Thing 13 of 30: Drop products and services that members don't want

September is 30 things I would implement or consider implementing at my credit union if I was a credit union leader.

Thing 13: Drop products and services that members don't want

Ever been to a restaurant with a seemingly unending menu? Pages and pages of choices with nothing that really stands out? It feels like the menu has never been edited. I much prefer a simple menu with a handful of awesome choices. I think financial institution clients do to. Think ING Direct.

I think credit union menus tend to grow and grow in an effort to keep up with banks and other competitors. If I were a credit union leader, I would review every product and service. If we had six different checking accounts, I would want to know why. I would edit and edit until we were left with only the essentials. This would require us to define our brand and figure out who our core members are and what they really want and need.

Vancity recently edited its services in two very big ways. The leadership team looked at the insurance division and realized that only a small percentage of its credit union members were buying insurance from Vancity. After careful consideration, Vancity sold its Insurance division to the Cooperators. Vancity also looked at its cross-Canada virtual offering, Citizen's Bank, and realized that the Canadian marketplace no longer had room for an entirely online bank and decided to go in a new direction.

Editing is not easy. Especially when your organization has been around for half a century or more. It's hard. It's painful. But ultimately, it's necessary and it's good.

Tim

P.S. I know, I know. There are a lot of Vancity examples in my 30 things blog series. Forgive me, Vancity just does a lot of things really well.

Thing 5 of 30: Thank your members (often)

September is 30 things I would implement or consider implementing at my credit union if I was a credit union leader.

Thing 5: thank your members (often)

How often do your staff members reach out and say thank you to your members? Not in mass-printed form like a newsletter, annual report or member satisfaction survey, I am talking about deliberate personal interactions just to say thanks for dealing with your credit union. This could be in the form of an e-mail, a phone call, a card or even in branch.

If your credit union is anything like the one I have been dealing with for the past decade, the answer would be never. This isn't the only reason I am right in the middle of moving my entire personal and business relationship to another credit union, but it did play a part in the decision.

I received a thank you card in the mail last week from the general manager of our new credit union. It made my day.

Maintaining a personal relationship with credit union members is only going to get harder. With the convenience of online banking and debit and credit cards, members rarely come into the branch anymore. If I was a credit union leader, I would head to the stationery store or the local printer and order a bunch of blank cards, give every staff member a big stack and encourage them to write at least one thank you note to a member every day.

Saying thank you is easy. Do it often.

Tim

Wrong your members and they'll tell two million friends!

1. United Airlines broke Dave Carroll's guitar
2. Dave reported it to United
3. United acknowledged that they broke the guitar but chose to do nothing
4. Dave told United he would write three songs and post them to the Internet
5. Dave's first video has been seen more than two million times in four days and has attracted more than 11,000 text comments

Lesson: In 2009, everyone has a voice and an audience. Act accordingly!

Tim

Human, humorous and helpful!

I am a member of Banktastic. It's a great financial-services-industry-resource-social-network-community thingy. The last couple of times I have logged in my dashboard says I have these two friend alerts from the same person. I have tried to accept them, but I get an error. Today, I decided to report the error and this is the message that I received back within about 15 minutes:

From: Mark McSpadden

Subject: Alerts that I can't clear

Tim,

Here at Banktastic, we believe friendship is something that has become too flippant in this age of social networks. Friends are added without a second thought and honestly we find this trend disturbing.

Therefore, within Banktastic, we make you fight for your friendships. A friendship is worth more than a few clicks. To reinforce this, we've randomized some friendships to not be accepted until after the 100th click. We hope this will help our members realize the importance and seriousness of social network friendships.

OK, not really. It's a bug we've seen a few times in some of our early member profiles and friendships. I'll clear it out this evening and let you know when you can expect an alert-free Banktastic experience.

Thanks for letting us know about it! (And for being my creative outlet for the day!)

Mark McSpadden

xxx-xxx-xxxx"

I loved this response. In this canned-message-mechanical-contact-center era, it's nice to receive a human, helpful and mighty humorous response. Is it appropriate for Banktastic? You bet. Is it appropriate for your credit union? Maybe not, but I sure hope that your frontline staff are allowed to deviate from the script. This experience once again proved to me that a brand is so much more than just a logo and a set of standards!

Tim

Are you asking your members for input and ideas?

My credit union doesn't ask for my input. In fact, it doesn't ask me for anything other than my username and password. I would imagine this is typical for many credit union members, especially as we move away from personal interactions and towards doing all of our business online.

