MADISON, S.D. - Nothing drives a credit union's success like friendly, well-trained staff who not only understand products and services, but the CU difference as well.
That's the thinking at East River FCU in this small town in eastern South Dakota, just north of Sioux Falls. The credit union is ranked No. 1 in Callahan's & Associates 2007 Total Return of Member rankings for shops between $10 and $20 million in assets. But the business formula could be applied anywhere, says CEO Mechelle Nordberg.
"When a member comes in and opens a new account, we follow up," she says. "It's just a lot of persistence from employees to constantly tell members what the credit union is about, why we are important to the community, and why we make a difference."
With staff understanding and sharing what makes credit unions unique, plus providing top-notch service, East River claims almost half of the 6,600 townspeople as members, many taking three to four services each, said Nordberg, citing the importance of staff education.
"We have one person who spends half her time training our team, and she does so regularly," Nordberg said. "We also require staff to complete one CU University educational module per month. It's a program from Harland Clarke."
While the Harland program provides an overview of the credit union industry and products and services basics, weekly staff meetings keep member service reps up to speed on East River's offerings and promotions.
"If we have new products or services we are implementing, we discuss those with our staff before we launch them to see if there are ways to improve them," shared Nordberg. "We also ask members for feedback on products after we release them. We are always looking for ways to make our products more attractive to members."
The $18-million East River's deposit rates are appealing, near the top of the local market, and loan rates are competitive, said Nordberg, who explained that she evaluates loan pricing and CU investments to offset any increase in deposit rates.
At press time, East River's tiered money market paid from 1%-3.5%, and a one-year CD stood at 4%. First mortgages started at 5.5%, the best HELOC rate was 5%, and construction loans began at 7.5%. A 12-month auto loan charged 4.5%, and a five-year car loan was 5.5%.
If product pricing attracts members to East River, it's service that keeps them and gets them using more products, Nordberg contends.
"I think our member service is outstanding," she said. "I have a lot of people stop in and thank me for the service they receive and tell me how polite and professional our staff is. We even have people who work at other financials come to our credit union because they appreciate our service. Word of mouth is big, especially in a small community."
East River doesn't rely solely on others spreading the credit union word, it promotes itself by becoming part of the community's fabric, Nordberg explained. Every month the credit union assigns a community project to an employee who is responsible form managing the effort from start to finish. East River is a regular at high school football tailgate events, has a float in the local college's homecoming parade each year, supports the Madison's food pantry, and more.
"We have an excellent presence in our community," Nordberg said. "That makes us part of this town and brings us so much awareness."
For info: www.harlandclarke.com.
