6 minutes
Three foundational building blocks need to be optimized to consistently deliver engaging member experiences over the phone: people, processes and leadership.
Our journey of nine articles will cover each in detail. Part one discussed hiring for top performance and performance management. Part two covers processes. This is the fifth article overall and the second on processes. Specifically, we tackle how to personalize phone experiences with little or no cost by using the following three tactics: Do more than just offer French fries, pull a Harry Houdini, and heed the advice of Destiny’s Child and Dale Carnegie.
According to a RightNow Customer Impact Report, 86 percent of consumers are willing to pay up to 25 percent more for a better customer experience. Therefore, it’s imperative for credit unions, especially those facing such common challenges as selling commoditized products and services, downward pressure on margins and building member loyalty, to figure out a way to improve the overall member experience.
One component of a better member experience is personalization. By building deeper relationships with members, credit unions can take a step forward in combating these trends by delivering personalized experiences. That’s because, over time, these experiences can help make price a little less important to members.
The good news is that personalization doesn’t have to be expensive and many tactics are simple to execute and can immediately impact on your members. Here are three ideas that you can implement today:
Do More Than Just Offer French Fries
Back in the 1970s, McDonald’s realized it could increase revenue by simply asking if customers wanted a side of French fries with their order. McDonald’s was very successful at mastering the art of the cross-sell. While cross-selling is a great start, its not doing what we call “going beyond the transaction.”
Successful customer oriented organizations, such as the Ritz-Carlton, leverage technology to learn and understand their customers. For example, if you stayed at a Ritz-Carlton and requested a copy of The Wall Street Journal, odds are you won't even have to ask for it on your next stay. This is an excellent example of going “beyond the transaction.”
Even if you don’t have the most sophisticated customer relationship management system or transactional database, the point is that to build successful relationships, it’s critical to obtain and somehow record personal insights about your members.
By gathering actionable insights, such as their goals and desires, motivations, upcoming or recent life-changing events (baby, retirement, etc.), and what they enjoy in their free time, you’ll strengthen the relationships you build and, over time, increase the likelihood of generating future sales.
To be successful, you have to be both attentive (listen to cues from members) and ask probing questions. For example, if a member calls to ensure their credit card will work because they are traveling out of state or abroad, then they just handed you a golden opportunity to inquire about their travel plans and build a connection.
Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. Often you’ll have to dig deeper and ask probing questions. For starters, you should quickly review (sometimes data mine) the member’s profile for potential conversation starters: Birthdays, member anniversaries or products and services members have with your credit union are good places to begin. Even just talking about the weather, or inquiring about weekend plans can spur conversations and help minimize “dead air” time.
One idea for organizations struggling with this initiative is to start an internal competition among your front-line employees. Recognize employees who obtain the most insights per member and the most members providing insights.
Pull a Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini was a Hungarian-American illusionist and stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts. No, we aren’t suggesting that you (or your agents) bury yourselves alive and dig yourselves out or try to untangle yourselves while in a straightjacket underwater. The point is that Harry Houdini surprised and delighted his viewers. And that’s exactly what we are suggesting you do with your members.
And while leveraging insights about your members is a very effective strategy and likely the most impactful, it isn’t mandatory to make an immediate impact and build an emotional connection. For example, reaching out to a member for an upcoming birthday or company anniversary, or just thanking them for their loyalty are simple ways you can surprise and delight.
One idea is to challenge each representative to write a minimum number of hand-written cards and to call a minimum number of members (planned follow-ups don’t count) each day.
At $500 million/30,000-member Proponent Federal Credit Union, Nutley, N.J., agents were encouraged to mail hand-written cards to members. The result? Anecdotal evidence that it was an effective tactic. In one example, a member, after having a few good conversations and later being the recipient of a hand-written thank-you card, called an agent to tell her that he’d decided to keep over $500,000 in his account rather than transfer the money to a slightly higher paying bank. The reason? He knew he wouldn’t receive personalized service anywhere else.
Recently, we had one agent of a financial institution call a member and actually sing “Happy Birthday” to them. While it’s just one single interaction within the relationship journey, just think of how many other people this member told.
You can also take it one step further, if your budget allows, and give your employees an allowance and basic criteria that can be used for surprising and delighting your members, such as sending flowers or cookies for special occasions. Then, meet periodically to share and learn about these experiences.
Zappos, the online retailer, takes this to the extreme by empowering employees to determine, without needing approval, which customers to send gifts to and deliver WOW service.
Heed the Advice of Destiny’s Child and Dale Carnegie
Sometimes I wonder if the chorus of the song “Say My Name” by Destiny’s Child, an R&B group based out of Atlanta, is a subtle reminder to call center agents on how to interact with their members. In fact, even Dale Carnegie, in his famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People, said, “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” The point here is, whenever it makes sense, to use the member’s name as often as possible.
Studies have actually shown that repeating a person’s name repeatedly makes them feel more important and helps establish more of a personal feel on the call. That’s because it shows you care enough to know their name, and you know how to capture their full attention. Next time you speak with a member, address them by their first and/or last name whenever possible.
We hope you have a great time personalizing member experiences, and be sure to stay tuned for next month’s article, #6 in this series, on how to determine the people you need to answer the phones.
Prior to starting his new company, Bill Stavros spent over 13 years of his professional career in the credit union industry, most recently as VP/marketing & member experience at $513 million Proponent Federal Credit Union, Nutley, N.J. At Proponent FCU, Stavros was responsible for conceptualizing, architecting, developing and deploying a new vision for delivering customer service for the inbound call center, based on his learnings from highly regarded service oriented companies such as Zappos, Ritz-Carlton, Disney & REI. Now with Blueprint Interactions, his goal is to help other credit unions achieve similar results. He can be reached at bill@bpinteractions, by calling 888.757.8338 or at www.bpinteractions.com.
