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Mobile Banking: Seeing the Light

By Ron Jooss

At CUES' Directors Conference earlier this month, I had a "come to Jesus" moment during Richard Crone's presentation on mobile banking. Crone helped me see the light. You see, getting your members enrolled in mobile banking isn't simply about giving them the ability to make transactions through their cell phones, though that is a big part of it.

Not to overstate the obvious here, but cell phones are communication devices, and they offer a medium for credit unions to communicate with their members—on the members' terms.

As Crone pointed, you're already in the mobile banking business. Most of the calls to your call center are through mobile phones. A good percentage of those calls are for account balances or to verify deposits. With texting or short-messaging service (SMS), credit unions can proactively forward this information to their members—at the members' request. Talk about share of mind! Walk around your local mall and see how many young people have their mobile phones glued to their faces.

But it's not just young people. According to Yankee Group statistics provided by Crone, more than 80 percent of those 13 to 24 years old and 65 percent of adults use their mobile phone for text messaging in the U.S.

As Crone said during his presentation, "He who enrolls controls," so when browser-based mobile banking does take off—as well as mobile bill payment—your credit union will be in line to better serve its members.

I recently interviewed Terrence Roche of Cornerstone Advisors for an article I'm writing on technology planning. We were talking about member satisfaction, which as anybody knows in this business can be a nebulous concept. Part of member satisfaction, Roche said, was defending a niche the credit union feels it needs to keep or entering a niche it believes it can grab.

I think mobile banking is definitely a niche that is ripe for the taking for almost every credit union out there—if they want it, and if they think it's important to them. Amen.

Ron Jooss edits the General Management and Board sections of CUES' Credit Union Management.

Read more about mobile on CUES Nexus Connection and in this Credit Union Management article.

Hear more from the experts at Cornerstone Advisors during CUES Experience.

CU Goes ‘Bowling’

By Ron Jooss

Last week, I was maintaining my usual level of Sunday afternoon productivity watching football. As I did a bit of channel surfing I came across a college bowl preview show. On the crawler at the bottom of the screen I saw a match-up for the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. "Wow," I said to my wife, "There's a credit union that's sponsoring a bowl game." Then, the next day at work I heard one of my co-workers say to another colleague, "Hey, I saw a credit union is sponsoring one of the bowl games."

The words "credit union" and "bowl game" don't typically go together. Bowl games sponsorships are usually reserved for the big boys. You've got the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl, the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the AT&T Cotton Bowl, the Rose Bowl Game Presented by Citi … You get the picture.

I know: We are overwhelmed with less-than meaningful bowl games this time of year. But like it or not, those sponsorships give companies peace of mind with consumers. And most folks have plenty of downtime during the holidays, so they tune into those games. The sponsorships wouldn't be worth it for companies if they didn't pull in viewers.

Give $4 billion San Diego County CU credit for stepping up—on behalf of all credit unions. As banks and other financial services suppliers struggle to maintain their credibility, this is a time of opportunity for credit unions to increase their visibility. Maybe other credit unions—and the movement collectively—should look at big-ticket sponsorship opportunities.

Ron Jooss edits the General Management and Board sections of CUES' Credit Union Management.

Credit Union Kool Aid, Anyone?

By Ron Jooss

I receive a Google Alert under the search word "credit unions" each day in my mailbox. I don't get to it all the time, but awhile back I found an entry I found inspiring, and enlightening. Susan Epperson, VP/marketing at $68 million Henrico Credit Union, Richmond, Va., made this comment to David Weliver's Money under 30 blog. (Great blog by the way, David.) Susan's comment gave Weliver reason to come clean about his credit union addiction. Anyone familiar with blogs and Web 2.0 knows this drill, but this exchange struck me as significant during a very critical time for credit unions.

I thought Susan's post was persuasive and heartfelt without being too over the top. I gave her a call to see how often she spilled the credit union Kool Aid on line. As a marketer, she says she lurks on financial blogs and sites like Money Under 30 all the time, and when the right moment strikes her, she takes the time to share her very valuable knowledge—from a purely credit union perspective. "I take a lot of time to try and weed through the slick stuff and the fluff," she says. "We live and breathe this stuff all the time. So if I'm going to say something and put my name to it, I want to make sure it's reasonable, and tell people what they should look for, or not look for, or what not to be tricked in to."

