By Michael Neill, CSE
As someone who makes his living assisting credit unions in shifting from a process culture to a member-centric sales and service culture, I shouldn’t have been taken off guard when a ServiStar™ client asked, “So what makes a good sales person in a credit union, Mike?” And I wasn’t—completely. I did have my opinions about this extremely important question and I shared them.
However, the fact that I did not know with a higher degree of certainty what separates an average sales performer from a great one told me I needed to get a better answer.
So Michael Neill & Associates engaged Richard Houston, Ed.D., of Peopleassets to conduct an empirical assessment of the distinguishing qualities and behaviors of high-performing member service representatives in the credit union market.
MNA recruited 15 MSRs from among our ServiStar™ clients to participate in the research. The MSRs had been identified by their managers as outstanding performers with regard to both sales and service. Peopleassets contacted the 15 recruits to complete an online profile, the Peopleassets Professional Style Survey, then aggregated this group’s data and generated a unique “MNA” benchmark norm for member service representatives.
Peopleassets then compared this benchmark against other benchmarks in the Peopleassets data base. Specifically, Peopleassets generated a graphical comparison with a customer service benchmark, a sales benchmark and, finally, our “grand” overall benchmark. (Access the whole report.
Top Traits
The MNA group of MSRs scored especially high in six traits: competitive, conscientious, sociable, team-player, communicator and initiative.
For example, MNA MSRs are exceptionally sociable and gregarious people. They bring strong interpersonal skills to the job that enable them to make a genuine connection with credit union members. Several MSRs highlighted the importance of building trust with members as a foundation for successful service delivery.
In what is likely a related quality, MSRs are strong team players. One project participant stressed that a great MSR has to enjoy working with people and that her success, to a large extent, is a function of others’ contributions. Recognizing those support systems and going out of her way to acknowledge others sustained that strong team spirit which helped her be successful.
Project participants are similarly very strong communicators. Communication is the means by which service-oriented relationships are developed and maintained. More than one MSR noted the key to successful service had to do with listening, understanding and then informing members, as contrasted to “selling” them something. Combining the special interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate, one participant noted that “every member gets treated like they are the most special person in the credit union.
Our MNA MSRs also maintain high standards of quality. Conscientiousness relates to getting things done “right.” Follow-through is an essential component of great service. MSR demonstrate a strong commitment to both.
Additionally, MSRs are highly motivated to assume positions of authority (power) and are extremely competitive in their desire to produce the best outcomes. These factors translate into “drive” and ambition that forms an essential motivational component for high performance.
While MSRs from the MNA group scored high in take initiative, their scores were similar to those of the other sales and service professionals in Peopleassets’ database. Initiative would very likely be an important attribute for success in the MSR role, but it does not necessarily distinguish the MNA MSRs from others in similar positions.
To see where top ServiStar MSRs placed on the other 10 traits studied, check out the whole report
Management Steps
What does all this mean as you hire, train and develop your sales and service team? It is worth noting that some MSR “competencies” can be effectively trained and developed, while others are more likely to be an aspect of individual personal attributes that are inherent in the individual’s personality. Sociability is a characteristic that is relatively difficult to “train.” It is much wiser to select for this particular personal attribute.
Team play, communication skills and influence skills are more amenable to training and development, although individuals with natural strengths in these directions are certainly much more likely to learn them with alacrity. These attributes can be successfully assessed via effective pre-employment testing. We utilize the Profile XT available through Personnel Insights.
Sales training and advanced sales training must be provided to those who have the attributes but not the knowledge to put the attributes to work for them. The training should be focused on how the employee can help the member to identify their financial needs and offer a solution.
Member service reps should be encouraged to see how they “stack up” against a standard of superior performance within the boundary of confidentiality. Goal setting, tracking and reporting of sales results are very important in the development of these outstanding sales performers. The results will provide validation to the high performers that they are doing a good job and will allow management to assess training needs.
Reward performance that exceeds expectations. Be sure your metrics include both sales and service measures. This will prevent in inordinate focus on sales to the exclusion to quality service.
In a future post you’ll hear from Mike Muetzel of Michael Neill & Associates, as he provides information on how to best manage and lead these high performers. Trust me; it’s not management as usual.
Michael Neill is president of Michael Neill & Associates, Inc.
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Learn more about ServiStar, consultative services from Michael Neill & Associates, in partnership with CUES.
