MARK OMAN CEO, Norwest Mortgage Co. Cross-selling. In the financial-services industry, it's the holy grail. And it's just as elusive. Marketers have even found it tough to persuade bank-mortgage customers to open savings accounts--or at least do so profitably. Mark C. Oman, 41, is giving it a good shot, though. Citing industry studies, his employer, Minneapolis-based Norwest Corp., claims that its banking customers have subscribed to an average of four bank products, about double the average. Thomas K. Brown, bank analyst at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Co., says Norwest needs to take a more focused approach. But, he acknowledges, ''they're ahead in executing a broad cross-sell strategy.'' After years of experimenting with a variety of techniques to squeeze more revenue out of the same customers, Norwest is starting to mine its Norwest Mortgage Inc. subsidiary for potential buyers of other Norwest services. Oman, who's spearheading this initiative, oversees a diverse portfolio. Besides serving as president and CEO of Norwest Mortgage, he heads Norwest Card Services; Norwest Direct, a consumer loan telemarketing unit; and banking operations in Iowa, where the marketing experiment is getting under way. Since 1989, Oman has built the mortgage company up from scratch to the nation's largest, with $51.5 billion in originations and $125 million in aftertax profits in 1996. Oman thinks cross-selling can eventually boost profits by $100 million. ''Mortgages are one of the few core products you can cross-sell,'' he says. ''There's natural leverage there.'' If so, he would not only have found the holy grail but made the quest look easy. By Phillip L. Zweig in New York Return to main story

Updated Oct. 16, 1997 by bwwebmaster
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