In 2006 I left a Marketing role at a credit union and came to MarketMatch. Still, 7 years later, I'm a fiercely loyal CU member. They have my mortgage, home equity, 2 auto loans, checking, savings, credit card and some investments. But when I decide to leave, I'm going taking my accounts to USAA.
I have USAA home and auto insurance and, to me, they are the Disney of banking. Maybe that's why, in a 2011 Forrester report, USAA was found to lead our industry with 3.5 products per member, with Navy Federal Credit Union close behind with 3.1.
How can you see these kind of results?
Focus on Service, but Don't Forget Sales
I've shopped many a Wells Fargo for clients all over the country and they have an outstanding sales model. USAA, on the other hand, has an outstanding SERVICE model.
I've been a USAA member for 19 years and in that time, I've NEVER met a single employee face-to-face. Yet, I still consider them the greatest service company that I do business with.
The USAA Way: Like Disney, the primary driver is the member experience. Focus every single member interaction on service first! Service leads to trust and trust leads to sales. Then ask simple questions at every interaction and suggest products related to individual responses. It's that simple. The unspoken steps here are: 1) Listen and 2) Care!
Customers often walk in the door or come to your web site inquiring about a product. The successful institutions don't focus on one product at a time, they focus on clusters.
Here are some examples:
Debit cards, online banking and e-statements are not "cross sells" to a checking account, they are access points and should be as assumed as ordering checks.
As soon as your customer closes on that mortgage and moves in, they're going to start filling their new house with ... new stuff! Help them by bundling a credit card with every mortgage. If they're good for $100,000+, they're also good for a couple extra grand on a credit card. And it should go without saying that your mortgage customers should have an automatic referral to any insurance offerings.
Every single commercial account has a decision maker with a personal account. Do you have them both? How can you package the two to give you an advantage?
Blowup the Silos
Rarely does someone bank with XYZ Mortgage, or ABC Insurance ... they are going to XYZ Credit Union or ABC Bank.
What USAA does REALLY well is communicate internally. My auto insurance contacts may not have all the answers about retail checking, but they're certainly not shy about asking me if I'm interested.
Many of you offer a lot of products. I'm not saying that every employee has to be an expert on every product, but they should know everything that you have to offer and know how to get someone to the right contact within one transfer.
When you want to focus on improving what you do, spend some time at USAA.com. Look at their Life Stages or their Advice Center. Notice, though they likely offer a lot more services than you do, how simple their website is to navigate.
Think about it. USAA has 3.5 products per member among more than 9 million members ... and no branches! They are killing us and they only have the computer and phone to build a relationship. Imaging what we could do with our world-class, face-to-face interactions if we took a few pages from USAA's playbook. We could become the most magical banking place on earth.
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