Last month, I had the pleasure of speaking at the 2018 Allied Solutions Credit Union Conference. If you couldn’t make the event, here are the five biggest takeaways.

1) Which employees are the most productive?

First, according to Morten Hansen, Author of Great at Work, Great by Choice, and Collaboration, there are 4 levels of productivity in employees.

1. Those that accept more and more work, then stress out about the work and then don’t actually do more. These are your least productive employees.
2. Those that do less (by only agreeing to take on a limited amount), then don’t stress out. Strangely, these employees produce about the same as the next category.
3. Those that do more, and then stress out. According to Morten, taking on more work just means you are distracted and while you may be spinning more plates, you don’t actually accomplish more.
4. Finally, there are those employees that do less and then obsess. Essentially this is like the Jim Collins Good to Great hedgehog principle.

Over the past years, I have been on a journey to determine how to make a business the most productive it can be. I’ve been looking at data and hearing compelling stories of how getting this right can be highly impactful. Most of us as leaders are distracted by trying to be too many things to too many people. We can’t build our business model to appeal to all people. Your credit union needs to pick a couple of aspects that you can be the best at and be hyper-focused on those.

2) How to Build a Value-Oriented Metric

Morten also shared how to create metrics that are not just vanity metrics.  The formula is:

Value = Benefit to Others * Efficiency * Quality

This formula really resonated with me and reminded me of one of the most effective metrics Ongoing Operations came up with related to Disaster Recovery.  Essentially, we found that the percentage of credit union clients performing Disaster Recovery tests is directly related to client satisfaction and renewals.  Now, why is this? Well, the value of the DR test is that it demonstrates the benefit to the credit union of the Ongoing Operations disaster recovery solution, our efficiency in performing the test, and the quality of our engineers to solve random problems.

As a credit union, a vanity metric may be the number of new members. But what if we looked at the metrics like the number of new members who take multiple products on day one or the number of new members that complete the onboarding process in less than 15 minutes? There are a number of ways to demonstrate more value in the new member process rather than just onboarding everyone without a quality or efficiency component.

3) Fat Unicorn Naughty Amber Ale

In Canada, there is a beer called “Fat Unicorn Naughty Amber Ale”. It is delicious, and I found it in a random hipster bowling alley in Banff that I wandered into one evening. I highly recommend it if you can find it!

4) Mission Moments

Mission Federal Credit Union’s CEO, Debra Schwartz shared with us “Mission Moments”. These are moments which are planned celebratory moments that the credit union shares with members when they get a new loan or other service-related opportunities. Mission Federal Credit Union also does them with their employees on key achievements. This is a phenomenal idea and a great way to intentionally build memories with members and employees. We should all be implementing this practice at our businesses.

In addition to Debra Schwarts, there were many outstanding panelists.

Mike Bryan, VP, Digital Strategies, Allied Solutions
Chris Otey, Board Chairman, South Bay Credit Union
Lisa Schlehuber – CEO, Elements Financial
Harry Gunsallus – President & CEO, SRP FCU

This group of credit union leaders shared great wisdom around how they are preparing their credit unions to:

1. Compete with Fintechs
2. Adapt to Autonomous Vehicle Impacts on Loan Portfolios
3. Digitally Engage their Members
4. Deal with Board Transitions
5. Build Strong Cultures

5) Banff is Amazingly Beautiful

Allied Solutions put on a really great conference, and I highly encourage credit union leaders to attend. This conference is a solid mix of content, networking, and significantly better than average entertainment & activities! Here are just a few of the awesome pictures from the event!

  

ASHLAND, OR (October 23, 2017) — Credit Union 2.0, the leader in digital transformation strategy for credit unions, is pleased to announce that it has partnered with Nexus Intelligence, the leader in data analytics and market research services to help credit unions generate results with big data and be more competitive in the digital age.

Together, Credit Union 2.0 and Nexus Intelligence offer Credit Unions the ability to use data analytics to better understand how to capture greater wallet share from their current members. For every 10,000 members a Credit Union has, 8,000 of them have money at another institution. 8,000 of them have loans and cash management services at a competitor. Nexus Intelligence delivers real results with big data for Credit Unions to grow from within.

Credit Union 2.0 and Nexus plan to help Credit Union leaders revitalize their noble institutions, making them more competitive, more connected with their membership, and more in tune with the times. Credit Union 2.0 will help Credit Unions rise to their peak in increasingly challenging times by leveraging the latest technologies and innovation to better serve members.

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About Credit Union 2.0

Credit Union technology entrepreneur, Kirk Drake, recently founded Credit Union 2.0 with the goal of providing Credit Unions with the tools, playbooks, and strategies required to excite their members and ignite organizational vitality. With his knowledge gained from his 20+ years in the industry, Drake offers Credit Unions the tactics necessary to leverage the latest technologies and be competitive in today’s banking environment.

About Nexus Intelligence

Nexus Intelligence provides data analytics and market research services that allows Credit Unions to capitalize on lending, deposit, and cash management opportunities. Nexus Intelligence provides a Credit Union’s lending officers a year-round flow of the easiest to close leads. These leads are where a Credit Union’s members have a financial product with the competition when they would save money if they had it with your credit union.