I've read The Tipping Point, a wonderful book by Malcolm Gladwell, about how small ideas can become big ideas by simple word of mouth or through very special people who have a gift for sharing ideas with others, like Susan Epperson. Lots of other books tout similar ideas.

Right now, with our country in this financial mess, people are either angry or scratching their heads. Anyone who's not has their head in the clouds.

Credit unions may not have created this mess, but they are part of the aftermath. It's more important than ever to pat your employees on the back, let them know how critical member relationship building is—or whatmember relationship building is—and how important both your employees and your members are to the credit union. Then, encourage your managers to get on these blogs that fit their age group and interests and to spread the credit union gospel. At least get someone from your marketing department to do like Susan Epperson does for the good of your credit union, your community and the credit union industry. It's more important than ever that we leverage the Internet's power and ability to connect that we talk and read about so much.

As CUES members Tom Randle and Gary Easterling wrote in their posts, now is the time for credit union leadership. This won't solve the economic crisis, but it will be a small yet critical step in alleviating peoples' fears, especially those folks associated with credit unions.

Ron Jooss edits the General Management and Board sections of CUES' Credit Union Management magazine.

Read how another CU marketer, Laura Jensen, "spills the Kool Aid" in "Creating our own Buzz."

Walking the Talk

By Mary Arnold

Earlier this week the Michigan Credit Union League announced a $10 billion "Invest in America" program designed to help consumers afford new cars, while at the same time helping General Motors cut its inventories. This is a shining example of how credit unions, working together, can impact not just their individual members but the American economy. In fact, it sounds like just what Gary Easterling, CCE, was thinking of when he wrote "Main Street in Crisis: The Credit Union Difference."

According to the league, Invest in America is "a partnership between General Motors and 1,200 Midwest credit unions [that] will offer credit union members supplier pricing on new vehicles and make $10 billion in auto loans available." The program is open to members in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio--now through June of 2009. Credit unions in those states can send their members to LoveMyCreditUnion.org for more information.

In a visit to this site, I learned that through Jan. 9 members can save an extra $250, that "in most cases, you can combine current incentives and GM reward card earnings, and that there's "no haggling with salespeople, no having to go from dealer to dealer. Just click on Credit Union Discount From GM button to get cruising in your new car."

The pilot could be expanded to other states, and Chrysler and Ford have also been invited to participate. The program is being coordinated by Michigan league affiliate CUCorp in coordination with the four state trade associations and CUNA.

I'm currently shopping for a new car. Wish I could get in on the action, especially the not having to go from dealer to dealer part!

You Don’t Want Dessert With That, Do You?

By Kelly Ketelboeter

Recently my husband and I were out to dinner. At the end of our meal the server came over and asked, "You didn't want dessert, did you?" My husband and I just looked at each other. Was he really asking us a question? Or was he saying, "Hey, buddy, your wife definitely doesn't need dessert!" I prefer to believe he was asking us a question. Either way we did not want dessert. The server then went on to say, "They told us we have to ask each customer if they want dessert. Isn't that ridiculous? If you wanted dessert you would ask for it." I just chuckled as he took our check and walked away.

Then I got to thinking and it hit me. That's probably how a lot of credit union staff feel when they are asked to start cross-selling. Then I was struck with a horrifying thought. When our staff are cross-selling, are they saying the same thing to members that our server said to us? Our server was in fact attempting to cross-sell us dessert. But he only did do so because someone told him he had to.

This is a classic case of managers managing staff rather than coaching them to get the results they want. Just telling someone to cross-sell (managing) isn't going to be enough for them to change their behavior. In fact, you will get push-back and attempts at cross-selling like I experienced at the restaurant. Can you imagine a teller saying to a member, "You aren't interested in our checking account are you? I was told I had to ask every member." Are you as horrified as I am?! I hope so!

This is one area where I believe a lot of coaches and managers struggle. They don't understand the difference between coaching and managing. They are more comfortable managing because they are good at it. They don't see that in some cases it is appropriate and more effective to manage and in other cases it is more appropriate and effective to coach. So what is the difference? What does coaching look like? What does managing look like?

Coaching is the act of guiding people to reach their highest potential and achieve or exceed personal, team and corporate goals—for example, leading employees to answer their own questions rather than giving them the answers.

