Enhancing the Credit Union Staff Experience

No matter how cutting edge your website is or how clever your last marketing campaign was - none of that matters if your staff isn't aware of your credit union’s change of focus or if they haven’t bought into it. After all, they’re the face and voice of your credit union – its mission needs to be their mission as well. Only a well-trained staff can help you create a great member experience at your credit union.

Once your credit union has an updated plan in place – complete with goals and tactics – it’s time to get your staff up to speed. Here are four steps to get you all on the same page:

• Set Training Goals and Objectives – Goals and objectives need to be clearly defined and measurable, as well as communicated clearly to your staff.
• Analyze Training Options – Training can be done internally or you can look for outside expertise to guide you. Determine your training needs and budget before choosing which way to go.
• Design and Develop – If your credit union is going to implement its own training, then effective tools will need to be developed. Look to the management experts in your credit union to guide you. Training materials could include a trainer’s outline and guide, student materials, visual aids and media resources. To keep the staff’s interest, keep it fun and interactive. 
• Evaluate Training and Trainers – Once you've wrapped up your training, whether it was internal or external, you need to measure the results to ensure your goals were met. This could be participant feedback using a survey. Update the materials and actual training based on your results.

If your training includes your lending department, it might be worth your credit union’s while to check out CUNA Mutual Group’s Lender Development Program (LDP). The program is designed to “supercharge” your team and product portfolio’s performance. CUNA Mutual Group based the program on the four cornerstones of success: champion, coach, train and track. They used the best practices of high-achieving credit unions to create the program.

Whichever approach you take to help create a great member experience at your credit union, your members should know the credit union mission is the basis for all you do. And if you keep your member’s needs, interests and goals in mind throughout the process, you’ll end up with members that will be members for life.

Six Ways to Boost Auto Loans at Your Credit Union

 by Amy Neale

As you might have read in last week’s blog, credit union loan growth is on the rise. In fact, over the past nine consecutive quarters, new auto loans have grown 10.7% and used auto loans are up 9.3%. Whether or not your credit union has experienced similar growth, there are still ways to boost auto loans:

1. Work with an indirect lending company like Credit Union Direct Lending.
2. Cultivate connections with auto research sites such as AutoSMART.
3. Target market to the 35-65 age demographic, especially those with incomes that range from $40K to $75K. The recent Credit Union Satisfaction Index (CUSI) from CFI Group showed this demographic was greatly interested in seeking auto loans from their credit union.
4. Offer incentives to members when they acquire new or used auto financing. Incentives like discounted or free auto club memberships can go a long way.
5. Join a membership enhancements program like Invest in America’s Credit Union Member Discount from GM which offers instant auto loan leads when your members get a GM discount authorization code.
6.  Make sure your frontline and lending staff are well trained and kept up to date on your latest auto loan promotions and rates and that your team has the skills to accomplish the loan volume your credit union needs. CUNA Mutual Group’s Lender Development program can help with this. 

Whichever way your credit union chooses to boost auto loan volume, the key is to be as proactive as possible. We’d love to hear other ways you have grown auto loans your credit union. Leave us a comment and let us know!