ATLANTA - Credit unions seeking to increase branch traffic need to realize technology is not just changing the branch, but the type of traffic it is getting.
“As automation has tried to take care of a lot of these very mundane transactions, we see a lot of people designing the branch into more of a sales experience,” said David Peterson, senior vice president of Goldleaf Financial Solutions, Atlanta. “They are really trying to drive the in-branch experience to be more of a sales orientation, and allow the technology to take care of the transaction.”
Many CUs have completely automated the teller line experience, slicing the amount of time a member has to be at the branch to make a transaction. But while the quantity of time may be decreasing, the time’s quality is increasing. Branch employees no longer have to run to get forms, wait on processing and rarely have to leave the members alone to wait, Peterson noted.
“When you are doing some new type of transaction, the speed at which they are able to create the necessary document is significantly shortened. The short time that they have has more eye contact and communication with the members. When you shorten the length of the transaction and you specifically enhance the physical interaction with the employee and the member, that’s geometrically better.”
Giving More Face Time
Deposit automation software is specifically oriented around giving the employee more face time with the member, and many times important cross-selling information is right at the employee’s fingertips. With proper training, the MSR should be able to weave information into the conversation that may entice the member to open a new account, take out a loan or invest with a new product.
“It’s all about trying to find out what is most likely to attract a customer to another (product),” said Peterson.
Change In Mission, Change In Size
With a change in mission comes a change in size, suggests John Hyche, a consultant for LEVEL5. As the average number of members per branch to make the facility profitable drops, so does the size of the building, as they no longer need to have large lobbies to handle long teller lines. Even with many members becoming more independent in the way they handle banking–through online and mobile applications–the branch is still vitally important to them.
“The branch will become a service and sales venue with an increasing focus on financial education. Just because (members) are so acquainted with computer technology doesn’t mean they know beans (about finance),” said Hyche. “The remote channels will become very important, but they will not supplant the physical channels.”
Even with the potential to construct smaller buildings, the expense of electricity and heating has made every CU nervous. Still, Bob Saunders, EVP-construction at MomentumBuilds in Seattle, pointed to “direct visual control” technology that allows institutions to control energy consumption at every facility from a central location.
“Clients can control all of their branches from one location so they can track energy consumption, adjust the temperature and see if something is using more energy than it should. I see that as a real pragmatic tool for energy management,” Saunders said.(c) 2008 The Credit Union Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.http://www.cujournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com
