Are you speaking the love language of your members?
As credit unions, you’re not serving numbers. You’re serving people. And people? Well, they tend to have a whole lot of individual preferences. Meeting the needs of members on their time and in theirplace can make ALL the difference for your financial institution.
Joining us this week on CRMNEXT’s Banking on Experience is a true expert on the subject. Seth Brickman has worked with both Amazon and Microsoft, is a Veteran of the United States Navy, and is now CEO of QCash Financial. He brings a wealth of knowledge, and we’re excited for our listeners to get their ears on it.
Let’s get into what’s covered.
Seth’s passion for meeting the needs of CU members.
Our guest introduces what he calls the smoke detector battery principle: It never dies at 2pm on a Tuesday when you can do something about it. It’s always 2am or 45 minutes after you’ve fallen asleep. That’s the way life events work, and credit union members deal with a lot of life events — many of which require funds or capital.
That’s where Seth and QCash step in. As he says, “Anything we can do to help a credit union help their members — that’s what we’re about.”
Some of the biggest gaps (and how your CU can address them).
Seth points out that a lot of times, credit unions don’t recognize that their members are out there using third-party (often predatory) lenders.
He also discusses the need for innovation. QCash’s product, for example, connects directly to the credit union’s core, and a member can go from clicking on a link on a website to funds in their account in under 60 seconds. As Seth says, “That type of innovation is just new for the industry.”
What coming from Amazon and Microsoft has done for Seth’s perspective.
The number one leadership principle at Amazon is customer obsession. And coming into the credit union space, Seth realized there is a different definition of ‘good’ than one might find in a company like Amazon – where good would never be good enough. Definitely food for thought.
Meeting members’ high expectations: how CUs can up their game.
- Get actual feedback from your members — the people actually using your platform.
- Listen to the Voice of the Customer (or Member). Think focus groups, moderated sessions, and user testing before you launch something (not after).
- Bring in experts who know what they’re doing, as opposed to people who can figure out how to do it. You’ll get better quality in half the time with no issues, and ultimately with less expense.
Why communication preference is key.
Our expert stresses the importance of preference capability. Not everyone wants to be communicated with the same way, nor at the same frequency.
Personally, Seth prefers his phone (not his computer). And there are those who still want to talk to a real person. It comes down to, “How do we as the credit union industry know our members? One of the ways we know them is by communicating with them in the way they want to be communicated with.”
Branching out: how incorporating tech can help.
Seth brings up some great examples here that you’ll want to tune in for. But a few key takeaways:
- Do some user research and make sure you have at least a critical amount of people that want to use any new tech service.
- Consider solutions that not only help members know what they should do, but also what they haven’t done — what they may have missed.
- In Seth’s words, “The number one thing facing credit unions today is customer acquisition. Create a reason for customers to come join your credit union.”
Want to contact our expert or learn more about QCash?
You can email Seth at sbrickman@qcashfinancial.com or go to qcashfinancial.com for more information.
Find this interview, and many more by subscribing to Banking on Experience Podcast on iTunes. You can also find us on Spotify, Google Podcasts, or visit our page on Casted.
