Posted by John Yonkey on Thu, Jul 14, 2011 @ 12:31 PM
Part 4 of our weeklong series on Service Sales Culture. Just click to read parts ONE, TWO and THREE.
The Change Process
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
As the old adage goes, if you always do what you have always done you will always get what you always got. Service selling would not be necessary if the world around us had not changed, but it has. We now recognize that we cannot do business the same way we did 20 years ago. One of the key components of success in the future is creating a service selling culture.
The change model over time requires that the organization go through these five stages.
Stage One: Uninformed Optimism (Certainty)
Stage Two: Informed Pessimism
Stage Three: Hopeful Realism
Stage Four: Informed Optimism (Confidence)
Stage Five: Completion, Satisfaction, and Achievement
Let us explain the five stages of change. In the first stage we have uninformed optimism. We may not know how to accomplish the goal but we are certain and very optimistic that we can achieve this goal.
In Stage Two, we begin to see some of the glimmer of informed pessimism. We know a little bit more about the process and we have discovered that it is a little difficult to achieve. So, a feeling of pessimism may override the entire process.
“The secret of success is constancy to purpose.”
Benjamin Disraeli
In Stage Three, we have hopeful realism. We begin to see some success, but we recognize it takes longer and is more arduous than we had anticipated. We may see just a little glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel.
In Stage Four, we have informed optimism and confidence. We start to see results and we are beginning to gain momentum. We have put in the hard work it requires to achieve this goal, and we can tell we are moving toward its accomplishment.
In Stage Five, we have a sense of completion, satisfaction, and achievement. We may not be at the level we want to be, but we are so much closer toward success. We know you will never go back. This is the famous point of no return.
To achieve the change we want, remember the following eight tasks to creating change, from the book, Heart of Change, by John Kotter.
- Increase urgency
- Build a guiding team
- Getting the vision right
- Communicating
- Enable action
- Create short-term wins
- Do not let up
- Make it stick
First, we must create a sense of urgency. This drives us to recognize we must take action to accomplish the vision to establish ourselves. If there is not a sense of time pressure, there is no need to accomplish the goal.
Build a guiding team; create a team in your credit union that is sold on this idea and is willing to work together to see it come to completion.
Work to get the vision right. Employees will ask the question, “Why should we have a service selling culture?” The guiding team can help reestablish this vision that without a service selling culture our credit union may not be as competitive or as good as it would like to be in the future. Or even as basic as saying, if we do not have more accounts with more members our profitability may decline and there may be less money for raises in the future.
You must communicate. We must repeat the vision early and often, set goals, establish accountability, have continuous and constant coaching, and have visual reminders of our vision.
Create short-term wins by grabbing the low hanging fruit. Get some wins. They give you a sense of accomplishment and achievement. They do not have to be big ones, but they have to be something that is reportable and measurable. For example, a 5% increase in gap insurance sales in one month can be a huge victory and must be celebrated. As a management team, we must dance in the end zone after a touchdown.
“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all.”
Dale Carnegie
Finally, make it stick and do not give up. As we saw from the first set of bullet points, there will be resistance. It will not necessarily go smoothly or without a bump, but the key is to stay focused and complete the project.
“I know the price of success: dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.”
Frank Lloyd Wright
Posted by John Yonkey on Wed, Jul 13, 2011 @ 10:18 AM
Part 3 of our weeklong series on Service Sales Culture. Just click to read parts ONE and TWO.
The Leadership Process
“A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials.”
Chinese Proverb
Nor a credit union perfected without trials. Your leadership team will be tested with the friction of changing a culture. Please remember a kite does not rise with the wind but against it. Therefore, will your organization rise as you work out the friction and differences of changing your culture? Leadership is the most important step in the entire process, without clear leadership the service; sales culture will not take root. As my father always said, “If it is cloudy in the pulpit, it is foggy in the pews.” You have to clearly state the vision repeatedly, to make sure you remove any doubt of fog.
Now this is where the rubber meets the road. You have publicly declared that you are going to install a service selling culture in your credit union. This is just one of the first of a continuous series of powerful repetitive statements that you will have made to reinforce repeatedly into the future. If you not willing to talk about a service selling culture all of the time, then you are not going to be successful.
Recently Gallup interviewed nearly 1,000 sales managers who began their career in sales. They asked the sales managers to describe the amount of training they received as new sales representatives. In general, their training lasted a few weeks to several months and was relatively thorough. Yet when the same group of managers was asked to describe the training they received when they moved into their first sales management role, they typically answer was “none.”
