By Frank J. Diekmann
Here’s something to perhaps think about for 2017 as you look at the culture inside your credit union.
Next From Dan Brown: The Da Volunteeri Code
I was at a social function during a recent credit union meeting when I spoke with a young woman who is responsible for her credit union’s credit card services, and she shared with me an interesting observation. She noted that every month she sees members of her CU’s board show up for the board meeting and disappear behind a closed door.
“I always wonder what goes on in there,” she told me. I responded that if it made her feel any better, there’s a good chance that so do they.
But her point also shone a light on what is likely an issue at many credit unions, and that is a disconnect between the board and the rank-and-file workers who see the elected volunteers as some sort of mysterious illuminati who speak only with the CEO and are featured in novels by Dan Brown. That’s unfortunate on a lot of levels for any credit union.
So why not a brief report every month from the board to the staff on “Here’s what we discussed, and why?” And even more valuable would be a listing of “here’s what we heard from the staff and how we acted on it.” Yes, I get there are confidential issues discussed at board meetings, and they can remain confidential. But “what goes on in there” shouldn’t be a secret.
Instead, it should be a competitive strength internally as well as externally, and not just a bullet point on the list of bank/CU differences.
Credit Unions, You’re Not Alone In Becoming Alone
It isn’t just credit union names be chiseled each month on crypts inside the Money Mortuary. Per the latest Trends Report from CUNA Mutual Group, “the pace of consolidation continues in both the credit union and banking industries. The number of FDIC-insured banks fell by 290 during the last 12 months ending in June 2016. This leaves a grand total of 6,058 banks in operation, five fewer than the total number of credit unions. This consolidation is eliminating the excess capacity in the financial services space, cutting duplication of operating costs, culling layers of overlapping management and allowing for scale to squeeze better deals from suppliers. This consolidation trend will lead to larger and more efficient depository institutions with lower operating expense ratios and a more competitive financial services industry.”
In other words, even more focus on the lean and mean when it comes to the green.
Who Says You Can’t Get Much Entertainment for a Buck?
If you’re interested in a cool and interesting app that can turn a dollar bill into a 3-D video experience, and which might be cool for some of those school presentations, download the “1600” app. You’ll get a pop up White House as part of an augmented reality experience (as opposed to the standard augmented reality that takes place at the White House). You can find it here.
The Safe Way to Be Forgotten
It’s no easy feat to develop something that goes viral. Your $100,000 budget for an edgy marketing campaign can easily be eclipsed by some pre-teen’s zero-dollar-budgeted video of being perplexed by the complexities of a toaster. Same thing is true of hashtags, which more often than not are #NotGoingViral.
So, if you want to give a hashtag a chance of catching on you must be willing to take some chances, as cooperatives in Australia recently did with a social media campaign themed #switchnotbitch. Launched in that country by the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals, the goal was to urge consumers to be proactive about their choices in financial institutions.
Of course, you can always play it safe with something cutting edge such as #JoinUsAndSave. Because that’s so memor… What was it again?
You May Have It Backward
There is enormous discussion, analysis and more around consumer behavior, including in financial services over what drives the channels people use. Too often there is an over-simplification that channels are driven by the age of a consumer, and it appears some conventional wisdom isn’t so wise after all.
As CUToday.info reported here, there is some interesting new research from Fiserv that shows that transaction type and life stage often relate to how people do their banking and make channel choices.
The research, conducted by Fiserv as part of its Expectations and Experiences quarterly consumer trends survey, also found consumersincreasingly expect financial services on-demand and on their terms, yet while a majority of consumers prefer online or mobile banking for day-to-day interactions, a “surprisingly high” number of consumers still visit the branch.
Perhaps most surprising was the findings that late Millennials, ages 25 to 35, reported visiting a branch 4.6 times in the last month – higher than any other generation and much higher than the overall average of 2.9 times.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or @FrankCUToday.