Managing is the act of handling, organizing or controlling something successfully—for example telling the employee what to do and, perhaps, how to do it.

As leaders, sometimes we need to organize, handle or control something. Other times we need to guide our people to reach their potential. In the case of our server, I believe his manager was trying to handle or control staff to get them to increase sales by cross-selling dessert. Obviously that back-fired.

I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the manager "told" the employees what to do. I can just picture rallying the troops before a shift starts and telling them, "Ask everyone you serve tonight if they want dessert. Be sure to have the dessert menu handy to show them pictures of our desserts and recommend something to them. Tell them they deserve to indulge today with dessert. Now let's get out there and sell some brownies!!

We'll never know what was really said to our server. What we can tell by his behavior is that it didn't work. In our case, it was obvious the server did not want to "sell" us dessert and only did it because he was told to.

How do you think the manager of the restaurant could have coached his employees on cross-selling dessert? One approach is to start the team meeting by asking a question and getting staff involved. This helps increase buy-in and the likelihood the staff will follow through. The manager could ask, "What can we do to entice our guests to indulge in dessert today?" Or "How can we entice guests to indulge in dessert today?" The manager might also explain how guests purchasing desserts is important to the vitality of the restaurant. Explaining why it's important helps the staff feel more connected to the restaurant's goals.

Throughout the shift, the manager can further support staff's efforts by coaching on the spot. He could ask, "How are your efforts working in helping guests indulge in dessert?" Or, "What's working for you in offering dessert to guests tonight?" The goal is for the manager to follow up on and identify the behaviors the staff member is applying in achieving cross-sells. This will show the staff that it is important and how their efforts are paying off.

In order to be effective we need both coaching and managing. The challenge is in knowing what approach is most effective for each situation. The more aware we are of coaching and management behaviors, the easier it becomes to discover the most effective approach. Likewise, the more we challenge our own comfort zones and try different approaches, the more effective our staff will become in improving members' financial lives.

Kelly Ketelboeter is chief operating officer and VP/national training for Michael Neill and Associates, Atlanta, CUES' partner in ServiStar™. Kelly penned the original version of this article for an MNA newsletter.

Read two articles by MNA's Michael Neill, CSE: "Stalking the True Sales/Service Culture" and "What Makes a Top Sales/Service Performer?"

Attend CUES' School of Sales & Service, featuring MNA presenters, Feb. 10-13 in San Antonio.

 

CU HARP: Will it Play?

By Mary Arnold

Since I left this comment on Friday about the Member Mortgage Relief Initiative, which a group of credit unions proposed to NCUA, the agency looks like it is serious about backing it. In a press release yesterday, "NCUA unveiled a new initiative aimed at assisting credit union members who are experiencing mortgage-related financial difficulties to preserve their homeownership.

"The Credit Union Homeowners Affordability Relief Program (CU HARP) would enable NCUA, through the Central Liquidity Facility, to work with credit unions and their members in temporarily lowering monthly mortgage payments. The CLF would provide credit unions with funds borrowed from the Department of Treasury at lower rates than otherwise available through private sources. In turn credit unions would pass the entire rate reduction to struggling low- and moderate-income borrowers. The credit union, in exchange for the reduced likelihood of borrower default on the mortgage, would also match the rate break, doubling the benefit to struggling homeowners." 

“My principal reason for advancing CU HARP is simple: The consumer must not be left out of the broader government efforts to mitigate the housing and credit market dislocations,” stated Chairman Fryzel. “CU HARP is an effort to foster a solution whereby the NCUA and credit unions work together to assist distressed borrowers.  It represents what I believe to be an innovative and practical use of federal homeowner assistance that will also benefit credit unions and the market. At the same time, the standards and requirements for CU HARP participation will be stringent and will enable NCUA to be responsible stewards of any public funds used. CU HARP will be a ‘win-win’ for all involved.”

As part of that win-win, the plan involves no spending of taxpayer dollars, something CUs can continue to feel good about. "CLF loans are made to credit unions on a fully-secured basis, and all advances received by the CLF will be repaid to the Federal Financing Bank (an arm of Treasury) with interest," the release explains.

NCUA's announcement comes on the heels of last week's change to the bailout plan, which eliminated CUs' possible use of TARP funding. Though, theoretically, being eligible for TARP placed credit unions on "equal footing" with the rest of the financial industry, most credit unions are already on higher ground, thank you very much, and eager to help their members--not to obtain taxpayer assistance.

