There’s not much Kati Cumberland loves more than solving problems. Maybe it’s her creative writing background. Maybe it’s her knack for detail and organization. Whatever it is, it’s why she loves Title.
“When you get that problem file with the Title issue or the difficult lender or just the abnormal thing, being the one to put all of those pieces together and actually get to the closing table on time—and have everything go seamlessly—there's just so much joy in doing that,” she says.
Kati’s been getting people to the closing table for the past ten years with Title Group of Tennessee. She’s helped the company grow from five people to 14 and from one office to three. These days, as Title Group of Tennessee’s operations manager, Kati's solving problems on behalf of her team.
Kati Cumberland is always asking: How can we keep up with growth? How can we work smarter? How can we improve?
The Biggest Complaint
Title Group of Tennessee has always had happy customers, but there’s one complaint they’d hear again and again.
“The biggest complaint was always communication,” says Kati. “The agents, they don't know what's going on, the buyers and the sellers don't know what's going on, the mortgage companies don't know what's going on.”
The team tried to stay on top of writing emails for every step of the process but the reality was, they were just too busy to be consistent.
Searching for a solution
At one point, Kati’s team tried the SoftPro task notification tool. It didn’t go well. “We actually had a lot of Realtors call and say, ‘Please don't send our clients these emails,” says Kati. “The way the emails went out, they were just a basic Outlook email. We got a lot of feedback that they looked like spam.” And, with all the wire fraud these days, anything that looks like spam is a big red flag.
Meanwhile, Kati had been hearing that CloseSimple, a SoftPro integration, might be able to help. CloseSimple could send automated updates to real estate agents, lenders, and buyers on behalf of her team—and the emails would be custom-branded with Title Group of Tennessee’s logo and a professional layout, so there’d be no question these were official communications.
Kati was skeptical.
More than once, she’d spent months on other SoftPro integrations, only to discover they didn’t work with their systems. She didn’t have more time to waste. Still, they needed a solution, so, eventually, she agreed. Title Group of Tennessee would try CloseSimple, and Kati would lead the implementation.
The stakes were high.
If CloseSimple were to fail, Title Group of Tennessee’s business was at risk. All of their processes were built on a complex series of tasks and automations. Any disruption could have a ripple effect. “It's nerve wracking to have somebody in your software,” says Kati.
“At the time, we were understaffed, and I was super busy,” she says. “I was like, ‘If it doesn't work, I don't have time to troubleshoot it.’”
As it turned out, there was no need to worry.
"The moment we turned it on, it worked. Everything went so seamlessly,” says Kati. “And when we need a little tweak here or there, the response time is within hours.”
But did it help the team?
“It's really revolutionized how we communicate with all of our clients,” Kati says. “We just do our thing, and CloseSimple does its thing, and people are constantly getting updates. I mean, I don't really think there's a better way.”
"People aren't having to call us for updates—the updates are just automatically going out, which is huge."
Not only are customers staying updated, but tasks are being handled more efficiently. Many of Title Group’s automated emails include action items—something the buyer, agent, or lender needs to do.
“The response rate we get on those emails is probably between 60 and 70%,” says Kati. “It just makes our lives so much easier. It's a huge time saver.”
More time for problem solving
Now that the Title Group of Tennessee team isn’t worried about writing constant updates, they’re able to do the work that helps them grow—training new staff, pursuing more business, and solving more problems.
“In the Title business, you're constantly putting out fires,” says Kati. “CloseSimple gives us more time to focus on the million other things we're dealing with.”
“It's amazing what it’s done for us,” Kati says about CloseSimple. And she doesn’t give her praise lightly. “I’m a healthy skeptic—because I've worked with other programs, and I'm like, these don't work.”
The fact that CloseSimple delivered what Title Group of Tennessee needed is a win all around—for Kati, for her team, and for all of their customers.
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