To be a leader in your credit union you have to make sure that the management team, that supports the salespeople, truly have the training they need in order to be successful. The sales managers need to realize their role as a coach is very, extremely, and critically important.
Without goal setting, accountability, and modeling, coaching the sales staff will not be successful. As a leader, you need to make sure that all of these keys are in place so that you can achieve the success you desire. A service selling process is a completely new way for credit union people to think, and coaching skills for selling are a much different mindset than the old style of just being order takers. We must give our managers the tools they need to be successful. If the managers are not successful as coaches, we will not be successful as leaders.
As a leader of your organization, you have to have the winning attitude. Let the troops know what ever comes down the road; we will be a winning team. There will be challenges to overcome, and some of those challenges may cause us to pause or reset our direction. Regardless of what challenges arise, we will not deviate from the vision of creating a successful service selling culture. Our credit union's future depends on our success in this endeavor.
From a leadership role, we must have a team mentality. We must have the attitude of serve the team before serving ourselves. We must conduct ourselves with greater good of the team in mind. Only in team victories do individuals truly prosper. Focus on the higher purposes of vision; that is through a service selling culture, our credit union will create greater member loyalty, greater profitability, and a strong healthy organization that will last longer in the future.
We can help the team keep its focus trained on the desired outcome and engage in enthusiastic, motivating, can-do behavior all the time. One cannot serve the team with a pessimistic outlook or a negative demeanor.
To be a successful leader, several keys must be followed. A leader must have a training plan in place. Once the training plan is established you need to have managers go through the coaching process so they understand how to establish accountability and goal setting. As a leader, you must set clear expectations as to what you want to accomplish and achieve.
There must be a support system in place because as employees stretch and grow in this process they need to know there is a safety net in case they do not experience immediate success. You also should recognize that this requires patience; it will not be achieved overnight. And as a management team, you must listen to your employees to see how you can help them achieve their goals of creating a service selling culture.
Your job is to measure the employee’s commitment and dedication to the service selling culture. Actively disengaged employees are not only the low end of the productivity index; they actually can erode member loyalty. We will have to make the difficult decision of coaching or terminating an employee who does not live up to the new expectations.
This is a much different culture than that of credit unions in the past, which primarily focused on member service as the key to measuring employee success. In the past, we hired people just to serve members. Now, in this highly competitive market, we are forced to have a service selling culture. The demands of this new culture require us to train and coach our employees to service sell.
Posted by John Yonkey on Tue, Jul 12, 2011 @ 09:23 AM
Part 2 of our weeklong series on Service Sales Culture. Missed yesterday's post? Check it out right here.
So How Do You Install a Service Sales Culture?
“Man who waits for roast duck to fly into mouth must wait very, very long time.”
Chinese Proverb
You have established an audacious and ambitious goal of creating a service sales culture for your credit union. The next best question is, “Now what?” Two keys to success: first, define it, and then take action. Do not wait for a cooked roasted duck.
First, you must define a service sales culture. Here is my stab at it.
`A credit union service sales culture is simply the way it does things, treats people, answers phone calls and rewards or punishes behavior. Each culture has its own set of stories; parables, tents or principles by which all employees from top to bottom live by. It gives the roadmap as well as etiquette by which they answer almost all situations thrown at them.’
The meaning of service sales culture is very clear. It is crisp in its focus, detailed in its approach and everyone knows where he or she fit into the corporate structure. Its motto could simply be, “Service First, Sales Second.”
While it sounds old-fashioned, we cannot underestimate the value of such a culture. It has made great companies out of start-ups. Many today rely on its core principles to survive and strive. It is often said that if you are going to succeed at starting a company, a shop, or a franchise, then you should focus on developing a service sales culture. Apple, under Steve Jobs, has a culture of making cool things people want to use. With the gigantic success of iPad, they have lived up to, if not far surpassed, that goal.
Now, how can we accomplish this incredibly audacious goal of creating a service selling culture? One of the first steps is to make sure that everybody is onboard. Yes, everyone.
You must have all the key stakeholders in the service sales culture camp. Not just some of the board. Not just some of the management team. Not just some of the middle managers.
You must have everyone on board. And I mean everyone. A world class rowing team does not allow a team member to keep their paddle in the water while holding back the entire team from accomplishing their goal. A world class rowing team would throw a non-performing team member into the water and keep going. I am not suggesting that you throw team members in the lake. But I am suggesting that you do not have a middle-of-the-road attitude toward creating a service sales culture. Your mindset must be firmly entrenched towards the sea success of this process.