It's really too bad since one of the attributes credit unions lean on most is a claim of better personal service. This loss of personal interaction puts a lot of distance between you and your credit union members.

If you are looking for a way to reconnect with your members and to find out what they are thinking and needing, you should study this website.

This is some information from Starbucks' top-prize-winning entry in the 2008 Groundswell Awards in the Embracing category.

MyStarbucksIdea.com is the first social media website from Starbucks. Our mission is to help us connect with our customers by co-creating the future of the company with them.

MSI (as it is known to the community) has four components:

Share: Where community members post their Starbucks Idea. Anyone can post an idea.

Vote: The site let's you easily see what other people have suggested and vote on the ideas you agree with. The community decides what's important and what is not.

Discuss: Inline comment streams allow community members to discuss ideas with other customers and about 40 Starbucks Idea Partners from various departments answer questions and provide insights to the discussions.

See: The "Ideas in Action" tab is the proof. Here is where we announce what actions have been taken and have further discussion around top ideas.

These four components provide a ongoing loop of discussion, interaction and, ultimately, action.

MyStarbucksIdea.com is the first true two-way conversation point for customers and the company to interact on a wide scale. We've found that customers very much want to have this conversation.

Traffic to the site has been immense right from the beginning. But the participation rates have been what is truly exciting. We've had nearly 75,000 ideas submitted in less than six months, with many ideas receiving thousands of votes and hundreds of comments.

Some ideas have been surprising to us: the top all-time idea is around having "Great Conversations" at Starbucks. More often, however, it has helped us prioritize our current efforts and initiatives.

From big ideas, like healthier morning and food options and bold coffee discussions, to smaller initiatives such as a "reusable cold cup," in just a few short months My Starbucks Idea has become a major force in helping direct the future of the company.

People sure are passionate about their coffee! Being that credit unions are built on co-operative principles, I think something like this could work wonders for a credit union that is really open to member participation.

What do you think?

Tim

Guest post: It's about the spinach, stupid. And the carts. And pretty much everything else

(Or what credit unions can learn from the mind of a disgruntled big box shopper.)

Dear SuperDuperBigMart [and credit union professionals],

When your new store [read: branch] opened near my house a few months back, I deliberately stayed away for a while. About three days to be exact. Finally the lure of cheap toilet paper [read: free chequing] became irresistible.

But the line. Oh sweet-mother-of-smiley-faces, the line. It. Could. Not. Have. Moved. Slower.

And the bag of spinach I picked up was already expired. Kind of weird since you just opened. [read: What? You’re out of envelopes at the ATM?]

Then there were the carts [read: brochures and other marketing paraphrenalia] scattered everywhere. Carts crying out for some sort of cart corral, if not a full-fledged cart jockey or two.

Today, I went back. Again, the parking lot was a mess. No one greeted me when I walked in the door [read: I thought it was about relationships?]. You didn’t have what I wanted [read: practical financial advice] and the items you did have, didn’t have any price on them [read: weren’t priced right].

When it was time to check out, you only had one cashier open [read: wicket]. No problem, I thought. I’ll use the self-checkout [read: profit-maximizing, expense-minimizing ATM]. But the technology worked against me. Finally, it stopped working altogether.

"Please wait for employee assistance!" it kept announcing in its loud, electronic voice. So I waited. And waited. And waited some more. But no one came to help. They walked right by. I just stood there helpless with my juice boxes and my garbage bags [read: U.S. cheques and other transactions].

Finally, I left my cheap toilet paper [read: free chequing account] in the cart and high tailed it out of there—‘cause seriously, I don’t have time to be ignored, no matter how low your prices are [read: don’t you want my money?!].

But then I thought maybe I should tell someone about my terrible, no-good, very bad day(s), so I logged onto your website. I used all 150 allowed words to tell you my story and then you sent me this—or rather, your computer did:

PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS E-MAIL
Please be advised that your email has been sent to the Customer Relations Department. You will receive a response in the shortest possible time. We thank you for visiting www.SuperDuperBigMart.com. We look forward to serving you on your next visit. Thank you.

Pardon me? The shortest possible time? By whose assessment? Not mine, obviously, or you would have responded by now. How about an actual service promise?

