Competition, Personnel and Technology. Quite possibly, these are three of the most frequent words in the minds of credit union presidents. Having been involved in over 1,100 financial institution projects in 48 years of business, these three words continue to be an integral part of building design. Let's look at these very important words and see what the heck they have to do with design and architecture. Competition: You know that competition becomes intense all the time. Competition comes from all directions, including banks, brokerage firms, dot.coms, auto dealers, and yes maybe/eventually Wal-Mart. You must take advantage of every opportunity to stay ahead of the competition with the best location, building, people and products.

As a credit union, it is no longer acceptable to view your facilities as destination points for your members. If you have converted to a community charter, the member potential is nearly endless. It is no longer an advantage for your tellers and lenders to provide "good service." All financial institutions provide good service (or at least say they do). You need technology that will allow your staff to focus on the member relationship and not counting money. You need technology to get your message across to your members as they walk or drive through your facility. The Answer to Competition: It's plain and simple: location, location, location. If you have a branch location yielding only $5 to $8 million in deposits after 10 years, consider moving it (ouch!). A branch location should produce $25 to $50 million in 5 to 7 years, if it is in the right place. Believe me, I've learned in my 21 years of experience that there are right and wrong places for a branch. Arby's and McDonalds always pick the right places. They do this by using a mathematical model and a methodology to find "A" sites. The "Value" is the key to branch site location, not the land cost. Who cares if you pay $1 million for a piece of land (ok, maybe your board of directors), if it returns $50 million? Conversely, is a $200,000 piece of land really a "great deal" if it only returns $5 million in deposits? Maybe the mantra should be: value, value, value. Don't settle for just any piece of land. Your competition won't. Proper branch location is one of your best defenses against the competition. Choose a consultant that uses a comprehensive mathematical model for selecting locations and not just pretty demographic maps. Personnel: Finding the right teller is tough. Heck, finding any teller is tough. You know that by nature of the lower paying position, the turnover rate is high, which is time consuming and costly for your HR staff (alert the media.). Then, after the teller is trained to do transactions, you ask them to cross-sell products and services too. The employee looks at you and thinks, "you're paying me peanuts and you want me to do that uncomfortable stuff too?" Like, I don't think so. Your employees need more of an incentive to cross-sell than hearing, "your job depends on it." Cross-selling is hard to do for a trained sales person, much less for a teller. But, you and your staff need to repeatedly remind your members of what products and services you provide. A study completed a few years ago with bank customers, asked, after they left the bank building, "what products and services does your bank provide?" Most customers weren't aware of more than the standard checking, savings, and CD's. When over 60% of the traffic coming to your credit union is there to do a transaction, your tellers (or someone) needs to cross-sell. The Answer to Personnel: Instead of hiring tellers for low paying positions that are trained to do only transactions, why not hire and train people who have the ability to do everything? Call them Universal Associates (UA) and empower them to greet, open new accounts, provide member support, consumer lending, cross-sell and oh yeah, transactions too. This way, the UA you hire is paid more, is empowered to do more and they feel valued (there's that V word again). They will stay with you longer, because they now take ownership and enjoy their jobs. If they are happy, it will be obvious to the member and, in turn, create better relationships. Technology: There is a variety of technology available to differentiate your credit union from the competition as well as create the Universal Associates system outlined above. Teller Cash Dispensers. Video Merchandising/Plasma TV's. And much, much more. The Answer to Technology: Get rid of the big teller barrier between you and your members and start creating a Relationship Experience using freestanding Concierge Stations (also known as pods or dialog towers) with secure Teller Cash Dispensers. Your Universal Associates greet members in the lobby, take them to a Concierge Station and do a fast transaction, shoulder to shoulder. Gen-Xer's think the Concierge Stations are "cool," and seniors' perception is that they receive special attention as the UA walks them to the door at the end of the transaction. Or, the UA can offer a cup of gourmet coffee and sit in an inviting waiting area and chat with a member about her 16-year old son that might need a car loan. As they talk, the member's eyes can pan over and see the current events featured on the plasma TV and be cross-sold on your products without even knowing it. The UA may also use a closing room to provide member support or a consumer loan. Technology does the work and allows for more human interaction (which we all need in this fast paced techno-society). You need to differentiate yourself from the Competition and start to create a Relationship Experience with your members. By creating a built environment, and letting Technology to do more in less time, your Personnel can focus on the member relationships. The members won't remember the transaction, but they will remember the experience that relationship creates.