By Frank J. Diekmann
Take a deep breath and relax: here is a round-up of news from around credit unions in which the words “Trump,” “Democrats,” “Russians,” and “Fake News” do not appear anywhere.
Dance of the Dead
Spotted while in Las Vegas recently: an ad for a “Zombie Burlesque” show. Amazing that niche went unfilled for so long.
A ‘Marked Shift’
A new study from Celent has found what it is calling a “marked shift” in what financial institutions say is their top strategic priority this year. For the past three years Celent found that “improving sales results” was job number-one. But no more. Instead, the financial institutions surveyed said that “improving customer relationships” is the top retail banking strategic priority n 2017. The results of its study were released by Celent as part of its new report, “A Survey of Retail Banking Channel Systems in North America: Omnichannel Emerges.”
Celent added that no longer just a self-service delivery channel, digital is becoming a primary engagement mechanism for both self-service and assisted/full-service interactions.
Smokin’ Good Idea
Just wondering, but do you think any of the credit unions serving workers and companies in the pot industry will ever introduce a “Reefer-a-Friend” program.
The New CU Slogan
As CUToday.info reported here, comedian Sarah Silverman recently endorsed credit unions in a video that was actually about big oil, using language that could easily be used in a CU ad campaign—or at least 95% of it could. Said Silverman, “A credit union is a bank, but it’s not-for-profit. And once you put your money in it you are a part owner. You have a say in everything they do. It’s a cooperative. And they’re not charging little fees here and there so they can invest it in stuff like, say, oil pipelines. They’re safer, better, their rates are better, they still give loans, you can use ATMs, all that shit.”
The Typewriter of Metaphors
From the Department of Unintended Irony, one person in credit unions recently said his credit union’s website should be thought of as “kind of a newspaper.” Because it’s gone so well for the beloved print industry.
Umm, Yeah, Uh, OK, Great, Thanks
It’s become common practice at credit union conferences to have breakout sessions sponsored by various vendors. In exchange, the vendor gets a few moments to pitch themselves at the beginning of the session, and then they introduce the speaker (and in some cases, provide that speaker, too). What remains a mysterious piece of lousy salesmanship, these vendors spend a lot of money on the sponsorship, and then send a person to do the introductions who is, what’s the word for it? Oh, yeah, awful! They have a captive audience, often in excess of 100 or 200 people, and they blow it. What I often hear are remarks like, “Hey, everybody, I’m Jane Doe from Vendorama, and it’s just awesome to be here. Love you guys. So awesome. Thanks.” The big irony is I’ve watched these opportunities go missed and money go wasted when the session they are introducing is all about better penetrating the member base a credit union already has in front of it
Really Only One Word for It
And while I’m curmudgeoning, I would like to put forward a motion that an amendment be added to the Federal Credit Union Act that forthwith, the word “Amazing” be banned from credit union conferences. Speakers, those who introduce them, and moderators all seem to quote from the same one-word thesaurus at every meeting: “That was amazing.” “Amazing presentation.” “Those were some amazing words.” Basically, everyone seems to be in a constant state of amazement in credit unions, according to these people. I thought it couldn’t get any worse until I actually heard one person say this: “Amazing, amazing, amazing. Really, it was amazing.” We heard you the first time, and I was there—it wasn’t.
Mobile Vs. Desktop
From Malauzai Software’s recent Monkey Insights survey: Online sessions last, on average, 1:15 for mobile and 2:45 for Internet. “That’s over a whole lot of usage so those are good numbers. More than double for Internet than for mobile banking,” the company said. “People get in quick on mobile and tend to dwell on the desktop. And this is not because of functionality, as in almost all cases mobile has functional parity with Internet…
iPhone Vs. Android Update
From that same Monkey Insights report: “57% of active mobile banking end-users are using an iPhone. Forty-three percent are using an Android Smartphone. “While this still favors iPhone, it is equalizing. Over the past 18-months, Android has gained ground starting at 37% of the active users. iPad tablets stay low at approximately 3% of active mobile banking and digital banking users,” Malauzai reported. “There are many stories of tablets sales slowing, and this is reflected in aggregate mobile banking data as well.
‘Hey, Who Are You?’
Former NFL quarterback Tom Flick, who played six years in the league for five different teams, shared this story with the recent PSCU meeting of taking his first snap in his first game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. “I was taught to scan the defense from left to right, and I notice a man standing four yards in front of me. And he was a big man, (All Pro linebacker) Jack Lambert. The main thing I notice is he has no teeth. I am 21 years of age and a bit nervous, but I’m not foolish. He moves the nose tackle, and yells at the top of his lungs, ‘Hey, who are you?’ And then my entire offensive line turned around to see who I was. The clock was ticking down and center snapped the ball, I took it, handed it off to a running back and we went down and scored.
What Great Competitors Share
Later Flick added, “Great leaders and great competitors really hate to lose. You should hate losing to smaller banks. All these myths that come out, that someone can’t join or you can’t handle their needs—that’s ridiculous.”
Sorry, Honey, But You’re Overdrawn
The stories of the kinds of pressures former Wells Fargo employees were feeling to meet the kind of hyper-aggressive cross-sales goals that eventually led to more than 5,000 employees being fired and nearly $200-million in fines, included this note from the 113-page report that was provided to the bank’s board: One branch manager had a teenage daughter with 24 accounts and a husband with 21.
What Day is It For You?
I heard this advice from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos shared at several recent CU meetings. Writing in his annual letter to shareholders, Bezos said that ensuring that the company always stands at the beginning of its potential -- what he calls a Day 1 status – is a must. Companies should constantly experiment and seek new avenues. An obsession with the customer is an absolute priority, he said.
"There are many advantages to a customer-centric approach, but here's the big one: customers are always beautifully, wonderfully dissatisfied, even when they report being happy and business is great,” Bezos wrote. “Even when they don't yet know it, customers want something better, and your desire to delight customers will drive you to invention on their behalf.”
According to Bezos, Day 2 is stasis, which is followed by irrelevance, which is followed by excruciating, painful decline. And that is followed by death.
So what day is it in your credit union?
And Paying With Bogus Card…
John Best of Best Innovation Group, speaking to credit unions recently, noted “Fraudsters had a pretty good year last year. We’re meeting at the Marriott. They’re meeting at the Fairmont down the street.”
Unsinkable Molly Brown 2.0
Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who famously landed a US Airways flight on the Hudson River after it struck birds and lost its engines, shared a few little-known facts about that flight with credit unions. First, he joked that “Aviation is a team sport. (Co-pilot) Jeff Skiles was flying when we hit the birds.”
“Sully” said that one passenger on US Airways flight 1549 had, 20 years earlier, been on another flight that had to crash land, and he repeated what he had done on that first near-death experience: He wrote a note to his family and then jammed it into the pocket as deep as he could so that perhaps it would be found.
Frank J. Diekmann is Cooperator in Chief at CUToday.info and can be reached at Frank@CUToday.info or @FrankCUToday.