With all the bad publicity generated about the banking industry, I expected the results of a recent poll
I posted on LinkedIn to be vastly different. The poll consisted of only one statement with two possible choices: "If I need a new financial institution, my first choice is a (1) bank or (2) credit union." The poll was set up to gather 500 responses over four days, but, in less than 24 hours, I had received 508 responses.
The volume of responses was unexpected, but they were also downright disappointing. Overall, respondents chose banks 75% of the time over credit unions. The size of the company did not make a difference; large companies chose a bank 81% of the time, medium-size business 78% of the time and small business only choose a credit union 18% of the time. Credit unions claim their member business lending programs are for the small businesses, but we are not reaching out to them according to this low response.
Females selected credit unions more often than males-42%, compared with 31%. And, while supposedly mistrusting larger institutions, respondents in the 18-24 and 25-34 age groups chose banks more than 80% of the time.
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It seems clear that we need to do a better job of getting the message out about what credit unions are and what we have to offer.
I do want to mention two bright spots upon which we can build. First, 39% of business owners favor credit unions over banks. We know we have the services they need and the expertise to handle their businesses. Let's start knocking on doors and telling more businesses about how we can serve them.
The second area of promise is that 42% of women preferred credit unions over banks. The number of women entrepreneurs is growing at unprecedented rates. If we want to expand our penetration into business services, why not go after this market?
I don't claim to have the answer that will make the business world see credit unions as the clear choice over banks. But I do know that simply using Facebook and Twitter, or promoting the "Little Guy" cartoon character, isn't going to generate more positive responses from the next online poll.
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