First, recognize it is a process that takes time. It cannot be accomplished overnight; you must recognize it will take between 18 to 24 months to get this process to where you start to see momentum. At first, it will seem arduous and slow, but keep your eye on the goal.
I have seen teams that allowed members to be great salespeople. But they were selling the wrong thing! These people stood around the water cooler and sold negativity, disagreement and chaos. Yes, they were better salespeople than the management team.
So once you have everyone on board you must make sure you police the attitudes of everyone in the office. We want everyone to sell the attitude that we can fix it, that we will accomplish this goal, and we will be a great service selling organization. Everyone must be on board and everyone must be selling the idea that we can accomplish this goal.
The board, senior managers and the key managers must be willing to support a service sales culture. If some are selling negativity, you need to get them back on board.
Meaningful change is a constant dilemma. The change you are about to embark on, in changing your culture to a service selling culture, is gigantic. You have to focus your team on the results the leaders want to accomplish.
However, recognize at first you will fall short; it will take time to accomplish the goals you want to achieve. Not everyone will jump on board right away. It will take time for people to learn their role and fine-tune their service selling skills.
A service selling culture will happen over time with reinforcement and recognition. You must continue to focus on your dream and vision of one day having a culture where everyone understands, “Service First, Sales Second.”
Posted by John Yonkey on Mon, Jul 11, 2011 @ 03:59 PM
This is the first part of a week long look into creating a lasting Credit Union sales culture. Today we ask the question:
Should You Create a Service Sales Culture?
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with but a single step.”
Chinese Proverb
Before you start creating a service sales culture, I think it is incredibly important that you ask yourself some very significant questions. A first step question is what do you want to accomplish by creating a service sales culture?
- What is your overall goal?
- Do you want membership growth?
- Do you want asset growth?
- What type of growth do you want?
There are dozens of other reasons why you may want to consider creating a service sales culture.
However, I think you need to look at some statistics I have come across lately. If you have not thought about creating a service sales culture after you hear these statistics, you may change your mind.
Over the last few months, I have been doing research on sales cultures in Credit Unions. I came across a survey of 100 of the fastest growing credit unions on membership growth in the upper Midwest.
The survey questions included the following:
- Have you had a significant merger the last five years?
- What is your basic field of membership makeup?
- Do you use any special marketing or sales training?
- Have you expanded your FOM?
- Do you have a community charter?
- What have been the keys to your growth success?
The survey was sent to the top 100 CEOs of the fastest growing membership credit unions in the upper Midwest from June 2002 to June 2007. Twenty out of 100 responded, so it is not a statistically valid study, because you need a larger sample size in order to make statistically valid arguments. But I think the small study highlights some of the key factors that lead to membership growth success.
Here are the results:
- 90% of the credit unions that responded have community charters.
- 75% said they had installed a service sales culture.
- 60% have had a significant merger in the last five years.
- 60% used some type of relationship pricing strategy.
- 10% are SEG based (select employee groups).
From these statistics, what can we learn about the upper Midwest growth? I think we should look at those 75% of credit unions who had installed a service sales culture.
Certainly expanded field of membership, becoming a community charter, having a sales culture and relationship pricing strategy were all factors that led to their membership growth success.
But we have to remember that three out of four of them had installed a service sales culture. A successful service sales culture can be the foundation for your successful membership growth strategy. Of all the reasons to start a service sales culture, the future growth argument, I think, is by far the best.
Therefore, if you do not have a service selling culture—get one. Your credit union should consider installing a service sales culture to help you continue to grow. With actual membership growth for credit unions all over the United States being about 5.3% (annualized) over the last five years, we must consider a service sales culture in order to keep growing members.
Throughout the remainder of this week - I will give you the keys to installing a successful service sales culture. However, if the credit unions in the upper Midwest grew by creating a service sales culture, you too can grow by creating a service sales culture in your credit union.
The competitive pressures in the financial marketplace are heating up to super red-hot scenarios. In order to compete in the future you have got to create a service sales culture so you can compete in this highly competitive marketplace. If you do not install a service sales culture, your credit union you might be missing one of the most important ingredients that helped credit unions grow in the upper Midwest.
“If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.”
Chinese Proverb
Posted by John Yonkey on Fri, Jul 01, 2011 @ 01:39 PM
AutoLine Marketing Group is thrilled to welcome Centris Federal Credit Union to the AutoCash Cares family! We launched AutoCash in Omaha, Nebraska on July 1st.
