One of the questions I often ask when facilitating planning sessions with my credit union clients is this: Who is your ideal member?
The question is often met with a combination of thoughtful and puzzled gazes, followed by comments reminding me that the credit union is open to all members who qualify under the charter, that the credit union treats all members the same, and that the credit union strives to deliver great service to all of its members.
But today I want to encourage you to seriously consider the question and what it means to the future growth of your credit union. Start by taking a look at this brief video that sheds some light on the ideal member concept.
ACTION ADVICE: Use your MCIF system to analyze your membership with an eye on defining your ideal member. You might base it on their overall profitability, the bundles of products and services they use, or the frequency of their interaction either in the branch or online. The point is to gain better insight into the members who really drive your credit union’s results. Armed with that information you can focus your marketing efforts on attracting more of these ideal members and converting those who are not there yet into better members…strengthening and growing your credit union in the process.
It’s Your Turn: Who is your ideal member? Are you actively building relationships with them and working to attract more of them? How do you use your MCIF system to help you in this regard? Please take a moment and share your insights with us by posting a comment.
Michael – great advice for all CUs. If you don’t have any idea what you’re shooting for, you have absolutely no chance whatsoever of being successful. Along those lines, success should be defined as revenue/profit – that’s the ultimate measurement. One other thought, I’d suggest that most CUs are likely to have more than one “ultimate member” – you might have the up & coming family with a particular product mix and a different demographic with different product mix that is also very profitable. You might even have a small business “ultimate member”. The key issue in all of this is to KNOW what you have and what you want more of. If you don’t know, how can you possibly expect to succeed.
Thanks for sharing your insights Michael…well said. I concur that there may be multiple ideal members depending upon the different demographics you are targeting and the stages of your members in the life of their relationship with the credit union. They key here is to get acquainted with the data so that the team understands what the ideal member looks like and can work to create more of them and serve them better.
Michael, thanks for a good post. I agree with you very much about identifying an ideal member. I believe a really valuable question to ask during the process of determining the ideal member is “for whom are we totally, completely 100% a bad fit? Who are we wrong for? Who do we want to stay the heck away from us?” As you’ve pointed out, this is a tough question for credit unions to answer because they want to be open and welcoming. But knowing who you are PERFECT for (your ideal member) and who you are WRONG for are two sides of the same coin…and one cannot exist without the other.
Thanks Jeff…your point about the need to know who you are wrong for is spot on, though it is often difficult for credit unions (or any other business) to get comfortable with it. Often there is this belief that there is a way to serve everyone, and that can become the Achilles heel for growing your business…the power lies in differentiation and being willing to say who you are not going to serve…not because they don’t deserve service, but because they don’t fit with what you offer and can do best every time out!