To go forward, CU HARP must be approved by the NCUA Board, as well as the Treasury Department and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, according to NCUA's release.

Initial funding would be $2 billion. What do you think? Does this have legs?

Mary Arnold is VP/publications for CUES.

Creating our own Buzz

By Ron Jooss

Last week, Laura Jensen of 1st Pacific Credit Union, Vallejo, Calif., sent the following e-mail to CUES Net, our members-only e-mail discussion group, in response to a routine question about debit card policy. Note the last sentence, in particular.

"I rented a car from Alamo in San Diego. I made the reservation with my debit card. When I arrived to pick up the car, they refused to rent to me until I proved to them I had booked a return flight. Apparently there are renters out there who intend to pay by debit card when they return the car. The problem is they don't return the car… perhaps that is related to the excessive charges (sometimes charged to members when they pay for car rentals via debit card)?

Incidentally, I did show them my return flight itinerary, paid for the rental (with my debit card) when I returned the car, and had no issues with he charged to my debit card. And, I convinced the rental agent to transfer his Visa balance with Bank of America to any of the fine credit unions in San Diego!"

Obviously, Laura drinks the credit union Kool-Aid, as do so many of us who are involved with credit unions. But Laura's e-mail did cause me to pause. Do we all make the most of opportunities like this to sell people on the credit union movement? Sure, it's important, but more than that, we're lucky we work—and interact with each other—within an industry that we can so proudly share with people.

Can you imagine if you worked in the airline industry, or for a petroleum company. Nothing against the folks who punch the clock for companies within those industries. I once worked for a bank, and the people I worked beside were no different than the credit union people I work with today. I think everyone understands that.

But credit union folks are the rare people in the business world who can actually tell others that we offer a better deal for consumers. Not many people in the business world have that opportunity. I suggest we take advantage of it whenever we can.

Ron Jooss edits the General Management and Board sections of CUES' Credit Union Management magazine.

Read more marketing posts on the CUES Nexus Connection blog.

Main Street in Crisis–The Credit Union Difference

By Gary Easterling, CCE

Our members, our communities, and our nation need the credit union difference. Today is the day for the accumulated strength of the credit union movement to step up and give back to the member-owners.

Our banking cousins are "paying" for their obscene profits from recent years by squealing up to the TARP trough, allowing the taxpayer to pick up the tab for their greed. Credit unions have the opportunity to live our difference—meeting the needs of our members, our communities, and our country.

Banks have not expanded lending, even while accessing government funds. They repair their balance sheets, seek mergers and acquisitions, focusing on Wall Street performance, rather than Main Street need.

The credit union difference has always been absent the profit motive, greed from ownership. This is why credit unions did not make record profits in recent years. This is why credit unions are not paying the price for excessive risk today. This is why credit unions stand ready to help Main Street in crisis.

Action Plan–The Credit Union Difference. The credit union difference action plan is to demonstrate our willingness to rush into the panic with a helping hand. While others are fleeing with their hands filled with personal wealth, the credit union difference can spurn the personal profit motive and provide a lift to an ailing economy. Our action plan is three-fold.

First, our credit unions must join together in service to our members. Serving our members is why we exist. It is the right thing to do. The need is real, the crisis is now, and urgency is the watch word. It is good business and through member referral you will grow market share.

Second we must document our story. It isn't enough to do the right thing; we need to capture the details of our actions. By documenting our story we place it in the context of our response plan to the current economic crisis.

Third we must share the story with our community, our legislators, and our regulators. Credit unions have long identified themselves as the best kept secret. Telling our story is essential. Our members, our communities, our country needs to know credit unions are here with a solution.

Our message to our legislators should be: The only thing restricting our ability to stimulate our economy is:

• legislation that restricts member access to credit unions (FOM limitations);
• legislation that restricts our service to the business community (business lending cap);
• legislation that restricts our capital requirements (risk-based capital); and
• legislation that restricts access to more capital (secondary capital).

Our message to our regulators is that capital belongs to our members, and in our current economic environment we plan to use our capital to help our members get through this recession.

Tactics–The Credit Union Difference. Margins are tight, but rather than building capital on the backs of our membership, we need to shrink our margins to return more value to our members, stimulate our local economy, and pull our country out of the recession.

