You’re a Credit Union, Not a Coffee Shop

by Jimmy Marks

Who doesn’t want to be Amazon, Starbucks or Zappos? But who can, really?

As of April of 2013, I will have worked in the CU Industry for five years. Five years! A lot’s happened and, if you want the truth, I’m thankful for every second. I like credit union people. They’re neat. And, for the most part, they’re pretty well-grounded.

With one exception.

Over the past five years, I’ve read an awful lot about how credit unions should be more like [X]. I use the variable [X] there because, according to the dozens of articles I’ve read over the past five years, CUs should be like a lot of different companies.

Some say that credit unions should be like Zappos. Some say credit unions should be like Amazon. Recently, I read one more article that said credit unions should be like Starbucks.

Now, I write for a living. I understand you have to have a hook. But some of these articles are so divorced from the reality of credit unions that you have to shake your head. Yeah, you could have every employee on social media sites all day the way Zappos does (or did? Do they even still do that?). But considering how much harder social media’s going to become and how bad most credit unions were at it anyway, is that a wise investment of an employee’s time? Probably not.

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