From left: CUES member Rene Rudder, service quality leader, Barbados Public Workers' Co-operative CU Ltd., St. Michael, Barbados; CUES member Mandy Gerhold, manager, Lambton Financial Credit Union, Sarnia, Ontario; CUES member Kaley McLeod, regional manager/sales, Prairie Centre CU Ltd., Rosetown, Saskatchewan; CUES member Andrew Solnordal, regional manager, G & F Financial Group, Burnaby, British Columbia; CUES member Richard Moore, manager/branch operations, Lambton Financial Credit Union, Sarnia, Ontario; CUES member George Nahodil, EVP/retail delviery/marketing, Members 1st Federal Credit Union, Mechanicsburg, Pa.; and Mike Neill, president, Michael Neill and Associates, Atlanta. Not pictured: Laurie Wiest, VP/human resources/training and development, The Summit Federal Credit Union, Rochester, N.Y.
Posted by Lisa Hochgraf
The (above) attendees of last week's CUES School of Sales and Service in Vancouver, British Columbia, were a sharp bunch. Presenter Mike Neill, president of Michael Neill & Associates, Atlanta, couldn't have been more pleased with their responses to how to help a fictitious new teller get better at cross-selling to more effectively serve members.
In the rest of this post you can read the same exercise attendees worked with, consider attendees' responses, and add your responses in the comments.
Here goes!
1. Read the exercise.
Mark is newest teller at your branch. This is his first job working at a financial institution, so he’s had a lot to learn. He is enthusiastic and friendly with members, and he works hard to be accurate in member transactions and in balancing his cash drawer. He had a full week of training when he joined the credit union and additional training in one- and two-day workshops since then, including a two-day session on cross-selling skills. Mark also works regularly with a peer mentor, Sara. It is Sara’s job to work one on one with Mark a couple times a week on basic teller skills, including demonstrating how to cross-sell; Mark also turns to Sara whenever he has a question.
Mark was expected to meet sales goals of 50 products beginning his second month on the job. During that month, Mark cross-sold five products. In the following, and most recent, month, Mark cross-sold 15 products.
You are scheduled to meet with Mark for his first quarterly evaluation next week. In all other aspects of his work, Mark performs well for a new employee and he passed his product knowledge assessment (just barely, but he passed.) You are concerned about his cross-selling totals.
"Come up with one training option for him," Neill asked the group. "You don’t want to repeat something he’s already had."
2. Consider attendees' responses.
First, Mandy Gerhold suggested having Mark write down what he had tried to do already to close a cross sell. "See what worked and what didn’t," suggested Gerhold, manager with $180 million Lambton Financial Credit Union, Sarnia, Ontario. "Talk it over."
Then, from Laurie Wiest, VP/human resources/training and development at $467 million The Summit Federal Credit Union, Rochester, N.Y.: "Probably the manager needed to step in and do some observations, focus on the mentoring of the cross-training, encourage some different perspective and other cross-selling techniques."
Finally, this comment: "We need to have someone else mentor from a big-picture point of view," added George Nahodil, EVP/retail delivery/marketing for $1.8 billion Members 1st Federal Credit Union, Mechanicsburg, Pa." Mark needs to look at the big picture and see why what he’s doing is important."
3. Add your own responses in the comments! What training would you offer Mark?