Making matters worse, I also read this on your website:

SuperDuperBigMart is committed to giving Canadians the best shopping experience in the marketplace by delivering everyday low prices, exceptional customer service, top-quality merchandise, and extensive community involvement, philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. SuperDuperBigMart has repeatedly listed among the 50 Best Companies to Work for in Canada, as published in Report on Business Magazine.

You know. I’ve always wondered what makes people go postal [read: bank?]. And now I know. Thank you, SuperDuperBigMart, for reminding me there’s more to being super than just having 'SuperDuper' in your name.

Oh, and if you’re thinking of calling me today, please note I’ll be out re-buying all the things I tried to buy at your store yesterday, this time with my three-year-old in tow. [read: Where is Mount Lehman Credit Union anyway?]

Signed,

Some crazy lady in Surrey

Colleen

About our guest blogger: Colleen Pepper is a freelance writer and editor specializing in the credit union industry since 2001. Colleen writes radio spots, campaign collateral and more serious things like annual reports, brochures and newsletters. This week a client asked her to write a letter telling members their account manager died, demonstrating that she can do funny and funerals—although whether a letter is the right choice for the latter is a blog in itself. Colleen has a B.A. in Communications and History from Trinity Western University. In her spare time, she is a mom and aspiring mystery shopper. She’s recently discovered how much she hates SuperDuperBigMart—or at least the sparkly, brand new one by her house.

Good e-commerce beats great local service every time

A recent chain of events reminded me that dealing with a good self-service, e-commerce website can be so much better than dealing with good-hearted, human beings that offer great customer service. Let me tell you my little story.

On July 28, I went to turn on our TV and heard the lamp pop. Our TV is a Samsung DLP rear projection unit purchased about five years ago. At the time, a plasma screen was north of five grand and out of our budget. My first instinct was to jump in the car and go to Costco or Best Buy and replace the TV, but my wife (the more practical one) convinced me to just replace the lamp.

First stop, the electronics store where I purchased the TV. "Sorry sir, we no longer carry that style of TV and we can't order the lamps either." I went home, did a quick search online, found compatible lamps on eBay and other sources. But my former Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce President voice in the back of head said, "You should try to shop local." A call to another locally owned electronics store yielded success, or so I thought.

On August 10, after returning from our summer vacation, I checked in with the store. The good hearted, polite clerk checked his records, but couldn't find any record of the order. "Call back tomorrow, 'Mike' will be back."

I went back and forth for a month. All the while being given friendly, prompt attention. Great customer service but lacking a great product.

"Sorry, the lamp is backordered."

"Sorry Mr. McAlpine, we've tried another supplier and they are looking at another source."

All with a smile and a good heart.

After missing the Olympics, I decided I wasn't going to miss the premier episodes of a few of my favourite shows, so I went online again five days ago, clicked on the top link, got a trustworthy looking website, entered the product code, entered my credit card info and my TV is now working. I called the local shop, got my credit card deposit back and now have an extra $100 in my pocket.

Questions raised relevant to credit unions

• Are credit unions kidding themselves with the local, actual people, better service myth?
• If the perceived switching inconvenience factor was removed, would your credit union members hang around?
• Once there is no need for branch visits for things like signature cards and forms, why should members care about the local credit union?
• Is your credit union's e-commerce up to snuff?
• What is your credit union doing so much better than the other options out there that your members would never consider moving?
• How are you raising your products and services above commodity level and building member loyalty?

Granted, my TV story might not be the best example of great customer service, but it did get me thinking.

Tim

When front-line gold goes away

In all the mystery shopping I've done at various credit unions and banks, if I was going to put a percentage on the number of good tellers/reps vs. the number of brilliant tellers/reps, I'd say it was 8 to 1.

One thing that I think is wrong, wrong, wrong is that these brilliant people get promoted AWAY from the members. Before you freak out, let me explain.

Yes, these fantastic people need to stay within the organization. Yes, these fantastic people need to be rewarded for their fantastic-ness. But the answer is not to jump pluck them off the front line and plant them higher up. Here are some of my ideas:

• Sit down and have a heart-to-heart chat about how valuable this brilliant person is to your credit union, and discuss a long-term career path for him/her
• Have the brilliant person take a personality profile so you can zero in on finding the next brilliant person (don't just automatically promote up the ranks unless you know you've got another brilliant person waiting their chance to shine)
• On the way to their new path, include the brilliant person in your replacement plan. This means there's a two-month job sharing that will happen with brilliant person and brilliant person-to-be to transfer the brilliant skills

My last comment is this: brilliant front-line people are gold. Pay them (cash) and reward them (benefits) accordingly.

