The Competitive Edge - Member Experience 2.0

Guest post from Curt Tueffert, Brick Wall Motivation...

Member experience is a sum total of the products, people, and processes they come in contact with when they create a relationship with you and your credit union.  We are faced with a fresh new year, a new president, and a new (and challenging) economy.  How will that impact Member experience?  Here are 4 Great Member Experience Insights for 2009.

 

Insight #1: Without Members We Don’t Have A Business. We Have A Hobby (Peppers and Rogers, Return on Customer). Members are more and more adept at differentiating value and price, service and delivery, and other decision points to align with partners like you. More products are becoming commodities, Members are bombarded with marketing messages, and information is just a few keystrokes and web pages away.  Everyone has to strive for the best Member experience regardless of the economic times.  We all impact the experiences of all our Members.

 

Insight #2: The Main Thing Is To Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing. The Chinese term wei gee portrays the dual nature of a crisis; Danger being one element and Opportunity the other.  Members are being challenged right now, they’re cutting back, and you can either prepare for danger and ride it out or advance and seize the opportunities as they present themselves.  Our collective Member Experience will present more opportunities to delight our Members in these times.  Front line sales people, Member service professionals, investment teams, loan processors, underwriting, and all levels of management can choose to create great Member Experience touch points…daily. The upside is adding Member and keeping the ones we have. The downside of not providing great Member Experiences is the loss of Member trust, and eventually the loss of Members (see point #1)

 

Insight #3: The Time To Get Creative Is Now. As budgets shrink and marketing departments take more control of the price/value proposition, you have to get creative in how you position your credit union (and message) in the member’s minds. By creative I mean nimble.  Can we present an alternative solution to meet the Member’s needs?  Can we listen more and talk less?  Can we practice an increased degree of empathy in all of our departments?  They are under pressure to perform and therefore, so are we.  The more we can strengthen our value proposition, the greater chance we will get to solve our Member’s challenge.

 

Insight #4: The Way To Our Member’s Heart Is Through Our Employees. When our employees are not engaged in the Member experience, our Members know; yes they are that smart.  “While you can make some customers happy through brute force, you can not sustain great customer experience unless your employees are brought-in to what you’re doing and are aligned with the effort. If employees have low morale, then getting them to “wow” customers will be nearly impossible”. (CxP Law #4 – 6 Laws of Customer Experience).  It is everyone’s responsibly and mission to help each other get grounded in why we are here, how we can create awesome Member experience, and then do it again and again. Walt Disney said “You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.”

 

People are getting more impatient.  Google.com drives the demand for “I want it now.” An article mentioned a Gen-Y teenager who said the problem with Mc Donald’s is it’s just too slow. We are faced with both employees and Members who expect and often demand a great Member Experience.  Let’s give it to them; today, tomorrow, and everyday after that. 

Passionate about what you do?

What are you passionate about? How do you dream and take your credit union to the next level? Take a moment to check out Matt Davis, The Credit Union Warrior's blog presentation - "Oprah, Chicken, and the Future of Credit Unions". Ponder. Imagine. Find inspiration.

Where is your vision? What are your thoughts? Together we have a tremendous opportunity to position credit uions forward!

SCMS Hands-On Social Media Class & More

Southwest CUNA Management School
Grad School - Social Media Lab: Credit Unions Get Down & Dirty

 

It’s time to stop talking about social media, roll up your sleeves, and experience some of the tools first hand. James Robert Lay, Brad Garland, and Kent Sugg team up to divide you up. Attendees will divide into work teams to create various social media elements. You’ll discover that with some strategic thinking, nominal investment, and time, you can effectively take advantage of opportunities afforded you through blogging, polling, podcast, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and more.

Unlike other events where you or your staff attend and get excited about the potential of social media, only to return and hit a dead end because you have no idea where to start, you’ll be in real life scenarios to help you better understand and work with social media when you return home.

 

Visit the school site for the full Grad School curriculum, schedule and related details.

 

For the 1st Time - SCMS is Offering a Day Rate

 

Open Invite to Credit Union Professionals to Attend the SCMS Fireside Chat with Robert Gallman and Susan Mitchell - no charge to take advantage of this event and experience the excitement of SCMS!

Swing for a cause - the development of credit union leaders! The 21st Annual SCMS Scholarship Golf Classic is open to all.

 

It's not too late to enroll as a 1st year student! Plan now to connect with tomorrow's leaders. Enroll today!

When Do You Brighten A Room?

The choice is yours. What attitude do you bring to the table? Are you and your team committed to serving your members/customers? Sometimes we all need a reminder...

 

Guest post by Curt Tueffert, Brick Wall Motivation

 

It has been said that there are two kinds of people, those who brighten a room when they enter it, and those who brighten a room when they leave. The question is; “Which one are you?”

 

People bring things into the room, into a conversation, into a meeting, into a connection with our members, vendors and fellow employees. Typically, they bring in an attitude. Attitude is usually the first thing that brightens a room on entering or exiting.

 

Have you ever been in a meeting where one of the attendees kills the flow with their facial expressions, body language or comments? They walk around like Tigger without his tail, like they just sucked on a lemon. There is a diagnosis for these types of people who brighten rooms when they leave; Emotionally Constipated! You know them; they roll their eyes at any and every positive message. Their sarcasm is cutting and hurtful beyond the light hearted words that are used for humor. The glass is always half empty. They have a world view of scarcity instead of abundance. They are quick with comments of what they cannot do instead of what they can do. If the diagnosis is emotional constipation what is cure? From this writer’s perspective, a good start is ATTITUDE.

