NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Forget about branding, storytelling orwhatever the next marketing trend may be.

According to David Baker, principal of management consultingfirm ReCourses Inc. in Nashville, what matters most for creditunions is to think of themselves as not being in the servicebusiness but rather the expertise business.

• WATCH the live stream from the CU Water CoolerSymposium
• READ about thinkingon a larger scale from the symposium
• READ about making IT real from the symposium

“There are three dry cleaners in my neighborhood and if my drycleaner ticks me off then I'll just go to the dry cleaner aroundthe corner. The point is that the only time I care about or noticethose in the service business is when they screw up,” Baker said atthe CU Water Cooler Symposium, which concludes Friday at the FristCenter for the Visual Arts.

“If you are in the expertise business that means you are as aninstitution doing what's right for the consumer even if it meansyou don't make as much money. So members aren't headed to yourcredit union just to park their money but because they need answersto something that's important to them,” Baker said.