Episode summary
Joe Welu on how AI is changing customer relationships
HousingWire Daily
· · 23 min · Hosts: Sarah Wheeler · Guests: Joe Welu
Summary
Joe Welu argues that AI is not just a faster version of existing mortgage workflows, but a chance to reimagine the business around outcomes, context, and customer lifetime value. He says lenders should stop optimizing legacy processes and instead design for “10X” results, using AI and humans together to serve consumers more proactively and efficiently.
A major theme is that context is the fuel for AI. Welu says Total Expert’s customer IQ approach is meant to create a comprehensive, always-available profile of each customer so AI agents and humans can act at the right moment with the right message. He contrasts that with static CRM systems and manual follow-up, arguing that autonomous, context-aware systems can unlock better service and more revenue.
Welu also says adoption will face resistance because change is hard and many teams are attached to old habits. His answer is bold leadership, clear standards, and hands-on change management, including “forward deployed experts” who help customers redesign their processes. He frames the goal as turning relationships into appreciating assets and building “customer for life” organizations.
Key takeaways
- Joe Welu says AI should be used to reimagine lending around exponential outcomes, not just speed up existing processes.
- He says context is the key input for effective AI, because customer data must be structured and accessible at the moment it matters.
- Welu says lenders should measure success by customer lifetime value and relationship compounding, not just transactions and call volume.
- He says resistance to AI adoption is normal, so leaders need bold standards and active change management to make the shift stick.
- Welu says Total Expert is helping lenders use AI plus humans together so employees can focus on higher-value customer work.
Notable quotes
“how do you become a 10X lender? How do you drive 10X or exponential outcomes in the business”
“Maybe it's just reimagining the whole engine and the whole process to where I can get value from technology autonomously and automatically”
“context is the fuel that in my opinion really unlocks all the magic”
“turning relationships into appreciating assets”
“if our customers aren't winning, we're not going to win”
How the episode opens
Welcome everyone. My guest today is Joe Welu, CEO and founder of Total Expert to talk about AI and how companies are using it to turn relationships into appreciating assets. This is going to be a great conversation, so let's dive in. Joe, welcome back to the podcast.
Hey Sarah, glad to be here. Always good to have chat with you.
Uh same, you know, I really wanted to do this after hearing you speak at our AI Summit, which was just a couple weeks ago. Um it's a really powerful session. We had a lot of people ask about it afterwards.
We have an on-demand way to watch those sessions. It's just been really popular and I understand why because I feel like you guys are in that session, you really explained what it was that like was sort of a leap for you and where AI is not just like, oh, a faster horse, I think is what you said at one point. Not just like, oh, I have a horse.
Now the horse is running faster. It's like, but this is a a real change in mindset. So, I'd love to dig into that with you today.
Yeah, absolutely. So, great event in Dallas. Really enjoyed being able to talk about how we see the future of the industry and uh the things that AI has really allowed us to do from a reimagining what's possible in in our industry.
And then you think about my my concept is really around how do you become a 10X lender? How do you drive 10X or exponential outcomes in the business and utilizing the technology as a tool was the spirit of the of the conversation. And most innovation, if you think back over the last few decades, has been really incremental.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- ai in customer relationships
- agentic era
- lender technology
- customer data and engagement
- mortgage and real estate
Companies and tickers mentioned
- Total Expert
Watch the episode
Watch “Joe Welu on how AI is changing customer relationships” on YouTube
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
More from HousingWire Daily
-
The headlines impacting mortgage rates -
Has housing demand already changed with lower rates? -
How midterms and jobs week will affect rates -
Preparing for Q1 growth in reverse mortgages -
A clear pathway to sub-7% mortgage rates for Thanksgiving? -
Mortgage rates, inflation and those homeowner vacancy numbers
HousingWire Daily, this episode and its artwork belong to HousingWire. Octagon is not affiliated with the show; this page is an independent summary.