 

Think about the meetings, the sales calls, the phone conversations with someone with a great attitude. It brightens the room when they enter the meeting, makes the sales call more engage, and builds a stronger connection on the phone. The best thing about attitudes is that they can change. The worst think about attitudes is that they can change. The good news is that we can have a powerful impact with the simple change of an attitude.

 

I Am Passionate About Member Service! Are you? Since we are all in the member service business, we have a choice. Are you passionate about it? Do you have an attitude that brightens a room when you discuss member service, or are you so emotionally constipated that just the mention of member service brings anger, resentment, bad experiences, and apathy?

 

Here is my secret to having a PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) about almost anything. It comes from a speech by Lee Iacocca when Chrysler was in tough times. He addressed the crowd and made the comment “Yesterday ended last night.” Meaning – it really does not matter what happened in the past, today is a new day and a chance to brighten another room, to impact someone with a great, fresh, powerful, positive attitude.

 

Do you have tips and tricks for keeping yourself and your team's attitude remain positive? Shout back and share your secrets.

Paying the Gift Forward

Thank you Winter for sharing Sir Ken Robinson's video, "Do Schools Kill Creativity".

Share Sir Robinson's message with graduating seniors. Challenge them to take a moment to view the video, asking what Sir Robinson's message means for their future.

For my friends with a passion for innovation or a heart for education, slow down and give this video a view. Wrestle with the message. Find application. Dream.

For all of us, how do we foster innovation as we work to position the world around us forward?

Show Us Your CU Grow!

Attention All CU Grow Readers:

We want you to show us your CU Grow! Submit your best CU Grow-inspired photo and we will choose one winner to receive a Starbucks $25 gift card.

For those that do not have CU Grow shirts, please leave a reply with your information and we will hook you up with some (and then you can enter the contest!).

Check out this great entry:

What's better than Star Wars and CU Grow on a Friday afternoon? Take a look at the awesome CU Grow supporters at People's Trust FCU!

The contest ends May 23rd, so send in your photos ASAP!

Also, stay on the look out for the next Credit Union Man adventure...coming soon to an RSS Feed near you.

What Banks Aren't Saying...

Banks are definitely not going to say this, but here are a few things they might be thinking...click here to read SmartMoney.com's "10 Things Your Bank Won't Tell You."  

This list discusses quotes such as: "we change our interest rates all the time" and "your money might be better off elsewhere."

For credit unions, how does this affect relationships with members? Shout back at us and let us know your thoughts about this list.

Credit Unions Can Connect With Gen-Y - Throw a Party

Check out this real story from Good Morning America about how some Gen-Y folk are making money to pay the rent.

From what I saw in the video, they are taking an old concept, putting a spin on it and actually making money to help pay the rent.

How can you or your credit union be able to connect with the Gen-Y market and help out.

I am not saying to pay the rent for them but focus on the relationship.

Maybe sponsor a "rent party", provide food and have someone on hand to answer financial questions to those attending if they have them.  This can not be "salesy" or "pushy" but just a way to chat and visit in a non-threatening environment. 

In any case, the video provides some great, real time insight about some of the struggles the Gen-Y is facing right now.  Shout back below with your thoughts and ideas about how your credit union might be able to help.

Friday Fun Flick - Twitter Parody (Twouble with Twitters)

Enjoy this fun little flick about Twitter.  Sorry for the late post but enjoy Friday, over the weekend or even on Monday morning when you get this in your RSS feed. What better way to get your week started.

All jokes aside, as Twitter continues to grow, your credit union can use Twitter as a communication channel to connect and build relationships with members. Here are three quick thoughts about how your credit union can use Twitter as a communication tool.

1. Listen - if you are just getting into Twitter, listen first.  Set up an account then sit back and observe the conversation and see how Twitter really works.  Like the video above shows, there is a big misconception that Twitter is a waste of time.  Twitter has grown to more than just people spouting off random and pointless tweets about their lives.

3. Discover - as you begin to listen to the conversation on Twitter, you will begin to discover new things. Maybe someone is tweeting about an experience at your credit union.  You can even discover new and innovative ways that other credit unions are using Twitter to communicate with their members.

2. Engage - just don't jump into Twitter because it is cool and everyone else is doing it. Find your purpose and reason for wanting to use Twitter.  I recommend using Twitter as a communication tool and not a marketing tool.

You may feel overwhelmed at first but start slow. I'll be honest that I have laid off Twitter for the past two weeks after Twittering for two straight weeks at credit union conferences.  I needed to disconnect and take a break. 

However, as I get caught up on the day to day, I will slowly get back into Twittering more again.  Feel free to follow along here: www.twitter.com/jrwlay

Shout back and let us know if and how you are using Twitter at your credit union.

Don't Overreact! Avoid Creating Your Own Economic Downturn

Guest post by Garrison Wynn

Are we doing all we can to weather adifficult economy? In previous articles, I've pointed out that some people fare better than others. A few of us are even defiant in our approach. I recently saw a lady wearing a button that read "I refuse to participate in the recession." I guess that's better than wearing one that says "I've lost the will to live!"

Most of us are doing the best we can, but "the best we can" might not be good enough. We might need to do things better than we can, which means we have to look at how we think, examine what we believe and even get some help.

Do we hunker down, cut back all our expenses, let a few people go, watch the news and prepare for the world to end? Or do we increase our efforts, pinpoint our markets (which means targeting those who actually have money) and make sure our bosses, customers and employees can see our value?

Click here for the full post, including Garrison's Practical Pointers for Surviving a Tough Economy.