It’s easy to assume that what you want is what other people want.

You assume too much

You have a wonderful product that is going to revolutionize the way things are done. It’s fun to use, easy to use, and doesn’t cost a lot. You’ve been talking about it with all of your friends, and they’re super-excited about it. So you refine the product, put as many resources as you can behind…

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Focus on what you are good at.

Do a few things really, really well

It was a perfect St. Pete Beach day. Blue skies, white fluffy clouds that matched the sand, small crowds since it was also a Monday, and enough of a breeze that you didn’t feel the sunburn building. A great day and a great way to wrap up a vacation. Our nephew, a local resident, finished…

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The credit union you imagined is the one you should be working to build right now.

Blow it up and start over

Let’s do a thought experiment. Close your eyes and imagine getting  everyone out safely of the building. Hustle them down the street and issue big bags of popcorn, party hats, confetti, and kazoos. All set? Count backwards from ten and then… Imagine blowing up the credit union. Now imagine how you would build a new credit…

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The point is to break out of the usual thinking about the tiny scraps you can shave off the corners.

The $50 question

It’s easy to think of things to give away (free online banking, free bill pay, free overdraft protection, free checks, lower rates), but it’s a lot harder to add a large amount of value. (It’s even harder to actually ask for money.) So I’d like to propose a simple thought experiment: What could you add…

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how do you make your products and services fit your members so well that they would never leave? 

Your personalized banking isn’t very personal

Plenty of credit unions tout a personalized banking approach, but not many really pull it off. Most will offer a checklist of products from which to choose, but they are all standard variations on a theme. There really isn’t any customization, just a few choices of models. It’s a manufacturer’s mass production, mass market model.…

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an object or element of design that serves no real purpose

Are blasts from the past holding you back?

As a Wordsmith (that’s the official title I put on my business cards, anyway), I’m a big fan of new words. I recently ran across a doozy: skeuomorph, an object or element of design that serves no real purpose, but only echoes some past object. For example, many calendar applications on modern-day computers and mobile…

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high rates are a sign you don't want their business. Any of their business.

Motor madness

As you can probably guess, I’m a motorcycle nut. In fact, motorcycles are my primary transportation — I ride one of my bikes to work every day it’s not snowing too hard. Recently on a large online forum, the topic of financing motorcycles came up. I was very happy to see that several people recommended…

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it's a very different way of doing business, but credit unions are very different

Maybe transparency is worth a try

You have to wonder — what would happen if you were completely transparent, if you told your members the 100% unadulterated truth for once, and let them draw their own conclusions? Just imagine the following, delivered by a gruff but lovable no-nonsense sort of CEO, like Colonel Potter from MASH: “My fellow credit union members…”…

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Think the unthinkable and ponder the outrageous.

Five modest proposals

The only thing that’s stayed the same for credit unions is that things are changing fast. Sources of fee income are shrinking, expenses are rising, and margins are squeezed tighter than ever. Things are getting Weird with a capital “W”. It’s time to Think the unthinkable and ponder the outrageous. “When the going gets weird, the…

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Now, granted, Lending grumbling and complaining about Marketing is just part of their natural character.

What to do when Lending starts grumbling

Every credit union needs loans. So the CFO rattles Marketing’s chains. Concepts are dreamed, visuals created, goals and ROI plotted and blessed by the executive team, then marketing starts working its mojo and gets it out the door. That’s when the grumbling starts. And Marketing starts grinning like a Cheshire Cat. Because the grumbling is…

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