Ten Ways to Make Members Love You

Credit Union Magazine
September 5, 2006

Do your members love you? Not the ho-hum, lukewarm, generally satisfied type of love, but the kind that inspires spontaneous thank-you letters?

If not, you’ve got work to do. Members “who don't absolutely adore you are more detrimental to your business than those who belong to your competitors," says Jeanne Bliss, author of Chief Customer Officer: Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action (Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, April 2006, ISBN: 0-7879-8094-3, $27.95). "The latter might give you a chance in the future, but the former have already tried you and found you lacking. If you don't enthrall your [members] and make them believe you respect them, you'll lose them.”

The problem with most companies, she says, is that they simply aren't structured to act collectively on behalf of consumers. Most employees make independent decisions and take isolated actions related to their particular discipline.

Bliss offers 10 tips for getting members to love your credit union:

1. Eliminate obstacles . Don’t force members to have to figure out your organization chart to do business with you. Make things simple. Make it clear how members can do business with you to their benefit.

2. Stop the “hot potato.” He who speaks to the member first should "own" the member. Nothing implies disrespect faster than an impatient person who tries to pass a member off to "someone who can better help you with your problem." Yeah, right.

3. Give members a choice . Don’t bind members into the fake choice of letting them "opt out" of something. Let them choose which information they receive from you instead of having an opt-out policy.

4. De-silo your website . Our websites often cobble together parts created by separate departments. Determine a common message throughout your website.

5. Consolidate phone numbers . Even in this advanced age of telephony, companies still have a labyrinth of numbers consumers need to navigate to talk to someone. Skinny-down this list and let members know about it.

6. Fix the top-10 issues bugging members . You probably can recite the biggest issues right now. Do something about them. Members read lack of action as a lack of caring and respect.

7. Help front-line staff to listen . The frontline has been programmed to get a certain output. Sometimes this means finishing a transaction within a time frame or meeting a cross-sell goal. As a result, we’ve robotized the front line. Let them be human and give them skills for listening and understanding members’ needs.

8. Deliver what you promise . Don’t make members strong-arm their way through the corporate maze to accomplish basic things.

9. Right the wrong . If you've got egg on your face, for whatever reason, admit it. Then right the wrong.

10. Work to believe . As tempting as it is to uphold a policy to the letter of the law, work to believe your customers. Most will honestly relay what’s happening to them with your product or service. Because of all the "ifs, ands, and buts" in our policies, we've conditioned consumers to come in with their dukes up when they have a problem. Work to eliminate doubt about your members’ integrity.

Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint books are available at your local bookstore or by calling 800-225-5945. In Canada, call 800-567-4797. For the latest on what's happening at Jossey-Bass/A Wiley Imprint, check out josseybass.com.

This article first appeared in Credit Union Magazine at www.creditunionmagazine.com and is reprinted with permission.