ALBUQUERQUE-A renewed focus on analyzing data and measuring results has helped Kirtland FCU boost profitability and ROA.
Indeed, the $478-million credit union has managed to turn around its previously poor numbers so well that it recently was among Raddon Financial Group's Crystal Performance Award winners.
Calling Kirtland "an extremely well-run institution," Eric Wittekiend, strategic advisor for Raddon, noted the CU has an RFG performance index of 75, which places it in the top 3% of all credit unions nationally.
"Kirtland has an extremely efficient shop and drives very strong average household profitability and ROA," Wittekiend said. "It is doing very well with both onboarding new members and cross selling to existing members. This allows it to drive very high average deposit and loan balances."
KFCU CEO David Seely said Kirtland began using Raddon as a resource "a long time ago, and we did not have good numbers back then."
Through its strategic planning process, Kirtland tried to improve cross-selling, penetration, share of wallet and other factors, Seely continued. In the early to mid-1990s, the CU became involved with an organization known as Quality New Mexico, which promotes Malcolm Baldrige criteria for performance excellence. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) designed and manages the Baldrige National Quality Program and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which promotes quality awareness and recognizes quality and business achievements of U.S. organizations, and publicizes these organizations' successful performance strategies.
Recalled Seely: "Ever since then, we have become more data focused, looking at all data sources including Raddon. Since 1997 we have won several awards. It is clear to anyone looking at our numbers we have been successful."
But the credit union isn't just looking at its own numbers, or even just the numbers from within the CU industry. Kirtland also looks at award-winning organizations in other industries, as well, explained Selly, who is chairman of Quality New Mexico and serves as one of its judges. "I see all the award applications. These have helped us with process improvement and different ways of getting information from our members."
One example is a member service initiative that borrowed from the example of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, another Malcolm Baldridge winner: all Kirtland employees are empowered to fix any member issue and spend up to $300 in doing so. "Our employees that deal with members are our listening posts," Seely assessed. "If someone is positive or negative, we capture that information. We discuss this information every week at our senior managers meetings. We don't wait for the annual survey to fix something, as that is a lagging indicator."
Case in point: cross sales. "Years ago we saw a gap in our cross-selling, so we have come up with a number of programs to improve. We try to take single-product households and turn them into multiple-product households," he related, noting that employees are made aware of the organization's priorities. "Our front-line people know we emphasize household relationships. If someone walks in and applies for a mortgage, they are likely to walk out with four or five services, such as an auto loan refinance."
Employees also know cross selling is also good for the members. "It is in our best interest and our members' best interests if we add products, because we can save people money," Seely said.
