Improve cross-sales with data instead of quotas
Love it or hate it, cross-selling is a big part of every credit union. It’s how people discover what you offer. It’s also how your CU grows. However, both members and employees have been known to say cross-selling is pushy and uncomfortable.
But with the right CRM to fully utilize your data across your CORE and other platforms, you can design intelligent offers that actually work — all without the pushy or awkward tactics.
Dispel the cross sales myths
There are some fairytales out there about cross-sales. If you set weekly or monthly quotas, your people will not automatically meet those performance indicators, right? But if they see those quotas as only benefiting upper management, it could backfire.
Cross sales should be done to benefit the member first. When they find what they need, the credit union wins. Additionally, product and service promotions are not inherent. People forget key features. Ongoing, internal education is needed to keep your employees well versed. And checking accounts are no longer the only driver to becoming a Primary Financial Institution (PFI). You need to deliver digital banking solutions that work, long-term savings options that earn more than the competition, and lending choices that make sense.
Then, you need to let your members know about those offers.
Understand your members with data
A well-integrated CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform gives you a complete view of every member. Let’s say your CRM has a way to display offers based on a member’s current age, income, credit score, and more.
When that member calls, interacts online, or stops by, it could be easy for one of your employees to see and present those offers. If they’re interested, it can be turned into a lead. For example, let’s say Tom Jones is told about a first mortgage loan based on information from your CRM. With a click, a workflow process gets sent to a mortgage officer. Tom is on his way to homeownership!
But where do these special offers originate? It all starts with setting up those cross sales.
Modelers help generate offers
In some systems, this is as easy as uploading a CSV or Excel file, which allows you to create offers through loan origination software. You may also be able to define possible borrowers using special features built into the CRM.
The right CRM includes how offers will be seen by other employees and what offers the member will see online. It should also include publish status, segmentation, recommendations, and more. Additionally, the product or products you want to offer should include validity dates that are clearly marked, and the maximum loan amount spelled out to help your frontline staff and call center make effective cross-sales.
If a member qualifies, the people talking to that person will see it, mention it, and make another person’s day while also meeting sales benchmarks without all the pressure.
Remember Tom? After this segmentation was established, he was told about a possible mortgage offer during a phone call. A short time later, he was connected to a mortgage officer who helped him fill out an application. It’s cross-selling made easy. It helps members find what they need to boost their financial lives. Plus, it makes employees a lot happier and less pressured.
CRMNEXT increases sales
This isn’t rocket science. It’s way more complicated than that. Thankfully, we’ve done all the behind-the-scenes work for you. With CRMNEXT, there are no third-party vendors to coordinate or hidden costs to budget for. By creating dynamic offers utilizing data from all your integrated systems and CORE, every account holder interaction can be an opportunity for growth. Start with a CRMNEXT demo at crmnext.us.
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