Centris was the first credit union to come on board during our AutoCash Cares promotion. We were excited to donate $500 to Relay For Life in Omaha, Nebraska on behalf of Centris FCU. The picture below is the "HOPE" sign that is illuminated throughout the entire 24 hour race.
We are really excited about the AutoCash Cares promotion. It really gives us an opportunity to reach out to new clients and share the excitement of our cost free auto loan promotion - while also giving back to charities all across the country. Stay tuned to this blog to find out who will be the next credit union to join the AutoCash Cares family!
If you would like to learn more about AutoCash Cares - click the button below:
Posted by John Yonkey on Mon, Jun 06, 2011 @ 12:20 PM
Don’ts:
- Don’t think that social media is just another marketing channel to starting shouting on.
- Don’t blast your message into online communities without checking out the existing conversation, culture, and etiquette. People will tune you out and/or flame you if you do.
- Don’t spam your members.
- Don’t blog just because everyone else is doing it. And if you do, don’t let it languish for long periods of time.
- Don’t use a condescending tone of voice.
- Don’t try to use slang or crazy graphics to try to appear cooler than you really are.
- Don’t think it’s all about the credit union. It’s not. It’s all about your members.
- Don’t devise a plan to use one particular social media tool, and then plan a campaign around it.
- Don’t use marketing/corporate-speak, lingo, or jargon in any of your communications. Your members appreciate plain-spoken honesty that they can understand.
- Don’t shoot down or ignore negative comments about your credit union on your own site or third-party sites. First cool down, then respond as if the person were standing in front of you in your lobby, and treat him/her with the class, dignity, and respect befitting your institution.
- Don’t be afraid to let people know how the CU could benefit them when the circumstances come up to do so.
- Don’t think you have to write a new blog post every day.
- Don’t be afraid to dive in and get your feet wet with the MULTITUDE of free social media resources available.
- Don’t think that social media and traditional marketing are an either/or situation. The best campaigns utilize both types where appropriate.
- Don’t be afraid to start a blog, with comments enabled, for fear of negative comments.
- Don’t invest in mobile banking that requires any kind of a special software download. Your members will never go for that. The only exception are Apple iPhone or Droid Apps, where they’ve made it ridiculously easy to get new apps.
- Don’t invest in a web site with flashing graphics and animations. Your members want simple and easy to use. Focus all of your web development efforts on simple, intuitive, quick, and easy.
- Don’t forget that not all of your membership is as tech-savvy as you are. Many are further behind, some are further ahead.
- Don’t make your members feel stupid that they don’t already know how to participate in online social media. You’ll earn their gratitude if you treat them respect when teaching them how to participate online. And go a long way to raising the image of your CU in their eyes.
- Don’t think you are the first financial institution to do anything. Chances are, not only has another financial institution done something similar to what you are embarking on, your members know about it as well.
- Don’t pursue being your members’ sole source of info, nor being their sole financial institution. While many members enjoy the convenience of banking at one place, many others prefer to work with a variety of FIs, for many different reasons. (Most of which are not logical, but hey, it’s not always about the most logical.)
- Don’t get upset when your members use the term “bank”, or when they have financial relationships with banks. It’s your job to inform them of why you’re better, not berate them because they are idiots. Even knowing why you are better, there are a multitude of personal reasons to have an account at a bank. (An account that a spouse doesn’t know about for instance.) You can’t mess with that, and no amount of arguing is going to change their minds.
- Don’t limit blog authors to only those in marketing.
- Don’t think that social media is limited to the marketing department.
- Don’t shut down employee/CU access to social media sites and expect to get any results from social media initiatives.
- Don’t be afraid to show some personality, and
- Don’t forget to have some fun with your members!
Remember - it is all about engaging with your members. There are so many wonderful aspects to social media. Embrace it, use it and see the amazing results - best of all, it's free!
Check out AutoCash Cares - our new philanthropic Auto Loan Marketing initiative.
Posted by John Yonkey on Fri, Jun 03, 2011 @ 09:56 AM
Because this list is long, I’ve split up the Do’s and the Don’ts into two entries:
Do’s:
- Do become well-versed with all of the available social media tools before diving in. (Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, podcasting are great starting points.)
- Do start your social media marketing strategy planning by thinking about what your TARGET AUDIENCE is interested in.
- Do make sure that your social media strategy reinforces your CU’s overall business or branding strategy, and is designed to, at the least, create awareness of what your CU is great at.
- Do feature your online initiatives in a computer kiosk in your lobby. That way your members will not only learn about what they can do remotely, they’ll also associate what they see online with a tangible presence.
