CARMEL, Ind. - While insurance products experts concur that getting insurance products out in front of the membership frequently and forcefully is absolutely critical, opinions differ on how to attract those members or potential members.
Bob Hunt, field vice president at Conseco, takes his charge of selling cancer and stroke products directly to the prospective consumer.
"Doing direct mail for specific products like that, the response rate is not that good. You have to get to the members," said Hunt, noting that Conseco representatives go out directly to the SEGs and prospective employer groups to get new customers for their products and member for the credit unions. "We're only calling on working people. Working people that have a direct deposit to the credit union, that have a job, those are the people borrowing money."
But because of the general make-up of credit unions, Bill Jolicouer, vice president and product executive for CUNA Mutual Group, believes that there are a number of missed opportunities when relying on outside sales.
"It's unusual to have life insurance agents going out and doing significant prospecting. If you think about demographics, there is a whole segment that will never see an insurance agent, so direct mail programs are more valuable because those individuals don't have a choice unless their employer provides something," Jolicoeur argued.
CU executives should critically examine who their members are and what they need the most, and then tailor the products and services offered as well the method of presentation.
"It's obvious, but not always done, because sometimes the perception of the members of the board are just thinking about their personal situations," Jolicoeur added.
Getting members on the phone or speaking to them in person at the branches, however, is clearly the easiest and most persuasive way to draw more members to insurance products.
"What is important in times like this is educating the members on the protections and benefits. It's more important now than ever," said Cory Jefferies, SWBC vice president of business development, adding that CUs with the most successful insurance programs start with a strong commitment from the board and upper levels of management to consistently offer the products when opportunities arise. "They have a lot of focus in training, education and continual coaching for their lenders to be successful in cross-selling."
No matter what method a credit union chooses, there is a critical need to become more proactive in a market that clearly has opportunities to secure revenue diversity.
"Credit unions need to be much more aggressive in reaching out to their potential membership," said Hunt.
"Every economy provides risk and opportunities," agreed Jolicoeur. "Everyone kind of fears the risk, what people need to do is look at the opportunity."(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com/ http://www.sourcemedia.com/
