MADISON, WI (October 2, 2014) -- Six credit unions were the winners in the 10th annual CUNA Operations, Sales & Service (OpSS) Council’s Excellence Awards, which recognize innovative solutions optimizing credit union performance. The award winners were recognized during the council’s 17th annual conference, which took place September 21-24 in Las Vegas.
URW Community FCU in Danville, Va., won in the Branch Design category (assets < $150 Million) for their “Build It and They Will Come” entry. URW wanted a branch that set themselves apart from their competition. They took away the teller line, replaced it with pods creating a more inviting atmosphere. As a result, the members came and the branch reached profitability in one year, which is two years ahead of schedule. Oregon Community CU in Springfield, Ore., won in the Branch Design category (assets > $500 Million) for their “Salem Service Center: Branch Relocation with Non-Traditional Branch Design” entry. The credit union moved from a leased space with a traditional offering to a permanent more modern branch. 24/7 member access is achieved through NextGen ATMs, the teller line has been replaced with pods and now all staff are universal employees, called Service Center Representatives. This has streamlined staffing while improving member service.
Point Breeze CU in Hunt Valley, Md., won in the Miscellaneous category (assets > $500 Million) for their “Centralization of Lending and Changes to Improve Efficiency” entry. Point Breeze experienced record loan growth by centralizing the lending function. Improving goal communication and loan rate setting, lead to the growth. By bringing several functions under one roof the credit union was able to create staffing efficiency as well as improve employee schedules, which ultimately improved morale.
Nymeo FCU in Frederick, Md., won in the Sales and Service Management category (assets $150 Million to $500 Million) for their “Sales and Service Culture Transformation at Nymeo FCU” entry. A name change from ComStar to Nymeo FCU started a cultural revolution for staff and ultimately the membership. The three year, three phased approach started with roundtables between small employee groups and the CEO. Phase two focused on embracing the name change and training, including corporate wide Ritz Carlton Service Training. The branch positions were converted to a universal employee, called the Financial Concierge. Phase three focuses on setting and living up to expectations. Each year Nymeo has improved on their five areas of measured success; ROA, Member Retention, Organic Growth, Delinquency and Investment Services growth.
Red Canoe CU in Longview, Wash., won in the Sales and Service Management category (assets > $500 Million) for their “Award Winning Referrals and Rock of Stages” entry. Red Canoe reinforced their referral process by breaking down and documenting the process, then coaching their staff. The process improved employee skill by creating eight categories to train and monitor. They include: Making a Successful Referral; Knowing when to Refer a sale; Confirming Referral Opportunities; Product Category Review; Benefit Statements; Possible Benefits; Emphasizing Benefits of Talking to a Specialist and Successful Mystery Shop Reviews. The credit union then had employees use these new skills in their “Rock of Stages” campaign. A year long program designed to increase referrals to Red Canoe Financial Group, their investment services team. Both cleverly branded campaigns had contests that engaged the front line and led to improved results.
Travis CU in Vacaville, Calif., won “Best of Show” for their “Sales & Service Superheroes” entry. Travis CU knows that a successful culture is more than a single training session and they have proved that with their entry. Training is the foundation of a program aimed at giving their employees, “The power to improve their members’ financial lives.” Training comes in three tracks; introductory, mid level for member facing employees and advanced for supervisors. Once in the field the training is supported through internal campaigns and quarterly Superhero sales awards. As in all great cultures the stories of success are shared throughout the organization.
Travis has been committed to this approach for several years and has created several tools to support their sales success including: 2-2-2, a member on boarding process that requires member contact at 2 days, 2 weeks and another call after two more weeks; Competitive Offer, a system that mines a credit report and automatically sends an email to an employee to indicate a loan cross sale opportunity; And Travis Intelligence, an Oracle-based data warehouse that allows supervisors to executives a bird’s eye view of performance with the capability to drill down to a single employee.
All of this is reinforced through performance management. This comprehensive approach has allowed Travis to nearly triple their gross loan production in a little over two and a half years!
The OpSS Council Excellence Awards were created to identify, recognize, and share new approaches and solutions with universal application in the credit union movement. Winners were chosen based on strategy, process, application, and results.
Additional information about the awards and winning entries are available online at www.cunaopsscouncil.org - select the “Excellence Awards” link contained in the “Events” pull down menu.
Photo Caption –Left to right: Steve Langley, Travis CU; Steve Stryker, Scott CU; Shannon Carter, Point Breeze CU; Lyn Farley, URW Community FCU; Eric Black and Kristina Morgan, Nymeo FCU; Emerson Phillips and Ted Fitz, URW Community FCU; Stephanie Finck, First Community CU; Cheryl Doss and Archie Glass, URW Community FCU; Gloria Nunez, Travis CU; L.C. Moore, URW Community FCU; Michelle Trekas, Red Canoe CU; Angelito (Jojo) Cristobal, Travis CU; Rod Snyder and Ken Kelly, Red Canoe CU; Terri Baker and Marla Casley, Oregon Community CU; and Jaimie Galeano, Travis CU
CUNA OpSS Council
The CUNA Operations, Sales & Service (OpSS) Council is a member-led partnership of operations, sales, and service professionals dedicated to providing education, leadership, networking support, professional development tools, and expertise to its members in order to shape the enhancement of the role and diversity of operations in the credit union industry. The CUNA OpSS Council is one of the six organizations that make up the CUNA Councils, a network of more than 6,200 credit union professionals. For more information, visit www.cunaopsscouncil.org or www.cunacouncils.org.