Contacts

 

Credit Union 2.0

175 Pilot View Road,
Ashland, Oregon 97520
Email : info@cu-2.com
PH: 301-461-3120

Hi, I’m Kirk Drake, founder of CU 2.0.

CU 2.0 is all about helping credit unions create digital experiences that really differentiate a credit union from a bank.

After starting a high school bank, working at two credit unions and Fiserv, and starting several CUSOs, I decided to write a book called Credit Union 2.0.  I became passionate about credit unions’ digital experiences in 2008 when our industry had the worst financial crisis ever, and credit unions only barely moved the needle from 7% market share to 8% market share. I found that to be a huge problem.

So CU 2.0 is about teaching and educating credit union marketers, technologists, CEOs, boards, and everybody about how to create a really great framework for building your credit union for tomorrow through: Continue reading “Intro” →

Are you struggling to build a website for your credit union that doesn’t become immediately obsolete? Many credit unions spend anywhere from $10-100,000 on a website, and if you’re not careful, within 3 months you’ll have to start all over again.

If you’ve ever found yourself in that position, this post is for you.

Credit unions have to do better on their websites. After all, websites are our first digital impression and opportunity to connect with existing and new members.  When was the last time you didn’t look at a website for a major purchase?  Second, good digital strategy requires enabling your members to find your credit union through Google.  Without the items below – Google won’t ever point members in your direction and in all-things Google we trust!

Here are 7 key website tips that will help you create a great digital experience for your customers.

Continue reading “Credit Union Website Basics” →

Is your credit union looking for new member growth? Are millennials key to your long-term viability? If you are like most credit unions, then this article will help you keep new members and build loyalty for life while demonstrating the tangible difference between a bank and a credit union.

We all know, it is far less expensive to keep a member you already have than to get a new one. We’re so focused on membership growth, yet we don’t even know if we’re attracting the right member and if they’ll stick around.

Continue reading “How many new members leave your credit union in the first 100 days?” →

A lot of you might wonder something I have often wondered: is direct mail dead? Today we’re going to explain why it’s actually not dead, and how you can incorporate it in all of your digital marketing to create highly personalized digital marketing messages that help your members get educated, built trust, and buy more product that’s right for them from your credit union.

Did you know that 79% of direct mail is opened immediately, versus 49% of email? Or that direct mail has a 4.5% response rate v. a 0.12% response rate for email? Or that 10% more customers buy from direct mail than from other channels? So clearly direct mail is not dead and is not going anywhere.

Continue reading “Is Direct Mail Dead for credit unions?” →

Does your credit union need real-time analytics? I hear this question all the time from marketers. They’re perfectly happy using their MCIFs and their Raddon data and Experian data to help them figure out who to market to on a day-to-day basis.

In this post, we’re going to cover real-time analytics here, and how much you need it.

Real-time analytics is all about creating a more dynamic, faster-moving, more timely, personalized way to interact with your member in their digital marketing experience. This all comes back to the four Ps of marketing, which we talk about all the time, but also the 4 Ps of data. The 4 Ps of data are Performance, Personalization, Prediction, and Privacy. So those data elements are key.

Continue reading “Does your credit union need real-time analytics?” →

With all these Fintechs that are constantly starting out, do you ever wonder what impact they’re having on your credit union?

Today we’re going to cover how the top 5 Fintechs of 2016 are affecting your credit union.

Every single year, hundreds of millions of dollars are poured into Fintech. OCC is even considering creating this special Fintech chart. Each and every single one of these are constantly chipping away at the credit union’s business model. They’re impacting your fee income, your interest margin, and they’re doing it all across the board. It’s silent death by 1000 cuts, and your credit union has no idea.

Continue reading “Top 5 Fintechs of 2016” →

Does your credit union struggle and do you have internal debates about whether or not to be on Facebook? Most credit unions aren’t, and it’s shocking to me, because if you’re a member-owned cooperative (which you are), Facebook is this incredible vehicle for creating constant engagement with your members – and your members will love it. It’s a great way for them to tell their friends how awesome you are, and for them to be influenced to make better-educated decisions about what products and services they need, and to get the financial education that the credit union wants to deliver.

Today we’re talking about how your credit union can judge that and see quick results to create the value proposition so you can get your board, management team, etc. on board and using Facebook in your day-to-day marketing.

Continue reading “How does a credit union get ROI out of Facebook?” →

Are you wondering if marketing automation is right for your credit union? Today we’re talking about how Credit Union 2.0 can help you figure out how to deliver great marketing and digital experiences to your members.

A lot of credit unions really wonder: are they sending too many messages to their members, communicating the same thing over and over? I’m a member of multiple credit unions, and I have to say, it drives me nuts when I get the same message month after month. It’s not the credit union’s fault: they have hundreds of products to market to thousands of members and it’s hard to figure out which product is right for each member and which message is right.

But if you look back at the 4 P’s of marketing, it’s all about personalization and timeliness. And marketing automation is key to that.

Continue reading “A is for Automation – What is marketing automation for credit unions?” →