- Do learn the basics of how RSS and blogs work.
- Do give guidelines to anyone who will be contributing to your CUs blog.
- Do put your rates into RSS format.
- Do comment on your members’ blogs. They LOVE that, and will share the love in return. That’s the best way to increase readership of YOUR blog.
- Do put valuable information that is currently in your print letter ALSO onto your blog so that your members can comment. Feel free to inform that online commenting is available at the end of the print newsletter articles that are also featured on your blog.
- Do feel free to blog your newsletter articles before they appear in the print version. Many people aren’t paying attention to your blog, and will be reminded to go there when receiving the print version in the mail.
- Do write down your social media strategy so that the rest of the management team can see the cause and effect chain from your marketing efforts to how its helping the CU generate awareness, leads, new referrals, new members, and new sales, or in general reinforcing the CU’s brand.
- Do start with the overall campaign concept, then figure out what social media tools are the best fit.
- Do reinforce your traditional marketing campaigns with your online efforts and vice versa. These are not separate silos.
- Do build up a network of friends among your members BEFORE you start trying to “market” to them.
- Do use social media to start conversations among your members about your CU and ask for honest feedback.
- Do create a business fan page for your CU on Facebook.
- Do be a real person and use real language in all social media venues. Be as polite and professional as you would face-to-face.
- Do always make sure your blog posts are attributed to the author, and not to the faceless credit union.
- Do only write a blog post when you have something important to say to your members.
- Do put your fun and interesting CU events onto Facebook.
- Do write your blog posts in a way that invites your members to comment on it. We’ve been so used to one-way communication with our members, that we have to retrain our brains to write in a way that invites dialogue.
- Do realize that for the most part, your members are more interested in other members’ comments on your blog, than on the article you originally wrote. Feature comments front and center.
- Do optimize your web site and online banking to work on mobile phones, IPhones, Droids and Blackberries.
- Do understand that your members expect you to be present in the online conversation about you. They’ll interpret a lack of presence as a lack of caring about their concerns.
- Do understand that you’ll have to hold many of your members hands if you want them to participate in your online efforts. But each time that you do, you will be earning their gratitude, and perhaps loyalty. Everyone likes to learn how to do cool new things, without being made to feel like they are stupid.
- Do read web sites and books about it: The Cluetrain Manifesto by Christopher Locke, Naked Conversations by Robert Scoble, and The New Influencers by Paul Gillin
- Do realize that your members know better your CUs strengths and weaknesses than you realize.
- Do realize that your front line staff are your best and most important allies in social media marketing. They are far more familiar with it, and trusted by their own friends than you are.
- Do involve your front line staff with your social media efforts every step of the way.
- Do involve your members at every step of the way with your social media efforts.
- Do realize that the relationship your members have with each other is often as important, and sometimes more important, than the relationship they have with you or your credit union.
- Do involve your members in competitions and let them see how they stand. Members love that, and will check back often if you do!
Look for the Don'ts on my next blog posting!!
Check out AutoCash Cares - our new philanthropic Auto Loan Marketing initiative.
Posted by John Yonkey on Fri, Apr 15, 2011 @ 01:35 PM
And now part 2:
Zero percent auto financing works on the basic principle that the majority of people want something for nothing, and are more than willing to shell out the big bucks because they perceive a deal.
The only steal occurring is the dignity of the customer. We are used to being tricked by big business, but when we feel as though we are winning a battle, we abandon reason and logic.
Zero percent financing is nothing more than a fallacy.
The truth is that auto financiers have come up with a way to make the customer feel as though they are getting a great deal. Especially considering the dire straits facing the auto industry in this current economic slump, they are only interested in securing your member’s hard earned cash into their well-lined pockets.
Only one-third of buyers who apply for zero percent financing actually gets qualified for the loan, statistics reveal. There are quite a few criteria that you need to accomplish:
Credit Score: Your credit report is the most important deciding criteria. A bad credit history makes the idea of getting the 0% car finance loan, a mere mirage. A credit score of more than 700 is usually demanded by these deals. Since a normal borrower will have at least one bad mark in their credit history, this very credit criterion denies them the offer.
Select Models: These loans are applicable only on a few selected models of cars. The trap is there that these selected models will usually be those which are not in demand or those which have a poor performance so far as fuel economy, mileage or efficiency is concerned. Often this is the dealers attempt to remove such vehicles. Sometimes vehicles may be available in desired models. But color and interior designs may fall short of expectations.
