By Lisa Hochgraf
Greetings from the CUES School of Sales and Service in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was actually expecting to be writing this post for Skybox's sister blog, CUES Nexus Connection, because my impression was that the school focuses on CU marketing.
But interestingly enough, we've spent a fair bit of time our first morning talking about the CEO's role in implementing a credit union's successful sales and service culture.
(Later in the day, we talked about how to hire the right staff members to support a sales and service initiative. Here Laurie Wiest of The Summit FCU, Rochester, N.Y., and Andrew Solnordal of G & F Financial Group, Burnaby, British Columbia, work on a small group project.)
Able session leader Mike Neill, CSE, president of Michael Neill & Associates, Atlanta, has emphasized that a successful sales and service culture has to be driven from the top.
And that means that the CEO's behaviors have to change so he or she can effectively lead the charge. For example, if the CEO is used to asking about the number of referrals front-line staff are making, Neill says, he or she will support the succcessful sales culture implementation by instead asking, "What did we do this week to improve the financial lives of our member?"
"Leadership creates behavior change" throughout the organization, Neill told attendees. "If Mary meets her assigned goal of 25 referrals on Monday and stops, there's nothing wrong with Mary, but something wrong with her coach." An effective coach (leader) wouldn't be satisfied with managing the sales numbers but instead would ask this employee: "What are you going to do to be even more effective in improving members' financial lives next week?"
Neill said it sometimes becomes the role of a sales and service consulant like himself to teach the CEO top behaviors that will lead a successful sales and service culture implementation. Another participant in the program suggested that other staffers could call the CEO and request specific behaviors (such as recognizing the successful efforts of a particular branch manager or teller or senior manager), until leading the culture became second nature.
CEOs, what do you do to support your CU's sales/service culture and how did you learn to do so? How do you maintain any shift in behavior you learn from an outside consultant once the consultant exits?
Executives, how do you support your CEOs in such an endeavor?
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES editor.
Learn about getting free books by Mike Neill here.
