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Five Credit Unions Honored As Opss Council Best Practices Award Winners

Contact:
Jenny Jackson
CUNA Councils
(608) 231-4102
jjackson@cuna.coop

Madison, Wis. – Five credit unions were the winners in the seventh annual CUNA Operations, Sales & Service (OpSS) Council’s Best Practices Awards, which recognize innovative solutions optimizing credit union performance. The award winners were recognized during the council’s 14th annual conference, which took place Sept. 25- 28, in San Antonio.

Oregon Community CU in Eugene, Ore., won in the Sales & Service Management category for its 360 Training: Excelling in a Sales Culture program that includes:

  • Organization wide training
  • Product knowledge workshops
  • Incentives program

As a result of the credit union’s efforts, loan growth increased by 8.5% and deposit growth by 3.15%, exceeding all goals.

Travis CU in Vacaville, Calif., won in the Sales & Service Management category for creating, cultivating and sustaining a sales and service culture. Their strategy includes:

  • Creation of Retail Sales Managers to ensure service standards accountability
  • Development of a formal sales training program
  • Creation of Travis Intelligence to analyze sales efforts

Success can be seen in both the number of new direct members and the increase in wallet share, both of which are expected to exceed goal.

SouthPoint FCU in Sleepyeye, Minn., also won in the Sales & Service Management category for their Service Points of Excellence Program that includes:

  • Bi-weekly coaching sessions
  • Member and staff surveys

In addition to positive feedback from member surveys, success can be seen in the increase in overall cross sells.

WestStar CU in Las Vegas, Nev., won in the Miscellaneous category for hosting two job fairs for their members. Their strategy includes:

  • Holding the fairs in Las Vegas and Reno,  two economically hard hit areas
  • Allowing participating employers with open positions only
  • Giving priority entrance to WestStar CU members

With 4,300 jobseekers, twenty-three employers (WestStar SEG groups), and over 1,000 jobs , the fairs helped more than 70 people gain employment and garnered the credit union  local and national attention.

FedChoice FCU in Lanham, Nev., also won in the Miscellaneous category for their creation of Member Councils to gain insight on:

  • Financial pain points
  • Preferred communication methods
  • Product and service awareness

Nine meetings were held over a three month period. FedChoice has implemented numerous suggestions made during these meetings with additional changes in progress.

The OpSS Council Best Practice Awards were created to identify, recognize, and share new approaches and solutions with universal application in the credit union movement. Winners were chosen, without regard to credit union asset size, based on strategy, process, application, and results.

Additional information about the awards and winning entries are available online at www.cunaopsscouncil.org – select the “Best Practices Awards” link contained in the “Events” pull down menu.

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CUNA OpSS Council

The CUNA Operations, Sales, and 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 5,000 credit union professionals. For more information, visit www.cunaopsscouncil.org or www.cunacouncils.org.

 

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