Net income is precious, but we need to engage our members and potential members with the message, "We are here for you"; or as my credit union's tag line says, "We'll get you there." The best kept secret needs to be secret no more. Spend some money and get the message out. Our members deserve to know we are here to help them.

It's time for a little charitable service. Return to our tradition: not-for-profit, not-for charity, but for service. For years we have built up capital. We like our capital. It is for safety and soundness. Our regulators like our capital. It is our rainy day fund. We say our capital belongs to our members. Well I've got news for you, our members are standing in the rain and we have the umbrella they need. We have the opportunity, the capacity, and the duty to help them. This is not the time to build capital on the backs of an overly burdened membership. This is the time to live our motto: People helping people.

Leadership–The Credit Union Difference. Leadership in this crisis and responsiveness to the need will serve us well in the state houses and on Capitol Hill. As the lawmakers stew and brew tighter oversight and increased regulation, our credit union movement, highlighting our heroes in action, can gain new powers in the face of tighter regulation as part of our economic stimulus. It is not enough to claim we were not part of the problem; we must demonstrate we are part of the solution.

There is need for reform, but not all reform should be tighter controls. Do we need improved oversight where personal greed can bias corporate actions away from public good? Yes! Do we need to empower and enable organizations that have embedded in their corporate DNA service to the public good? Yes!

Coming together as leaders we can finally demonstrate the credit union difference to our members, our communities, and our lawmakers.

Gary Easterling, CCE, is president/CEO of $745 million United Federal Credit Union, St. Joseph, Mich.

Read another post by Gary Easterling.

CEO Network: Be There or Be Remote

By Mary Arnold

Over the last few weeks, Christopher and Ron have been introducing you to some of the CEO Network speakers who will help make next week's conference as relevant and up-to-the-minute as possible for attendees. CUES CEO Fred Johnson has also talked about how CUES is offering a pay-what-you-can option to help more executives attend--and collaborate--during these tough economic times.

Now, I'm excited to report that you don't even need to travel to Las Vegas to take advantage of at least some CEO Network content. CUES members can listen in to four sessions via live, streaming video. You can even text in questions!

Here are the sessions and times (all except Dennis Dollar are on Monday, with Dollar's election day perspecitives on Tuesday):

• Ben Stein, actor, economist and speaker, Santa Monica, Calif.—"Life, the Economy, and What's Next," Monday, Nov. 3, 8-9 a.m. Pacific Standard Time
• Tom Gardner, one half of the Motley Fool—"Market Update: Where We've Been, Where We're Going, and How it May Affect Your Business," Monday, Nov. 3, 3:45-4:45 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
• David W. Colby, chief economist, CUNA Mutual Group, Madison, Wis.—"Managing Through the Economic Cycle and Charting a Course for Strategic Success," Monday, Nov. 3, 11:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. or 2:15-3 p.m. Pacific Standard Time
• Dennis Dollar, former NCUA chairman and principal, Dollar Associates, Birmingham, Ala.—"Election Day 2008: A Credit Union Insider's Perspective on What Election Day 2008 May Bring," Tuesday, Nov. 4, 8:-9:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time

Hope to see some of you in Vegas--if you're there, look me up! If not, be sure to tune in. I virtually attended some Forum Symposium sessions earlier this month and it really was the next best thing to being there.

Mary Arnold is VP/publications for CUES.

CUs: The Next 100 Years

By Mary Arnold

In honor of the 100th anniversary of U.S. credit unions (our Canadian friends already reached this esteemed mark in 2000), CUES will be proposing a toast during CEO Network's awards banquet. And I'm looking forward to lifting my glass high to celebrate this accomplishment with all of you who will be in attendance.

With all that's going on in the financial world these days, an anniversary might not seem like something to spend a lot of time and thought on. But just as Morriss reminded us on International Credit Union Day, it's good to stop, if only briefly, to remember what makes credit unions great and what an important impact you have on members' lives.

Many federal credit unions were formed during The Great Depression (or, as my daughter so aptly calls it, The Desperation). People needed credit unions then, just as they need them now.

But that's just my two cents. How do YOU think credit unions have distinguished themselves in the marketplace in their first 100 years? And, even more important, what are your hopes for the next 100?

Mary Arnold is VP/publications for CUES.