BROOKFIELD, Wis.—Credit unions that are not very good at capturing members’ walletshare tend to share many of the same characteristics.
To change that behavior, Santo Cannone, chief product officer, credit union solutions, with Fiserv shared his insights into what a CU can do as part of CUToday.info’s year-long series, “100 Million Members: Now What?”
Santo Cannone
CUToday.info: Why are credit unions so good at signing up new members, but then not capturing wallet share from those new members? Is there a flaw in the process? Training? Culture?
Cannone: There are examples of credit unions that are effective at capturing wallet share. For those that aren’t, we’ve seen several contributing factors: (1) a belief that “selling” means employees are forcing things on members that they don’t need; (2) complex account opening processes; and (3) ineffective use of data to assess client relationships.
CUToday.info:Are credit unions capturing the data they need to have a full understanding of individual member profitability? Or do they have the data they need and it’s not either A) understood, or B) utilized?
Cannone: In almost every case, the data is there. There is a wide range of ways in which a credit union can analyze profitability. Well integrated, straightforward tools, like the capability provided by Raddon Financial Group, will help credit unions get a meaningful strategy in place.
CUToday.info: What can be done to improve wallet share capture among new members? Existing members?
Cannone: First, a credit union needs to have clarity on their approach to selling/suggesting and build staff development plans around that. Second, a credit union should challenge the efficiency of their account opening process, including engaging their software provider to be sure they are current on the best use of their system automation. Third, credit unions should define simple, straightforward reporting that supports their decision making.
CUToday.info:What can be done to better align marketing, IT and management to address this issue?
Cannone: Start with the culture. Clarity of purpose supports effective alignment. The credit union should also assess how much of their IT focus is on infrastructure vs. data and be prepared to outsource some or all of their infrastructure management in order to free up staffing dollars for data analysis.