SEATTLE-After years of borrowing branch design ideas from retailers, one expert is advising credit unions to think like web designers.
Mark Weber, president of Weber Marketing Group, told Credit Union Journal that for many years the drivers of CU branch design have been operations and the credit union's own goals. Less important has been what the member needs to do, including small business owners.
Weber's advice: Design the branch to work like the best website one has ever visited.
"The key is the user experience becomes the driver," he explained. "That should be the starting point for any redesign of the branch of the future. This is an upside down design, but it makes sense because the branch should solve how to best help the member improve the quality of his or her life."
Weber said the evolving approach is a continuation of financial institutions moving away from what was the standard for decades: teller stations and the accompanying teller lines. While some CUs are installing coffee bars, emphasizing Internet access, placing member service reps sideby side with members in service "pods," or even installing video tellers, Weber said the move is on to change from designing for a retail model to designing for hospitality.
No More Milk in the Back
"I have been designing branches for 30 years now," he said. "Thirty years ago 'retail banking' was a new term, so we borrowed from retailers. We put the milk in the back, meaning the tellers were in the back. In the branch of the future we do not necessarily serve milk any more-meaning there might not be a teller."
The "orchestration of the hospitality experience" is important at every step. Weber said the worst thing about visiting a CU branch is walking in and having no idea where to go.
"We believe the concierge concept is overused because the concierge is a glorified greeter," he observed. "I would rather see a true advisor, the second-most knowledgeable person in the branch behind the manager. This person has high knowledge, expertise, and can start guiding people to solutions the second they walk into the branch."
For Weber, this means instead of advisory service people being stuck in a back office those people should be upfront, delivering that hospitality.
Another bad branch strategy Weber has witnessed: large greeting stations that are not executed successfully and just end up being "giant, empty bunkers."
Wanted: More Than a Greeter
In the retail model, when a consumer arrives at Walmart there is a greeter, who typically says something along the lines of, "Thank you for coming to Walmart, have a nice day." Weber said credit unions need more than just a greeter.
"In the hospitality model, the moment someone steps through the door everyone's job is to give incredible hospitality," he said. "The retail experience just sort of happens, people have to find what they are looking for. The hospitality model is a massive shift to a completely different environment. It drives relationship-building, profitable growth."
