With these guys holding the market share cards, if your community bank or credit union isn't showing account growth ... it's a crime.
But, if Gil Grissom has taught me anything, it's that ANY crime can be solved (usually in less than 45 minutes).
Lets take an Account CSI course on 2 key product areas - without the messy finger print powder or blood spatter.
Loans
To a certain extent, lending is a numbers game. Increase applications and all is well, right? Heck no!
Here’s an example: We had a one-branch client a few years ago where we conducted a loan promotion to the neighborhoods surrounding the branch. The campaign was successful in attracting interest and apps, but few were approvable – even though we used household income as a qualifier. What we really did was generate more work … not more loans.
Recently, a very close friend of mine said that, as a lender, her job is to read people. Totally true! Every time we fund a loan, we’re pushing our poker chips on the table. But, if you don't push chips out, you can never rake chips back in and build your stacks.
For lending, like poker, you need to be able to read the signs. If you're not seeing the loan results you want, of course you'll want to increase apps – but you MUST make sure you’re getting the most from each one.
Lending CSI is about finding the clues in your process and patching the leaks:
- What is the trending in your applications?
- Number of apps?
- Dollar amounts?
- For which products?
- How many are you approving?
- Of those denied ... Why? How much opportunity are you missing?
- What were the credit scores of those denied? Are there ancillary circumstances?
- What would it take to approve 5-10% of those denied?
- What can we learn from this segment to better target next time?
- Of those approved, how many are funded? If not, why?
- This is often where the missed opportunities are hidden.
Checking
According to a 2011 FDIC Survey of un and underbanked, about 10% of US households do not have a checking account. Glass half full ... that means you have 90% checking penetration, right?!? Why not?!?
The "checking account" is your customer's access account. It's the lifeline to everything from their monthly bills to their morning skinny mocha latte - extra espresso. If you don't have it, someone else does.
Checking CSI is about finding clues that your customers and members leave:
- Awareness: It sounds a bit crazy from our side of the desk, but do your customers even think of you for checking? You'd be shocked and hurt by the answer most of the time. If they don't have an account with you it's often that easy.
- Competition/differentiation: You need to, at minimum, keeping up with the Jones'. Remember, this is an Access Account. It's more important for you to have all of the access tools than to offer rewards or even interest. How do you stack up against the other institutions?
- We sell trust: Every positive interaction should include a message about checking. Every product sold should be tied to checking. Build on your happy experiences.
- You cannot over communicate: The cliché says that the only 2 sure things are death and taxes. My friends, there is a 3rd ... some day, in the not-to-distant future the big banks will tick-off their customers. When they do, you need to be top of mind. That doesn't mean planning quarterly campaigns ... it means drowning them in checking messages at the front line and at home. Just when you think you're over communicating - you're probably just starting to do it right.
- Balance trends: Rarely will someone walk into a branch and simply close their account. There is typically a balance bleed off period prior to the closing. If you can, watch for balance decrease triggers and react with a phone call to make sure the customer is satisfied.
- Transaction trends: Having an account is one thing ... using it is something MUCH more important. Communicate with those inactive accounts.
- What access is connected?: The more the better. You don't typically ask if a customer would like checks with their checking account, right? So, why are we asking about debit cards? We need to assume some basic access points and ask the right questions to see how a customer prefers to use the product. Mobile? Online? Text? You don't know what to discuss until you know how they prefer to use it. Watch out for those checking accounts with few access tools.
- Analyze your attrition by account: You may not be getting folks into the right account type or you may need to consider making some product changes if one account stands out here.
You don't need to look good in a white lab coat or have a corny one-liner right before each commercial break to do this stuff. Simply determine what crime is being committed against your growth and look for the clues. Then cue the Who music and get to work.
We bring these marketing philosophies to credit unions and community banks nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.
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