Check that your products and services haven’t passed the expiration date

One of the toughest parts of strategy is letting go when it is time to quit something.  It may be harder for us as credit union employees than those in other industries to let go. Let’s be honest, we work for credit unions because we care about individuals. We are an industry based on caring for people before profit.  Before we consider implementing a no coin deposit policy because we don’t have a coin counter, we actually picture the sweet eighty year old woman who brings in her jar of coins that we faithfully count out for her.  It is a good thing that the individual matters so much to us as credit unions. But maybe it also prevents us from implementing some things we should be doing and stopping some things we shouldn’t be doing. Perhaps it is time to figure out some way to meet the needs of our one older member who brings in her coins, while implementing the new policy across the credit union at the same time.

We had to implement this type of tough change at our credit union recently.  Holiday accounts are a fun savings account, and work extremely well at many credit unions. We still host holiday accounts too, and we serve a low income clientele. Over time, it became clear that for the majority of our members accessing the account, most were unable to afford to hold their funds in the account all year and were paying a small early withdrawal penalty several times a year. The members who could ‘afford’ to leave the funds untouched throughout the year were essentially utilizing the product as a Certificate of Deposit, never withdrawing the funds over the holiday season because their goal was to support the credit union rather than saving money.  Some of these untouched accounts went dormant, without other loans or services ever being accessed. We recognized that the members who most needed the assistance in saving for the holiday were harmed the most by the holiday product, while the ones who had the safety cushion of an emergency fund could use an alternate product just as easily. We decided to discontinue the savings account for 2017 and transition members to comparable, competitive CDs.  In the process of change, we must also acknowledge that not everyone will be happy with the change.   Iterations are important.  It was time for us to review this product, and the decision will give us the opportunity to perhaps consider a stronger relaunch with a better holiday club product in the future.

The wrong actions can be costly, but inaction can also be costly.  When credit unions stay status quo for too long, it costs opportunity for growth or improvement.  Ignoring what members are using or not using creates scenarios where we do the same things for too long at the expense of being relevant. Good strategy is understanding when it is time to change and move forward, and what to hold on to in the process. Here are several questions to ask before you get started.

Are you aware of how many members are accessing this product?  This answer is more than merely pulling a report and looking at the number of members who have this loan or account type. Really – this answer may be very different from how many accounts you have. Maybe your credit union has a legacy account type that is no longer being promoted by staff or appropriately accessed by members.  Like our holiday account, just because the product is attached to a list of members does not mean that the product is serving the original intent. Identify whether lack of communication and effort has caused underutilization. If not, maybe it is time to let go.

Are you aware of the profitability and benefits of this product? Again, this may seem like an obvious question but sometimes credit unions hold on to things because a small group of vocal members likes this product or service. Make sure to evaluate the costs of maintaining a particular product or service, including staff time, reporting, back office or anything else that goes into monitoring the product.  Check what the profile of the members using the product looks like. If the majority of the account holders of this profile are one- product accounts, maybe it is not getting your credit union to where it needs to go. All accounts, whether active or dormant require some level of staff time and attention. You may be holding on to a product for a few members at the expense of launching a product that will serve many members.

Does a change to the product, strategy or process create an improvement?   Directly related to the previous question, understanding the original intention of a product can help revive it back to a relevant version of itself. Not everything needs a complete overhaul. If you have ever made one small change to your personal routine or environment that made a big impact, you know what this means.  Your product might just need a new communication or marketing strategy.  Perhaps one product bundled with another can create a great marketing promotion.   Maybe your front-line employees merely need better training about how to communicate the benefits of this product.

Pulling products or changing strategies can be a difficult process. Change is never easy, and it always makes some people uncomfortable, whether they are employees or members. However, even the largest credit unions have resource and communications limitations. At the end of the day, make sure you are leveraging what will most benefit your members. Sometimes it means reallocating time, resources and attention away from long term programs in order to make way for new possibilities and opportunities.