YANKTON, S.D - If you believe that “what gets measured gets done,” then why aren’t you measuring your Primary Financial Institution score?
That’s just one of the things that this year’s winner of NAFCU’s Federal Credit Union of the Year (assets less than $150 milllion) Award does on a regular basis to track how well it is serving its membership–and it even helps fuel the CU’s growth, too.
Marketing assistant Dorothy Kuipers said Services Credit Union’s awards application focused on what the credit union considers to be one of its best practices–its PFI score, which tracks share of wallet and member engagement.
“Our PFI tracks 22 different things,” said Dave Wright, CEO of Services Center FCU. “If you have a savings account, your score is one. Give us your e-mail address, and that’s two. A checking account three, and so forth. When we began to track this our average member score was in the 3.8 range. By the end of 2007 we were above five.”
That’s a lot of extra services when you “spread it over 6,000 members,” Wright suggested. “We had a very good year building member loyalty.”
The credit union gained greater wallet share by carefully cross-selling members, using a software system that allowed member service representatives to note member conversations. If a member was asked about a product and declined, that conversation was entered into the system so a different service rep didn’t ask the member the same question later.
“That really annoys members,” Wright said. “We’re here to help them and we never want to seem like we are just trying to sell them something.”
E-statements are something members took advantage of in 2007, raising participation in paperless statements to 48% by year’s end, up from 20%. Services Center’s numbers were good last year, too, with 1.3% ROA and .44% delinquencies.
Assets grew to $30 million, up from $23 million in 2006.
Not only has PFI been a growth catalyst, the CU’s mission to “teach members to fish,” has helped build loyalty, Wright explained.
“I am most proud of how we help our members,” he said. “And it’s not people helping people. We help members help themselves. We e-mail them regularly with information about services to manage their finances. We give them the tools to manage their financial lives.”
Slow Down To Reflect
Wright said the process of applying for a national award is simply a good learning exercise for the credit union, noting that even when the credit union doesn’t win, applying for NAFCU’s award helps Services Center slow down and reflect on its accomplishments.
“Sometimes you are so focused on what you have to do that you forget what you’ve accomplished in the last year,” said Wright. “You take the time to put it on paper and it can tell you a lot about your credit union.”
Wright said Services Center “accomplished a lot” in 2007, and his team realized that when they reviewed results.
“This year the submission was through NAFCU’s website, so we had to be very succinct,” Wright said. “I have to admit, with all we did it was challenging to do that.”(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
