NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Forget about branding, storytelling or whatever the next marketing trend may be.
According to David Baker, principal of management consulting firm ReCourses Inc., what matters most for credit unions is to think of themselves as not being in the service business but rather the expertise business.
“There are three dry cleaners in my neighborhood and if my dry cleaner ticks me off, then I’ll just go to the drycleaner around the corner. The point is that the only time I care about or notice those in the service business is when they screw up,” said Baker during the CU Water Cooler Symposium. “If you are in the expertise business that means you are as an institution doing what’s right for the consumer even if it means you don’t make as much money. So members aren’t headed to your credit union just to park their money but because they need answers to something that’s important to them.”
One way for that shift to happen starts with having people in the organization who truly believe in and live the mission.
“Those people do a much better job of representing your credit union as they are out and about in the community than any marketing,” said Baker. “If you want to change the world, do it first with your significant other, second your children, third your friends and fourth the people that you manage.”
- READ about thinking on a larger scale from the symposium
- READ about making IT real from the symposium
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