Are You “Hanging Up” on Your Members?

Have you ever arrived at a retail store just before closing? You beg silently – or not so silently – through the already locked glass door for admittance. There is just one thing you need. It isn’t even a “want,” it is a “need,” and it will take less than five minutes of the store’s time. You do a great deal of business at this store and would appreciate them acknowledging that by helping you now. Instead, the last employee in the store turns their back on you and walks away.

Above is a story of customer care gone wrong. Credit unions pride themselves on exemplary member service, but are you guilty of the same thing? Is your credit union turning its back on members that need help? I am sure you let last-minute stragglers pass by the closing doors at 4:59 p.m., but what if that member reaches out at 2:00 a.m. on Saturday or noon on Sunday? Below are three quick stories of credit unions that underestimated the number of members who try to reach them after hours.

1. A Northern California credit union with a worldwide membership expanded its contact center services to accept calls after hours (6PM – 6AM Monday through Friday). During call center testing, the credit union opened the phone lines, but did not advertise the expanded service to members. That month, the credit union received more than 1,500 calls.

2. We worked with a New England community-based credit union ($1.5 billion in assets) to break down the hours members were calling most for service. In one month, 28 percent of member calls came to the credit union outside normal business hours.

3. A small Las Vegas-based credit union realized after expanding its call center to 24/7 that the second highest spike in call volume typically came between 6:00 and 8:00 p.m., an hour after the call center closed prior to expansion.

Member service starts with a phone call. Credit unions that do not have 24/7 capabilities are losing business, because they have chosen to limit the hours they will interact with members. Instead of making sure they meet the members’ needs, they dictate the hours a member must do business with them. And those members will find other sources to meet their financial needs.

Four Credit Union Executives Explore Call Center Selection, Implementation and Management

Tomorrow, I will moderate a discussion among four credit union executives at the PSCU Financial Services 2009 Member Forum. I have included a description of the session below and will follow-up this week with a recap of topics examined and discussed.

Strategic Insights Session:
Total Member Care™ - 24/7 Contact Center Solutions For Service, Growth & Loyalty
Tues., April 7, 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET AND 2:45-3:45 p.m. ET

Listen to four credit union executives share their call center selection, implementation and management challenges and successes during this interactive, hour-long session. Audience members are invited to ask questions of the panelists who will delve into how they met an increasing demand for expanded member service, provided a revenue growth engine, reduced operational costs and built member loyalty for their credit union.

Forum attendees are invited to stop by the Total Member Care table at the Solutions Fair for product descriptions, demos and giveaways.

Moderator:
Pete Schmitt, executive director ContactUSA

Panelists:
Barb Baker, vice president, Contact Center, Delta Community Credit Union

Mitch Dormer, vice president, Strategic Initiatives, Chevron Federal Credit Union

Sally Fink, vice president, Member Services, Comstar Federal Credit Union

M. Brent Loyd, director, Member Care Operations, Texas Dow Employees Credit Union

Satisfaction vs. Loyalty

The other week, we discussed the need to move members from satisfied to loyal. To best achieve this in your credit union, it helps to have a better understanding of what separated satisfaction from loyalty.

Satisfaction means you met a very low bar of expectation. When I enter a credit union, I expect to have access to my money, make a payment on a loan or get answers to my questions.

Loyalty, however, means that I am an advocate for my credit union. I proudly tell others about the service I receive. I will go out of my way to use their services, even if another financial institution offers comparable terms.

William Bluel, a professor of Decision Sciences at Pepperdine University, explains the difference between satisfaction and loyalty at his blog this way:

Experience tells me, as do the definitions in several dictionaries, that satisfaction relates to the result of a process. The process may be a sales process, product performance process, or a service process. Loyalty relates to a relationship. Customer loyalty does not occur, but customer satisfaction can occur immediately following a successful process. Loyalty can, in fact, survive a negative process. Loyal customers will continue to purchase from a company even though they may have had a bad experience.

Even more surprising is the fact that satisfied customers will leave your credit union. Bluel also shares this:

Frederick Reichheld noted several years ago that between 65 and 85 percent of customers who defect said they were satisfied to very satisfied with their former supplier. As an example, Reichheld used the auto industry to make his point by showing that satisfaction scores are between 85 and 95 percent, while repurchase rates average only 40 percent.

What makes some customers loyal and some merely satisfied? The key is in building a relationship. Every financial institution – bank, credit union or non-bank lender – offers a variation of the same set of services. Some provide a way to store money and access that money with checks, debit cards and ATMs. Others lend money at various rates and repayment terms.

While some people will solely make their decision based on the final cost, the interest rate or the fee structure, most people involve other “intangible” factors. How am I treated when I have a problem? Does the credit union have my interests at heart?

Building loyalty is a three-step process. First, a credit union has to have a product someone needs – a loan package, a passbook account or a savings account. Next, that person must be able to conduct the transaction in a way that meets their needs and expectations. The final step is building loyalty. Loyalty requires building a relationship with the member.

Call centers and member service departments play a crucial role in the development of the final two steps. A member’s primary contact method with a credit union is by phone. Having a well-trained call center prepared to exceed member expectations is one of the easiest ways to build loyalty among your members.

Moving Members from Satisfied to Loyal

Almost every credit union I work with has a variation of the following in their mission statement:

Make sure every member is satisfied during every interaction with the credit union.

But if a customer is merely satisfied, without loyalty, they are going to leave your credit union and obtain financial services elsewhere. We would like to think that people are rational and make all of their financial decisions on facts, price and benefits. But we know better. As CU Grow so eloquently wrote:

Members are not going to remember a savings or loan rate. They’re going to remember someone at your credit union, who connected with them and went above and beyond the status quo.

This goes for all the touch points a member has with your credit union. It is relatively easy to monitor how well staff is working with members who visit the credit union in person. But how well are calls being handled? What is service like after hours? How easy is it for members to use your Web site and get answers to their questions?

These are questions that can only be answered by listening and being ready to do just a little bit extra. For example, if your member service call center is aware of an issue that will prompt a heavy volume of calls, they can preempt those calls with a proactive e-mail message or SMS text message letting members know important details.

For example, last month, much of the Midwest and East Coast were hit with ice storms and extended power outages. Imagine if your credit union’s call center reached out to your members a day in advance to let them know how to reach the credit union in the case of power outages and provided details on how services such as direct deposit or bill pay would continue to operate in inclement weather. I imagine, you would have gained not just a satisfied member but also a loyal one.

Small Gestures Make a BIG Difference In The Branch Or On The Phone

Everyone from credit union executives to the members their credit unions serve have a million and one things on their to do list each day. If that is not true literally, it sure feels like it sometimes. The below blog entry from CU Grow speaks to making the most out of those mere moments with members.

“Small Gestures Make a BIG Difference in 2009”
Rushing in and out as quickly as possible is probably what many of your members are doing right now when they walk into your credit union. They are in a hurry, with a list of fifty things to do and want a quick credit union experience. Now, it is important to note that “quick” does not mean curt or impolite.

The same importance that is paid to in-branch experiences should also be paid to call center service. Whether you can see their smiling faces or just hear their harried voices, call center and member service representatives should be prepared to deliver total member care 24/7.

I would even argue that those frantic phone calls over the weekend to your call center help better define your credit union's relationship with the member than the weekly in-branch visit and transaction...and the numbers don't lie. In 2008, our call center received 2,271,400 calls, which was up from 1,699,300 total calls received in 2007, and we expect to see even more calls in 2009.