Untapped Opportunities: How to Attract Business Members With Niche Verticals

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Many credit unions throughout the U.S. have begun to ask questions about how to evolve their retail focus to include more business members, some going as far as hiring executives with small business expertise and adopting digital tools to prepare their growing departments. This curiosity has only been strengthened since the outbreak of COVID-19, with many credit unions searching for new opportunities to expand their services and provide incomparable value to their communities. These credit unions maintain the goal of “crossing the chasm” – a term coined by Geoffrey A. Moore in his book of the same name – into the new business space. Unfortunately, many credit unions are finding themselves stuck at the starting line, seeking to have everything in place prior to entering the marketplace. Despite such a great interest and initiative to transform their offerings to service these accounts, the task of attracting business members can still seem like a great feat, with many different facets to create and maintain.

To expand their reach and mission to go beyond just personal member accounts to now include business member accounts, credit unions must assess their own community’s needs to provide additional value that’s unique to the area they serve. By pairing these needs with the strengths of their own institution, credit unions will be more apt to choose an obtainable and profitable entryway into the business space.