Timidity won’t get you very far if you want a successful credit union member experience. Yet, timidity is commonplace in many credit unions. Often, it’s seen as simply being polite or not unnecessarily pushing services.
But “not pushing” and “not informing” can easily become one and the same thing when dealing with members. The truth? Fear drives a lack of productive service, compromising your success at the grassroots level.
The single greatest killer of service
In Alex Goldfayn’s book, Selling Boldly, he tackles the problem of fear. Goldfayn discusses how fear keeps people from putting in the necessary work to grow organizations. In other words, laziness isn’t the root cause of task avoidance. It’s fear.
If you never overcome this fear, you won’t have excellent service. Goldfayn says, “It is impossible to outsell your mindset.” Similarly, it is impossible to outserve your mindset.
Here are some examples of fear’s nasty effects:
- You don’t greet all visitors because you fear getting a bad response, maybe based on an interpretation of their facial expressions or body language.
- You don’t write follow-up notes because you fear the person might receive it poorly.
- You don’t mention or cross-sell a relevant solution because you fear rejection.
These types of fears are based on assumptions, not evidence. And think about the goodwill (and business) lost when you let fear drive the bus in these few situations alone.
Fight against fear. It’s time to establish a positive mindset and serve boldly. Here are three ways to start.
#1: Serve with gratitude
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, it’s vital to analyze if you have grateful service. Are you thankful for your members . . . beyond saying you’re thankful for them?
Again, it’s impossible to out-serve your mindset.
If you aren’t sincerely grateful for your members, it won’t matter what you say. Your attitude imperceptibly leaks into your service.
Watch out for a cynical tendency to see members as annoying. You might even find yourself feeling this way about especially engaged members. These ungrateful thoughts sound like:
- Why do they keep calling?
- I’m tired of dealing with their problems.
- Ugh . . . I wish they’d stop coming in.
Instead, think of how lucky you are to have people that depend on you for help. Reward staff members who show proper gratitude, and have employees personally deliver “gratitude gifts” to members.
#2: Serve with perseverance
It’s hard to be a credit union, especially these days. It’s hard to serve members. At times, it feels like you encounter setback after setback. Will you let the setbacks eat you? Or will you keep going?
Here’s a tale of two CEOs:
- One told me about negative loan results the credit union was experiencing this year. But rather than blame it on marketing or throw up her hands, she insisted the only way through external difficulties was consistent communication and service. In other words, perseverance.
- Another CEO had a much different perspective. She told me the surrounding competitors were too large, the branch locations were too bad and the financials looked too poor. She sounded tired and ready to throw in the towel.
These attitudes trickle down to staff. Do they persevere? Or do they give up?
Teach everyone in your organization to power through nasty member interactions and bad days. There will always be more of them. Only your willingness to continue despite the bitter service moments will bring you to the sweeter ones.
#3: Serve with proactivity
Are you waiting for members to ask about your new auto loan? Or maybe you think they’ll bring up your new digital banking services? Let’s be honest . . . they probably won’t.
Your members aren’t always thinking about you. They likely don’t know everything you offer. You must be proactive. You must tell them.
This requires the courage to ask members questions and offer solutions. It’s only “pushy” if you present it that way. A few tactics to try out:
- Use a “did you know” question to educate members on services.
- Listen for verbal cues (e.g. “my car just broke down”) to inform relevant solutions.
- Take the lead in the conversation. You’re the expert here.
Remember: objections to these sorts of tactics are primarily motivated by fear. What’s the worst that can happen from being bold? Members say no? They shrug you off? You won’t offend them, and their rejections won’t typically be impolite.
Start your pathway to bold service with credit union member experience training. Many of your team members want to be bold . . . they just don’t know how. Teach them how to serve boldly, and see fruits material and immaterial alike.