Short Duration: Another interesting tactic offered by dealers providing zero percent car loans is specifying shorter loan terms. A maximum term of 36 months is usually fixed by these dealers where as a typical buyer prefers to finance a vehicle for 48 to 72 months. Though it is true that no interest is charged, the monthly payments will be higher.
Most of the time they are better off taking the rebate that the dealership is offering and then financing through their credit union. Below is an example of how you can save in such a situation:
|
|
Manufacturer’s Financing 0% APR for 36 months
|
Credit Union Financing 4% APR for 48 months
|
|
Vehicle selling price
|
$18,000.00
|
$18,000.00
|
|
Manufacturer’s rebate
|
-0-
|
$2000.00
|
|
Amount financed
|
$18,000.00
|
$16,000.00
|
|
Interest over
Loan period
|
-0-
|
$1340.50
|
|
Total Cost
|
$18,000.00
|
$17341.00
|
|
Monthly payment
|
$500.00
|
$361.00
|
So it is already clear that these 0% car finance loans cannot be taken for the best deals available. Let’s make sure your members know what they are getting themselves into, even if they aren’t financing through the credit union.
Posted by John Yonkey on Wed, Apr 13, 2011 @ 02:41 PM
When a car dealership advertises that you can get zero percent APR for your car, what does that mean for your member?
Well, in theory it means that their car will be financed for free, or that they will owe no interest on the loan. In practice, it is very rare for the car that they are going to buy to come with no interest, as they would have to have a really good credit score to qualify.
A dealer will advertise a 0 percent interest rate simply to get people into the dealership. While it may technically be possible to get an interest-free loan, they are probably just being naive if they think they qualify. They need to have tip-top credit, and probably a very long credit history as well. They would be much better off walking into a dealership with a pre-approved 4 percent rate from their credit union.
Is it legal for a dealer to advertise zero percent financing?
While it seems like a scam, advertisers obviously can pull that kind of a tactic. They can do so because they put in the fine print that not all people will qualify and that it only applies to people with tier one credit, which is almost perfect credit. Zero percent financing is just a ploy for dealers to get people into the dealership.
The truth is that the car industry isn’t doing so well, and they need to do whatever they can to try and sell a car. They however, are not going to sell a car for free. That is a tough sell to a bank, and is a good way to lose the little profit that they have been able to earn lately. That is why you must educate your members on the pros and cons of 0 percent financing.
If they want to buy a new car, they might be enticed by zero percent financing. The problem is that most people will not qualify for it if they want a new car. In fact, most people won't qualify for it at all, but as a sales tactic it isn't a bad place to start when trying to get people into the dealership. You can’t fault the dealers for trying to create foot traffic.
The zero percent financing looms high above, giving hope to a debt-saddled nation. While the auto financiers are not doing anything illegal, they are misrepresenting the total cost to the consumer. They have just figured out a clever way to disguise those hidden fees that add up very quickly. By offering zero percent, they are luring your members away from your credit union, and making sure that they are the ones that are cashing your checks.
In the attempt to infiltrate the pockets of Joe Public, the auto industry has leaned on several tried and true methods of duping the masses. Zero percent financing is a gimmick, but one that is steeped in mystique, and the alluring 0% sign out front of the dealership. The truth behind this concept is that there is no money changing hands in the financing portion, but the dealership is still making the same amount of money.
Look out for The Truth About 0% Financing - Part 2 on Friday!
Looking for more ways for your Credit Union to capture your member's Auto Loan financing? JOIN US FOR A FREE WEBINAR!
Posted by John Yonkey on Mon, Apr 11, 2011 @ 12:09 PM
This is our weekly look back at some of the news that caught our attention last week:
There's an App for that. Credit Union's are slowly beginning to embrace mobile banking. There has also been an increased emphasis on banking from handheld devices. Are you on board?
Credit Unions are seeing an increase in competition for auto loans. Although, the 900 credit unions affiliated with CUDL are seeing a jump in their business through dealerships since January.
The $171 million First Financial Federal Credit Union has launched Jersey First Auto Connection, an indirect auto lending credit union service organization.
Steven Levitt, an economist with the University of Chicago and co-author of the best-sellers “Freakonomics” and “SuperFreakonomics”, believes in the value of data and especially in the value of studying it in new ways.
Be on the look out for Wednesday's Blog article discussing the Pros and Cons of 0% Financing and how it could effect your members.
Bonus Video: Here is an excellent example of a Credit Union creating engaging web content: (Courtesy of SparkingChange)