With COVID-19 shelter-in-place ordinances effective throughout the country, people are faced with the challenge of maintaining productivity while working remotely. For individuals unfamiliar with remote work, this can prove difficult. These challenges are being felt by title companies, which typically must operate in an office setting. Closing agents are now tasked with performing digital closings and delivering remote customer service to their client base. Utilizing tools such as virtual assistants can help, but title agents must also understand certain principles that can aid in remote work. That’s why we’re going over some tips geared toward title companies.
A Remote Workspace
Setting up a dedicated remote workspace is the first step every title company employee needs to complete. This means attempting to replicate your workspace as much as possible. It’s also important that a remote workspace be private and separate from the rest of your home. This creates a psychological separation between home and work. If this isn’t achieved, it’s easy to succumb to distractions that could hurt your productivity. It’s also important to have access to all the tools you use at the office. This is one of the advantages of using an AI-powered virtual closing assistant. They’re accessible from desktops, laptops, and mobile phones.
Daily Goals
When working remotely, setting daily goals will ensure you stay on task and maintain the level of productivity you need to be successful. This is especially important during such uncertain times. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with stress concerning the economic climate, local health concerns, and everything else that’s troubling about the COVID-19 crisis. Setting goals and staying on task will help you avoid looking at the news too much or getting distracted by things like social media.
Find Digital Alternatives to In-Person Tasks
Many tasks related to a title closing have traditionally been done in person. For example, an effective title search often requires access to records available at the courthouse. It’s important that title searchers have access to these documents during shelter-in-place ordinances, which is why many courthouses are encouraging title companies to call or email with their inquiries instead of showing up in person. Title agents can also use virtual closing assistants to generate closing cost estimates and allow secure access to files. Some title companies are also using Remote Online Notarization (RON) to ensure digital closings can be completed in a timely fashion.
Communication With Your Team and Clients
One of the biggest challenges of working remotely is staying connected with other employees and clients. It’s important everyone remains on the same page, especially when approaching a title closing. This is where AI-powered resources shine. A virtual closing assistant can provide your clients with the information they need via chat. If there’s an issue the virtual closing assistant can’t resolve, an agent can easily jump in and take over. Using chat tools is also a great way to stay connected to other title company team members. Consider having a chat session each morning to go over daily initiatives and updates.
Find Success While Working Remotely
COVID-19 has forced an abrupt change to the way we must work. However, by using the strategies and resources discussed above, a title company can still provide remote customer service and navigate their clients to successful closings.
Alanna.ai develops AI-powered software for the title industry. To learn more, request a demo today.