Messaging via Slack on how to gain and maintain engagement from both our teams and members, one account manager typed, “The credit unions that do well and hit their goals are having regular staff meetings and discussing their monthly and annual goals. The ones who do very well understand that their products can make a difference in the lives of the people they are serving, and the conversations help them hit their goals.” If this doesn’t sound like your credit union marketing strategy, it should.

Reading that gave me immediate flashbacks to a young professional I once employed at a large, regional bank. He had all the product knowledge and personality one could hope for in a customer service role. Unfortunately, he was routinely falling short of hitting his goals. He knew his goals, reviewed them each day, and was trying his hardest but still wasn’t quite reaching his full potential.

That changed on a call one night. Typically, we hated call nights. That meant a branch or two in the area was behind on their goals bringing our collective average down. In turn, all branches got to stay after hours and try to open more accounts and loans or bring in new money to reach our quarterly goal. After all, there’s nothing clients or members like better than being called during dinner time to discuss finances!

But this night was different. We decided to not sell anything. His goal was to keep clients on the phone. Just talk – nothing more. Success was measured if he could tell me about five clients and their lives. For someone as social and personable as he was, he felt zero pressure trying to reach this goal.

The funny thing is that just a few weeks later I offered to help a client who had been waiting in the lobby. The client politely declined to wait for my teammate to help him instead. When asked why, the client said, “He knows my financial story, I’d rather not have to explain it again.” That client was one of the conversations he had on that call night.

It wasn’t long before he was not only hitting his monthly and quarterly goals, but he was surpassing them. He found a way to reduce the pressure of sales, build relationships and use his strengths to truly impact lives. He did very well after that epiphany.

With lobby traffic down and more members opting to bank digitally either for convenience or health concerns, you may wonder how to keep your team engaged, hit your goals, and grow.

Start with the basics for your credit union marketing strategy:

• Hold regular meetings to communicate and discuss your goals, so each teammate knows what they are accountable for.
• Help them bridge the gap between your products and the impact those products can have on members’ lives.
• Give them talking points to highlight how much better your credit union products are versus your competitors and in which situations they should be recommended.

Most of all, what everyone else is doing – do the opposite. Don’t just make sales calls. Instead, pick up the phone and build relationships with members who may not have been in the branch in months or even years. It will mean the world to them.