Disagree or have a different perspective? Share it with me!

Nala

"If you want a relationship, have it with a dog"

In the CUES Experience Podcast 03, Arkadi Kuhlman said:

"ING Direct earns the respect of our customers through repeated transactions, not by having kids run through wheat fields and by telling everyone we are into relationships. If you want a relationship, have it with a dog. Why you would want a relationship with a financial institution is beyond me."

Arkadi Kuhlman is the Chairman, CEO and President of ING Direct USA. He said these words very matter-of-factly during his keynote presentation. He also scoffed at the notion of having a CRM system, segmenting customers and analyzing customer profitability.

Arkadi is the self-professed bad-boy of banking. He is controversial and outspoken. His presentation was bold and opinionated and hard to ignore. He obviously knows a thing or two about building a new bank—ING Direct USA is only seven years old and has $80 billion in assets and 7,000,000 customers. All of this with only a website, a call centre, consistent marketing and a simple value proposition.

If you make a fuss or want special treatment, ING Direct closes your account. In fact, ING Direct close 5,000 of the 100,000 new accounts it opens every month. Despite these hard-nose tactics, ING Direct has a 96% satisfaction rating and a 60% Net Promoter Score.

What gives? This idea of not building relationships with customers is the exact opposite of what most credit unions have based their business strategy on. ING Direct's numbers don't lie—$1 billion of new money goes into it's simple one-rate savings accounts every month.

Meanwhile, credit unions attempt to build deep relationships with everyone by offering a broad menu of products and services.

Are credit unions wrong or is there room for both business models to work?

Tim

Superior service: The white lies we tell ourselves and our members

The unprovable claim of superior member service

Many credit unions hang their reputation and their brand on a claim of superior member service. Not only is this not a significant marketplace differentiator, in my experience, it is not necessarily true.

My experience

I have 100% of my personal and business banking with one of Canada's 10 largest credit unions. On the personal side, I have been with this credit union for over a decade. On the professional side, I moved my business account within the last two years from one of the big five Canadian banks to my credit union. I felt strongly that if Currency was going to work only with credit unions that we should do our business banking with a credit union.

Reality check

Eryn Fraser, our Director of Finance, works two-and-half-days a week. This means that at least once every two weeks, I visit the credit union to do the banking. I have been into the branch more than 50 times in the last two years, yet the front-line staff still don't know my name. Even though they have a seven-figure CRM system, they don't even try to fake-know me.

After I have made a deposit or paid some bills, the conversation typically goes like this: 

Tim says, "May I have my balance please?"

Jennifer or Terry says, "Are you a signer?"

Every 20 visits or so, throw me a bone with something like:

"Hey Tim, how's that credit union marketing thing going?"

Would that be so hard?

As I have made it abundantly clear on this blog, I have a personal connection with the credit union movement. Fundamentally, I don't like what huge banks stand for with their focus on driving shareholder profit above all else. However, the personal service that I received from my previous bank was actually superior to the service that I now receive from my credit union. A number of the bank tellers knew me by name and regularly asked me how my business was going and how my wife and kids where doing.

How can your credit union deliver on this superior service promise?

I have written a number of CU Branding 101 posts that describe in detail why your credit union needs to differentiate on more than service, but since so few credit unions are taking my advice, let's talk about this built-in credit union promise of superior service.

If your credit union is going to continue to proclaim that your people are your difference, your credit union needs to prove it. Everyday.

As your credit union grows, great service must be part of your organization's DNA. Great service must be a mandatory job requirement from every staff member. These simple steps would make a big difference to your members:

• Use members' names every chance you get. If your branch is small, your staff are probably already doing this. If your branch is big, use your CRM system to remind staff of the importance of taking a personal interest in members' lives.
• Educate your staff on the history of the credit union movement and the importance of superior member service. Your staff will respond—they want to believe in your organization and what it stands for.
• Respond to member communications pronto. This means e-mail and voicemail need to be returned within the hour.
• Answer your phone! This is simple, but so important.
• Acknowledge your members as they come in the door! You typically have a front desk with a greeter—have this person actually greet your members instead of avoiding eye contact!

Is my experience isolated? Is your credit union's service really superior?

Tim

P.S. I know Jennifer and Terry because they wear name tags. Maybe I should get one!