By Ed Speed
I owe it all to Dion. Dion? Run Around Sue? The Wanderer?
No, not Dion DiMucci. I’m talking about James Dion of Dionco, Inc.
With a single phrase James Dion transformed my insights about member service, accelerated my career progression, and set me on the path for my personal success along with that of the credit union I was to lead one day as CEO.
James Dion is one of the world’s leading experts on retail service experiences. Take a look at his company’s website: www.dionco.com. Make sure you look at the page with his client list, which includes Microsoft, Harley-Davidson, Intel, Coca Cola, Ritz Carlton, HP and many other giants. His services are in demand around the world.
So, how did I come to meet up with a retail guru like Mr. Dion?
While serving as SVP of Strategic Planning at the $3-billion San Antonio Credit Union in 2002, I ran across an article by James Dion that addressed the future of face-to-face retail experiences in service industries that were being transformed by technology. This was at a time when the “branch-is-dead” movement was at a fever pitch.
On a whim, I called the offices of Dionco, Inc. and asked to speak to James. To my surprise he came on the line immediately. I told him that we were a retail branch credit union and that I was interested in what readings he might recommend for me.
James asked about our retail approaches to branching and what we wanted to accomplish.
Then he said, “Ed, I going to give you a one sentence MBA in retailing that will change your life. Here it is: “All retail experiences are horizontal.”
Not one to take a statement like that lying down, I replied with a thoughtful, “uh, ok.”
James went on to tell me that retail experience surveys comparing one’s company to same-industry competitors are an expensive, wasteful, and dangerously misleading exercise. He said that every retail customer/member that comes in our door or calls on the phone is going to compare their experience not to some other credit union or bank experience but to their other retail service experiences during that same day.
For example: Let’s say a member went to the DMV to renew a driver’s license, then to their credit union branch and then to the post office. The branch visit was probably the best thing they experienced that day. On the other hand, let’s imagine that on another day the member called Land’s End, then our CU call center, then called Williams-Sonoma, one of the highest rated call centers in the world. How would we rate on that day?
The Harsh Reality
Here’s the hard reality. Our members don’t go to or call multiple CUs or banks during their normal daily activities. They go to restaurants, stores, the vet, the hair stylist, the doctor, or somewhere they will experience some sort of service. Those mundane, every-day, non-bank service providers are our competition for the “member satisfaction” scores that we covet. But if you look across the over-consulted landscape of credit union land, you never hear of this concept.
Dion’s understanding of retail service satisfaction is grounded in his credentials as a clinical psychologist. He brings his insights into the human condition to bear in understanding what makes people happy in a retail encounter. If our credit union movement is going to remain true to “people-helping-people,” we need to be listening to a James Dion rather than some tech guru.
James’s message is that success will come from making the member’s experience the best service experience they will have on any given day – not just the best banking experience they will have. Tech is about process. Service is about people.
I was privileged to work with an incredible team of young professionals when I became a CEO after I left SACU. I talked to them about all retail experiences being horizontal. They took Dion’s message and ran with it. In a short, seven-year span they developed, trained and nurtured a service culture that grew our credit union from two retail locations to 30, increased loans by 400%, total assets by 300% and members from 60,000 to 175,000. But more importantly they did so while achieving a 97% satisfaction rating with incredibly high net promoter scores. They didn’t care a bit about beating the local bank. They wanted to beat other local retailers for the heart, loyalty and wallet of the members.
It’s incredibly hard work to maintain a service culture that can compete for our member’s experience every day, but the results are incredibly rewarding. James Dion taught me it’s all about people and the service they experience in their everyday lives.
Edward Speed retired in 2012 as the CEO of a $2-billion credit union. He can be reached at Edwardspeed1948@yahoo.com.