What the World Looks Like Through a Member’s Eyes

Does your credit union communicate inside-out or outside-in?

It’s all a matter of perception.

Inside-out looks at the world through the credit union’s eyes.  Outside-in views everything from the member’s point-of-view.  This is not semantics – it’s perspective.

The pitfall with inside-out communication is FOCUS.  Think about the majority of your internal meetings.  Now think about nearly all of your team training.  We spend a lot of time in banking thinking about and talking about operations.  We plan for and train on how to balance a drawer, what to do in case of a robbery and how to avoid fraud.  It’s all vital to what we do, but when process is all we focus on as management, we have to expect that procedure will be all that’s focused on in our branches.

I’ve walked into hundreds of bank and credit union branches from all over the country (See Lessons from a Hundred Bank Experiences) and it’s really scary what’s being said on credit union’s behalf:

“We’ll have to run you through Chexsystems.  And, if you qualify, we’ll tell you what accounts you qualify for.”

“We require two forms of ID.”

“It will cost you $50 to open an account.”

“We have the (XYZ) account, but the fee is…”

You can see more quotes at the blog $#*! Bankers Say

These are all real quotes from real tellers and MSRs in real branches.  Why?  Your team is simply telling the members everything that they know from their training.  It’s human nature.  And none of these statements help to build a relationship or make members want to open an account.

The member simply doesn’t care.  As the cliché (kinda) goes:

“I don’t want to know how the sausage is made.  I just want to clog my arteries.”

Or for you vegetarians…

“I don’t want to know about the pesticides.  I just want a critter-free apple.”

You certainly need to focus on ops and procedures, but if you don’t spend equal time on communication, you’re staff will “show off” all of their knowledge to the credit union’s and member’s detriment.

The outside-in focus isn’t just with WHAT we say in the branch, but also how we communicate procedures.

Last month, I visited a SEG-based credit union in Michigan.  Being focused solely on one industry, they were able to craft a product that is handmade for their target.  No other bank or credit union in the state can touch it.  It saves the SEG significant money and it makes their life incredibly easier.  In all honestly, if you represent a Catholic church in the Saginaw area, you’re doing your parish a disservice if you don’t open your account here.  Yet, while the decision maker was providing buy-in, the accounts simply weren’t being opened.

After donning the Sherlock Holmes hat and magnifying glass, I believe we found the problem — The 9-step checklist provided to the secretary in charge of opening the account at the church.  Who’s looking for a 9-step anything?  While the secretaries are passionate about their parish, they are not looking for more to do.

The funny thing is that the SEG really only had about 3 things that they had to do.  The other 6 were steps on the credit union side.

The recommendation?  Only share the 3 things that the SEG really needs to do and assure them that you’ll take care of the rest.  Make the procedure seem as easy as it really is.

Take a look at your communications.  Are you over-communicating your procedures?  Are you making things look harder than they really are?

All it takes is to hop over your desk and change perspective.

Eric Gagliano

Eric Gagliano

Eric is a leading credit union marketer with more than 17 years of marketing experience. Coming from the advertising agency world, as an account executive focused on strategic planning, branding, ... Web: www.WeKnowCreditUnions.com Details