How Bank & Credit Union CEOs Drive Retention & Growth

Want to know how a bank or credit union CEOs can support member/customer retention and growth? Here's 5 ways to help grow your Business..

1) Shift Your Mindset

As we've explained time and again, consumer behavior is shifting, and the credit union or bank approach to relying on branches and traditional marketing needs to shift along with it! As CEO, it's likely that you look at your branches as valuable assets; they require staffing, maintenance and care, and the same should go for your website or digital branch.

CEOs and boards should consider the websites as a digital asset rather than an expense. After all, your website sees a lot more traffic than any of your branches ever will!

Upgrading your website to a full-service digital branch, or investing in a higher quality mobile app, should not be looked at as a one-time expense, it should be looked at as an ongoing investment.

People are changing the way they bank. They want to be able to open an account online or apply for a loan, deposit, or transfer money at any time. If your financial institution falls too far behind with technology, you're going to lose customers VERY quickly.

Social media is a great place to nurture and engage your current customers, as well as reach out to potential new members/customers. Millions of people use social media in the U.S. every day, some even use it as their main source of communication. If you're FI isn't there every day you're missing a valuable touch point with people! 

2) Invest in Marketing & Sales Automation

Marketing Automation is a must if you want to use your website to generate, nurture and convert leads.

Your website should be a considered a full-service digital branch. If your sales team is overwhelmed by the amount of leads passed on to them or if there is a complete disconnect between sales and marketing, it's time to make a change and make this investment.

When marketing and sales efforts are aligned, you create a holistic and consistent customer experience. Marketing will nurture leads and discover their pain points or interests. Once a lead is sales qualified, their profile can be passed along. Sales will have a better understanding of who they are and what products and services best fit their needs. When done well it's quite seamless.

And by catching leads early in their buyer's journey, you can guide them to a solution, which will hopefully involve a product or service from your FI. But the goal is always to provide visible value FIRST and then sell later, once trust has been earned.

3) Set Goals for Your Staff's Professional Development

In the world of ever changing technology, continuous learning is a must. Here at FI GROW our team members are constantly watching training webinars, attending in-person or virtual marketing or sales events, or reading recent blogs or training articles. Your bank or credit union staff will need similar training.

We recommend on-going professional development for all marketing and sales teams. Our staff are expected to set aside 1-3 hours per week for training. This is essential if your staff is going to keep up with best practices.

CEOs must make training a priority by providing a professional development budget to every staff member and then holding them accountable for using it. 

And training doesn't have to cost the earth! Staff can attend virtual seminars for free or nominal charges, and perhaps attend regional in-person events once or twice a year only.

4) Empower Team Leaders to Take Risks (ie. Spend Money)

One frustration we see time and again is marketing staff members who come from a place of 'NO' when it comes to pushing for larger  and necessary budgets. Then we speak to their CEOs and they are dumbfounded by the lack of willingness to invest in consulting services or new approaches or more comprehensive tools.

CEOs must empower their senior managers to take risks on new approaches and spend money to get them right!

If marketers are constantly trying to figure out new tools on their own they are going to waste a ton of valuable time! Investing in training and support, even for just the short-term, is key to getting a new strategy right the first time!

5) Hold People Accountable

This one is probably the hardest. First of all, most people don't know what they don't know. So invariably there will be times when staff or traditional media buyers tell you that something is working, and you feel like you just have to take their word for it. But what I'd push you to say is 'show me how it's working.'

And then don't just expect them to understand what you mean. More isn't necessarily better! If your media buyer inundates you with data and impression numbers, don't let him/her stop there. I’d challenge these staff to tie those numbers to actual leads or conversions. And this is where the rubber meets the road.

Marketing in today’s digital age is very different from how traditional media purchases used to be handled, and there is no reason why traffic (impressions and clicks) shouldn’t be better linked to lead generation. Ask these questions of your staff and then help them find the answers. 

Email us if you'd like help getting things going for your bank or credit union! We're here to help!