Posts Tagged ‘We Dare You’
Disruptive thoughts I have to let out
From time to time, I get these strange, disruptive thoughts. Unconventional. Aberrant. But they’re banging around in my head, and I have to let them out… What if overdraft fees were actually reasonable? Overdraft income is down because of opt-in regulations, yet the average overdraft fee is still $29. As marketers, we hate dealing with…
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Credit unions: not for everybody
Credit unions aren’t for everyone. There, I said it. And it’s true. The latest numbers bear this out – according to Callahan, credit unions hold 6.6% of assets and 8.7% of deposits nationally. That’s a niche group if I ever saw one. Logically, a whole lot of people – the majority of consumers, really – could benefit…
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First, fix your web site
Way too many credit unions have terrible websites, and frankly, I’m tired of it. I’m not talking about subtle things only geeks care about — I’m talking about some real train wrecks that make the credit unions look like amateur operations. Here’s the real problem: potential new members won’t do business with you without doing…
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Carrot or stick? I prefer a club.
Everybody knows that a carrot is the reward for doing something right, and the stick is the punishment for when you don’t. Well, banks have typically used sticks instead of carrots to get people to act in a certain way, and lately, some credit unions have followed their lead. Instead of enticing people with carrots,…
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Is your CUlture risk averse?
Morgan Spurlock, known for his film “Super Size Me,” spoke at TED and shared everything he had to go through in order to present his movie idea for “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” to the brands he was trying to get to become sponsors and part of the movie. It was entertaining to watch Spurlock poke…
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Solve the right problems
One of the first things you learn as an aspiring engineer is that if you first carefully define a problem, you’re halfway to solving it.* But all too often, we’re defining and then solving the wrong problem, not the real problem. For example, try bringing a decent sized bottle of shampoo onto an airplane –…
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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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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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Give members a direct line
What if there were an all-purpose hotline you could call, for just about any reason, any time? Everyone knows to call 911 in an emergency, but what if it’s not so life-and-death, or you’re just wondering where to park on Thursday? In New York City, you can dial 311 any time day or night to…
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Big scary lawyer warning
Be honest — how many of you have web sites that show a Big Scary Lawyer Warning (BSLW) like this when a member clicks a link to another site? OH NOES! You are leaving the ABCFCU web site! ABFCU has no control over and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices of other…
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