AUSTIN, Texas–New members are one thing: But profitable new members who become actively engaged in the credit union are quite another–and the differing results can be stark and determine a CU’s future.
Few credit unions have developed a better program for onboarding new members and moving to have them become active, multi-product members than has BECU, which annually reports robust membership growth but, more importantly, ensures those new members are more than just numbers.
That’s why BECU has been selected to address the fundamental and critical issue of effective member onboarding during the CUTomorrow Conference in Austin, Texas, Sept. 9-11. Two BECU reps will talk about what the credit union has learned about effectively engaging new members, regardless of the channel through which they joined the CU. Details can be fou
nd here.
According to BECU, it returned $186.8 million ($179 per member) to its members in the form of better rates and lower fees compared to bank averages, in 2017, which it is only able to do because of the high percentage of members that actively use it.
Can No Longer Afford It
“As credit unions do their strategic planning for 2019 and beyond, it’s difficult to think of any issue more important to credit union survivability and growth than making new members good members who cooperate in the cooperative,” said Frank J. Diekmann, Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info. “Credit unions can simply not afford to fill out a new member application and then be done. Fortunately, there are some credit unions that have gotten very, very good at onboarding new members, such as BECU. Even more fortunately, in the spirit of credit union cooperation, two BECU representatives will be on hand at the CUTomorrow meeting to share their expertise and lessons learned with attendees.”
Diekmann reminded the CUTomorrow meeting is now just five weeks away. The deadline to take advantage of the discounted room rate is also fewer than 10 days away.
The meeting at the Omni Hotel in downtown Austin, Texas includes a low registration fee of $499 that has been made possible by the support of sponsors that include Catalyst Corporate, Volcorp, Harland Clarke, CU*Answers, Emery Financial Group, CUNA Mutual and AdvantEdge Analytics.
James L. This & Associates is also co-sponsoring the meeting.
What Else is On Tap?
The BECU presentation on onboarding is just one of a dozen-plus sessions scheduled for the meeting, all based on feedback by CUToday.info readers.
The meeting will kick off on the evening of Sept. 9 with a special session led by Filene’s Joel Hartzler offering insights on how attendees can make the most of what they will learn over the next day and a half, along with sharing other practical lessons Filene has learned about implementing change. That will be bookended with a closing session led by Dr. James This on how to take home all of the information and strategies shared and effectively implement them.
Also on the agenda of the meeting, which is designed to tap the old-fashioned concept of credit union collaboration, are:
- Jim McCarthy, CEO of Trailhead Credit Union in Portland, Ore., who will share his credit union’s unique and effective approach to onboarding new employees.
- Bobby Michael, CEO of Army Aviation Center FCU and who has led both a $90-million CU and a billion-dollar credit union, who will share insights on building walletshare among current members.
- Shari Storm, CEO of Category 6 and a former CU exec, talking about “The Mom Market & How Credit Unions Have Built Marketshare Among Women.”
- Phillip Buell, CEO of Superior Credit Union, who will detail how his credit union has repeatedly delivered peer-leading results and growth.
- Bill Burke, CEO of Day Air Credit Union, will share his credit union’s “secret sauce” for success.
- Sandy Cloutier of Infinity FCU and Jeff Owen of Rochdale Group talking about how Infinity Federal has adjusted its approach to risk in order to drive greater growth.
- Lori Ho and Stacey Collins of BECU in Seattle, who discuss the lessons learned by the credit union in successfully onboarding new members and capturing relationships, and how it has changed its approach to doing so.
- Jane Dobbs, CEO of Canyon State Credit Union, who previously was brought in by NCUA to turn troubled credit unions around, will discuss the changes implemented at CSCU to drive its growth.
- The ‘Big First Day Q&A’ will put an exclamation point on day one, with all of the day one speakers returning to the podium for an hour of Q&A and discussion with attendees.
- Dave Klavitter of Dupaco Credit Union will discuss “Rethinking Rewards,” and how Dupaco has developed a “Thank Use” campaign to generate more relationships per member.
- Brad Smith of Cornerstone Advisors will address common issues in expense management, cost control and vendor management and how to successfully resolve them.
- John Sahagian of BCU and Anne Legg of CUNA Mutual AdvantEdge Analytics, will share how BCU has been able to drive greater revenues and improve member relationships thanks to analytics.
Special Bonus Session
There will also be a very special session on day two during which attendees will be able to share some challenges and issues they are facing at their credit unions and then have other attendees “crowdsource” ideas and experiences for overcoming those challenges.
“CUTomorrow is the result of feedback from the credit union community and readers of CUToday.info,” said Diekmann. “There won’t be a golf tournament or any 30,000-foot-views or TED Talks. What there will be are two days of ROI and collaboration.”
Registration information is available here.
A movie trailer about the meeting can be watched here.