Editor's Introduction: This opinion piece by CUNA lays out whythey think this year's Future Forum will be worth attending, andhow they are changing their marketing strategy to more effectivelymeet CU needs. “Solution sets” Aid in Rapid Resolutions for CUDecision-makers MUG: Kevin Lytle is CUNA's Vice President,Marketing and Sales Administration. He can be reached at (800)356-9655, ext. 4001, or [email protected]. This year's CUNA FutureForum will once again offer a top quality educational experiencealong with enjoyable social events and networking opportunities.The educational offerings focuses on leadership, security/riskmanagement, lending, community charter issues, sales/marketing,volunteer/board governance, and issues affecting our future. Inother conferences there is little connection between theeducational content and the solutions offered by the credit unionsuppliers found in the exhibit hall. Conference attendees are leftto wander the hall hoping to stumble across a solution to one ormore of their business challenges. Sometimes this process is madeeasier when the supplier contacts credit union decision-makersprior to the conference (usually through direct mail) to invitethem to stop by their booth to learn more about a specificsolution. At this year's Future Forum, we've made the process mucheasier – at least for CUNA programs, products and services. We'vealigned our solutions in the same categories used to organize theeducational offerings. In this way, attendees will simply look fortheir categories of interest and won't have to make assumptionsabout the applicability of the product to the specific businesschallenge they are looking to solve. In the future, CUNA will beexpanding on this concept in its regular marketing strategies.Consider the following: If you are a typical credit uniondecision-maker, you are inundated with communications every day,some important some. not so. If you are a decision-maker in anycredit union, you have probably instructed your administrativeassistant to cull through the mountain of marketing solicitationsand invitations to special meetings you receive every day to lookfor anything that may help you solve one of several dozenchallenges you are currently juggling. Based upon CUNA's 2005-2006Credit Union Environmental Scan (E-Scan), your challenges have todo with one or more of the following: increasing loan yield or loandemand, security breaches and/or fraud, recruiting highly skilledtalent, increasing services to people of modest means, andattracting more members who understand the difference between yourcredit union and banks. Earlier in 2005, CUNA sponsored an onlinesurvey of credit union CEOs to learn which business issues were“Critically Important”. Sixty percent of CEOs said “Increasingconsumer loan demand” was critically important and 48 percent felt“Achieving/maintaining net income levels” was critically important.CUNA has 18 programs and products created to help credit unionsincrease consumer loans. But again, if you're a typical creditunion decision-maker, you don't know about these resources. Theseprograms and products have traditionally been marketed via directmail and have contributed to the mountain of marketing messages youreceive on a daily basis. CUNA has made several strategic changesin 2005 that will benefit credit unions in 2006 and beyond. First,we will be organizing our programs, products and services withinsolution sets around strategic issues faced by credit uniondecision-makers similar to those identified in the E-Scan report.Rather than wading through 18 direct mailings from CUNA, the creditunion recipient will have one comprehensive piece that containsinformation for all CUNA programs and services relevant to thatspecific issue. The credit union benefits by saving precious timeand CUNA benefits by raising the awareness of its stellar programsand products. Second, CUNA is piloting a strategic relationshipwith seven leagues to represent its programs and products where theleague does not have a competing product. The leaguerepresentatives typically focus their conversations with a creditunion decision-maker around the credit union's current challenges,so CUNA's new solution sets can be incorporated into theconversations easily. Offering a consolidated solution set ofresources is only half the answer. CUNA will also improve itsaccuracy in matching the appropriate solution set with the creditunions that need it most. Marketers understand the key to successis contained in the old saying, “offer the right customer, theright product at the right time”. Having the right solution set ispart of the answer, but we also need to identify the “right” creditunion. Over the past three years, CUNA has collaborated with threeeconomists from universities in New York, Brussels, and Copenhagento create a new approach for finding a credit union's true peers.The software will be marketed to credit unions under the nameCredit Union Benchmarker. Credit unions can order custom reportsshowing all credit unions that outperform them using multiplevariables simultaneously. The report will also list all creditunions that underperform using the same business model. CUNA willuse this new software to identify groups of credit unions thatshare the same financial condition as reported in the most recentNCUA 5300 Call Report. By aligning the right solution set with theright credit union, CUNA will be able to offer the most appropriateresource to address each challenge facing the credit uniondecision-maker. Over time, CUNA will contribute less to themountain of marketing messages and promotions you receive on adaily basis.