LAS VEGAS-An audience of bankers and CU execs at BAI's Retail Delivery Show had these questions:
For Carrie Birkhofer, CEO of Bay Federal CU: "How have changes made at Bay FCU impacted the member experience?"
A: "Closing the two branches did give us the courage to continue. Most of the profitable members did move on to another branch. I was very forthright with members. By having our message out there that I am the leader of this credit union and I am going to make decisions to steer us through this, people understood why we had to make the change. It's been positive. I think a lot of it had to do with our communications strategy, and we're going to continue it going forward.
For Rich Weissman, CEO of DMA: How does one take profitability info and provide it to front sales force, and then ensure the MSR does not give everything away and create an unprofitable scenario?
A: "You may not want to give away the exact number of profitability, but you might want to give a category, such as VIP. Second, give them tools to look at relationships and do a 'what if' if it is given away for free. Part of it is the tools you give people on the front line."