care of a client’s issue. And we have a receptionist who actually talks to callers. When someone calls Safeguard during business hours, we want them to be greeted by a real person, not a machine. And when our clients need something, they shouldn’t be directed to someone’s voice mail if the person they are calling isn’t at their desk. In this high-tech world, we believe a personal touch distinguishes our service.
Safeguard’s motto is ‘Customer service = resolution.’ We live it every day. It is embedded in our training, which every Safeguard employee and every contractor who works for us receives. When a client has a problem, it is our job to resolve it. That is why we come to work every day.
Q: Innovation is critical in order to keep from being commoditized. How do you innovate?
Our use of technology has allowed us to innovate on many levels. Because our work is performed in the field not behind a desk, we utilize handheld technology to provide real-time updates on the status of more than 1 million property inspections and 250,000 work orders that our contractors perform every month. This includes uploads of more than 25 million digital photographs monthly documenting work performed, which accompany electronic written updates and invoicing. Our clients have 24-7 real-time access to status reports on all of their properties under Safeguard’s management.
Another innovation has been our unique REO property model. REO stands for ‘real estate owned’ by the lender or investor after foreclosure. As a result of the mortgage crisis, more REO properties have come onto the market and remain on the market longer. Safeguard created a new model for maintaining these properties that separates the marketing and management functions, enhances their market value, reduces their time on the market and helps maintain the integrity of neighborhoods in communities hardest hit by foreclosures.