Advancing Member Connections

Business Issue - One of the great challenges facing credit unions is member retention and profitability. How can you earn a larger share of wallet, more products per household, and member loyalty for a significant number of years? Loyalty and expanded member relationships are earned through the follow-up efforts of your branch staff. It is critical that sales and service associates and their managers are highly skilled at more than the "initial sale." They must be proactive in "advancing" connections with members by following up on initial conversations to explore additional needs and to gain a picture of the member's overall financial situation.

Omega Performance’s Solution - Advancing Member Connections is a one-day, facilitator-led sales and service skills workshop that enables participants to follow-up with members they already know and expand those relationships. The focus is on calling members to follow-up on needs members mentioned before but did not have time to discuss. Participants will learn how to confirm a follow-up meeting in that phone call. They will also practice how to conduct a robust and highly member-centric follow-up meeting with the member to deepen the connection, explore current and future needs, explore other financial relationships, and propose appropriate solutions. Participants also learn how to respectfully handle member objections to follow-up meetings.

What Is Included

The one-day Advancing Member Connections workshop features authentic activity-based learning in which participants engage in videotaped skill development. The videotaped skill development includes all of the steps in Omega's CON²ECT Member Experience Model plus an advanced questioning strategy to explore a member's overall financial picture. Participants first practice how to make phone calls to members they know to confirm follow-up meetings. Then they practice the follow-up meeting, itself.

Upon completing Advancing Member Connections, participants are able to:

Define "member connections" and demonstrate the behaviors that deepen connections with existing members.
Prepare for and demonstrate a confirmation call to arrange for a follow-up member meeting to discuss changing financial needs and options.
Use planning tools to prepare to call the member and to prepare for the follow-up meeting.
Apply Omega's Handling Objections Model when faced with member resistance to a follow-up meeting.
Prepare for and practice a confirmation call and a follow-up member meeting in small groups led by certified skill practice coaches. The practice session is videotaped with the skill practice coaches playing typical members. Participants receive balanced and robust feedback about what they do well and could improve on in their follow-up member conversations. To assist them in building their member follow-up skills, they will use Omega's CON²ECT Member Experience Model, and the Expanded CON²ECT Conversation Guide.
Develop an action plan for on-the-job skill application and growth.

Results You Can Expect

Advancing Member Connections helps your staff:

Expand member relationships that inoculate you against competitive encroachment
Increase member satisfaction, retention, loyalty, and profitability
Improve sales results, on the individual level and the team level
Increase products per household, cross-sell ratios, and sales growth

Who Should Be Trained

Advancing Member Connections is for your credit union's sales and service associates and their managers.

Prerequisites

The prerequisite for Advancing Member Connections is Building Member Connections. Building Member Connections provides the foundational skills necessary for the advanced skills covered in Advancing Member Connections. It is advised that Advancing Member Connections be taken no sooner than 90-180 days after Building Member Connections.

Delivery Options

Advancing Member Connections is a one-day workshop conducted by Omega Performance consultants. Maximum attendance is 12 participants. Leader training is also available.

Sustainment Skill Development

Advancing Member Connections is followed in 30 to 45 days by a Skill Builder on Handling Objections. This Skill Builder includes an interactive DVD, brief exercise materials, and instructions for a manager to run the Skill Builder session for his or her sales and service associates in the field. This Skill Builder assists associates with one of their greatest challenges, handling typical member objections to sales recommendations and to expanding the relationship.

Participants will review the Omega Performance Handling Objections Model, then identify typical member objections they have encountered. They will practice applying the steps of the model to the objections they have identified to turn them into rapport-building opportunities. Participants will practice these skills in a recorded skill practice activity where they will share balanced feedback and ideas with each other.