3 ways to improve your credit union’s reputation

Our reputation precedes us…in our personal lives and within our businesses.  Brands, including credit unions, have a reputation. Is yours good?

I recently started thinking about how reputation plays a big part in how we get more word of mouth referrals, which translates into how we gain new members and retain current members. So what prompted this?  A trip to the Taylor Swift Concert in Foxboro Massachusetts.

Here’s the thing…I will readily admit that I didn’t buy these tickets.  They were a gift from a friend. A longtime friend at that. About 5 days before the concert, Roger called me and he asked if I wanted to go to the Taylor Swift concert. He indicated that he had two tickets that someone had backed out on.  He told me if I wanted them, they were free! I thought…”well this isn’t the concert I’ve been waiting all my life for” and then I thought “her reputation is that she puts on a good show”.

So I took him up on the offer!

I wanted to use the event as homework. I wanted to study how the performance was structured, and how everything was pulled off in a well choreographed, systematic way, including the appearance of her off the cuff audience interactions. These are things that we learn as professional speakers as well. Performance is something I am always looking at. I’m constantly analyzing how I can get better at my performance, both on stage, and in my daily interactions.  At the time I accepted the tickets, I had no idea that her 2018 Stadium Tour was called the “Reputation Stadium Tour”!

As I think about the credit union industry, I wonder, how can you improve your reputation in the market you serve?  Here are three ways to start doing that now, Taylor Swift style.

1. Create a welcoming environment, and know where the line is. Often times, branch employees will greet customers, welcoming them into the branch. That welcome along with an awesome smile goes a long way. However, it can be too much if I am only three steps into the door when two employees fight over the welcome from over 10 feet away. It turns the experience in the opposite direction.  Create a simple process around the welcome greeting, establishing an invisible line in the branch that the customer needs to walk past in order to get the greeting. Then establish a flow of who should be handling the greeting so that multiple folks don’t do it at the same time. Be welcoming, like Taylor!
2. Surprise your members: I’ve mentioned this before here on CUInsight. The surprise effect creates a reputation of your brand and your branch employees, that will drive a ton more word of mouth referrals. Let’s get you started with something really simple. Pick 2 members today who visited your branch in the past seven days, buy them each a $5 gift card from Dunkin Donuts or Starbucks and upload an image of THEM (not you) for the e-gift card. You’ll need their email to send it to them. Make the message relevant to the current environment. For instance, if they recently got a car loan, put an image of the car on the card, with a message “I hope you are enjoying your new ride.” Do not put any message or branding for the credit union. Keep it about them.  Once you do these two, sit back and enjoy the care that you just put into your members. If you can surprise your fans like Taylor does you too will be a rockstar!
3. Show that you are thankful for your members! Don’t just tell them Thank You, show them! Establish a process of writing thank you cards to your members weekly. Start the process with just one! One Thank You card, written from the heart. Thanking them for visiting the branch, being a member, referring a new member, or anything you can think of that you can put into a card and mail via USPS. This process will establish a reputation for gratitude at your branch.

Implementing these three simple, straightforward tactics will establish your reputation if you don’t have one, they will turn around your reputation if you have a bad one, and they will increase your reputation in your market if you already have one. They will help you immensely so why not try them this week?  Have fun with it…Just like Taylor does on stage!