How To Get Indirect Members To Also Go To A Branch

LAS VEGAS - There are indirect members and there are credit union branches, and often the twain never do meet.

Segment One, a San Diego-based outbound sales and consulting firm, is among those companies that says it has found a way to turn folks who join a credit union via an auto loan at a dealership into full-fledged members. The company has teamed with Better Branches (see story, left) on indirect lending cross-selling.

"SegmentOne Analytics helps turn indirect lending members into full members by targeting these members with compelling offers-a process called member conversion," said Rick Poulton, president of Better Branches. "We double or triple the involvement of that new member in the credit union."

One major drawback to indirect auto lending is it does not require people to go to a credit union to sign up, he said. "Many 'members' never realize they belonged to a credit union. At the end of their 24 or 36 months, they pay off the loan and forget all about it."

Poulton spoke at the recent NACUSO annual conference in Las Vegas. He was joined during an educational session by Greg Darling, president of SegmentOne. Darling said during a NACUSO educational session credit unions have a common complaint about indirect lending: those members do not cross over in large numbers to become full members. "I am an information guy, and I thought there must be a way to use all the information gathered from those indirect members," said Darling. "Many credit unions have given up cross-selling indirect members, but we want to make the indirect loan channel help credit union growth."

Darling said SegmentOne developed a solution for outbound cross-selling. With it, he said, indirect members move from one product (their auto loan) to an average of two-to-five products. Darling said CUs see an increase in loan balances and sales of complementary products such as GAP insurance.

"There definitely are cross-sell opportunities within those indirect members," he said. "Credit unions need to have good products and price them well, and then put quality information in front of those indirect members."

With the SegmentOne/Better Branches product, a CU can make a specific offer to a member that includes details on how much the person can save, he said. "And, the analytic makes sure the member is pre-approved before the offer is made."