Questions to help you look for new niches.
By Lisa Hochgraf
(Facing, from left) CEO Institute I attendees Jared Freeman, Tony Molina and Jill Vicente work with Steve Ewers on answering the questions listed in this post about segmentation.[/caption] Traditional hotels have a window of time every day that's "no new customers allowed." Most hotels ask guests to check out in the late morning, and allow new guests to check in at 3 p.m. This gives the hotel's housekeeping staff time to clean and otherwise ready the rooms. But hotels that follow this model can't fully serve the guest who arrives on a morning flight and would love to take a shower before the first business meeting of the day. "Housekeeping would go crazy," said Rob Lippert, Ph.D., in his presentation yesterday to attendees of CEO Institute I: Strategic Planning, at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia. But housekeeping shouldn't run a hotel. You can rent a car for unlimited miles or an extra half day, noted Lippert, a principal in Decision Strategies International, Conshohocken, Pa. A hotel that could find a way to change its concept of "a day's stay" could better serve a whole new slice of the market. "That orthodoxy that started a long time ago could probably be reworked today," he said. Lippert provided attendees of the institute these four questions to help them think about how they might be able to expand their service reach to include currently unserved member and market segments. How would you answer them for your credit union?
- Which customer segments will you serve? How can you segment differently?
- What unmet/undermet segments will you serve with products, services or solutions?
- Why would the member choose you? How will you win? Cost? Service? Innovation?
- What is the value of relationships? How do we establish them for the short term and long term?
Lisa Hochgraf is a CUES senior editor. Also read "Segmented Marketing" from CUES' CU Management magazine and "To Niche or Not to Niche" from this blog.
