News & Updates
TwinStar Credit Union Announces New Service Featuring Member Education
Olympia, WA, May 18, 2010 — TwinStar Credit Union has announced a new member service featuring an online Financial Answer Center. The education-based service provides members with immediate answers to hundreds of financial questions and instantly connects them to the person at the credit union who can help. Members can access the Financial Answer Center via TwinStar Credit Union’s Web site at http://www.twinstarcu.com/resources.
“We want to give our members the information they need to make more informed decisions,” said Mary Beth Spuck, assistant vice president of TwinStar Credit Union. “People are looking to build their financial knowledge to help with many aspects of their lives. When our members go looking for help, we want to offer them the resources they need.”
According to Spuck, the Financial Answer Center is designed to help people identify and understand financial needs that may not be apparent to them. “One of the problems that many of us face is we don’t recognize what we need until it’s too late,” Spuck said.
“The Financial Answer Center works in two ways,” Spuck said. “First, it is used directly by TwinStar members as a resource to get answers, uncover needs, and find the exact person at TwinStar Credit Union who can provide personal help. Second, our frontline branch... Read More >>
Truebridge Client Featured in article – “Teach Your Clients Well” (Bank Investment Consultant)
In the January 2010 issue of Bank Investment Consultant magazine both Truebridge and one of our clients, AnchorBank, were highlighted in an article. The title of the article is “Teach Your Clients Well: How Truebridge’s turnkey system made referrals easier for Anchor’s branch staff” and it was written by Steve Garmhausen.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about how AnchorBank is using the Truebridge system to generate referrals, contact Luke Owen at 800-476-6118 ext. 104 or send in a request to learn more about the EducateFirst Financial Marketing System.... Read More >>
“Banks Unlock Cross-Selling Solution” – Community Banker
As seen in the section, The Lobby, in the November 2009 issue of Community Banker
It’s no secret across the banking industry that cross-selling has fallen far short of its early promise. That fact makes the success of Sovereign Bank all the more impressive.
Sovereign, a $78 billion-asset institution based in Philadelphia, has seen referrals to its retail investments unit rise between 15 and 20 percent in each of the past three years. “And the quality of those referrals has been higher as well,” said Casey Roberts, a Sovereign senior vice president, who is director of retail investments.
Sovereign is not the only bank that has solved the cross-selling riddle: A growing number said they have dramatically improved results by throwing away the traditional playbook and using a customer-centered approach. Partnering with Boston-based Truebridge Financial Marketing, they have implemented a new, low-cost marketing system that uses customer education to deliver more loyalty and profitability.
“Our improvement over the past five years in cross-selling has been remarkable,” said Gerard Lavoie, executive vice president and chief operating officer at Dedham Institution for Savings, a $1 billion-asset mutual institution in Massachusetts.
THE QUEST FOR CROSS-SELLING
There’s no question that cross-selling is the Holy... Read More >>
Truebridge launches “Education First” Employee Recognition Program
We have added a new program to EducateFirst Content Marketing System called the “Education First” recognition program. The program works hand in hand with our in-branch training process, which teaches employees to use the educational materials (Quick Guides) to start dialogs and generate referrals.
Upon completion of either the online training modules or through a customized training webinar, employees will receive in the mail a certificate and cover letter signed by their manager that reinforces the importance of using education available in their online Financial Answer Center and downloadable Quick Guides as a dialog starter. Also included is a one page “cheat sheet” as a helpful reminder for how to use the marketing handouts and Quick Guides during a routine customer transaction.
If you would like to learn more about this program, please contact your account manager at 800-476-6118.... Read More >>
United Nations Federal Credit Union uses Truebridge to boost cross selling and referrals
U.N. Credit Union Cross-Sells for Fast Wealth-Unit Growth
Published: Tuesday, September 29, 2009
By – Matt Ackermann
A few months ago, Stephen J. Ryerson got an e-mail from a customer in Sarajevo looking for automobile insurance.
To most financial services companies this would seem odd, but when you work for a credit union that caters to employees of the United Nations and their immediate families, nothing is unusual.
“‘Flexible’ and ‘nimble’ are my middle initials these days,” said Ryerson, the president of United Nations Federal Credit Union’s wealth management arm, UNFCU Financial Advisors. “There is just nothing typical about what we do. We aren’t Bank of America or Merrill Lynch. We are meeting the needs of international customers our way.”
This mentality has helped beef up the credit union’s investment business, and it is a cross-selling example that even big companies could learn from.
A survey of 4,600 Americans by... Read More >>
Sovereign Bank’s Brokerage Reaps Referral Windfall
BOSTON, Sept. 14 – Evidence shows that financial institutions’ cross-selling efforts have come up short, but Sovereign Bank is a major exception.
The $78 billion-asset bank has increased referrals to its retail investment unit by 15% or more for three years straight, according to senior vice president Casey Roberts.
“And the quality of those referrals has been higher as well,” he says.
Sovereign is one of several banks and credit unions that have significantly boosted their referrals while the industry at large has struggled in its attempts to do so. The institutions credit their success to an innovative system that replaces the traditional hard-sell approach with one that is built around customer education.
“In a financial institution, you can’t turn the staff necessarily into salespeople,” says Steve Ryerson, a vice president with United Nations Federal Credit Union, in New York, which reports similar success in boosting its customer referral rates.
Customer Education Delivers Image and Sales
It’s not just the largest banks that are being painted with an image of excess and irresponsibility. That picture of bankers is permeating into the world of community banks as well. Banks need to move quickly to get their own message out there before the damage gets worse. The question is – what positive message should banks convey? What message will boost their image in today’s economic crisis? The answer lies in looking at what the American consumer wants most today – answers. Their confidence level is at an all time low. They have been turned upside down by this economic calamity. Facing the dramatic erosion of their retirement assets, the plummeting value of their homes, and the increasing uncertainty of their jobs, they are scared and confused and looking for simple and easy to understand answers.
Banks have an opportunity to be there to provide those answers. They can be the source of information that helps their customers make better decisions and avoid mistakes as they go through life – buying a house, saving for retirement, managing their debt, sending kids to college, getting their estate in order. Customer education means going beyond what products “the bank” offers to include helpful information on what “the customer” needs.
This is a value-added service that banks can provide for little cost, and the rewards can be significant: more loyalty and more sales. Banks that... Read More >>
What Financial Institutions Can Do to Acquire and Retain Customers in Today’s Economic Times
In a recent GonzoBanker newsletter, Steve Williams makes the case that sales culture in banks is dead and a new chapter of sales culture is about to begin with the hope that banks have the chance to get it right this time.
In this well written piece, he states, “Across the country, many banks have 10+ years of effort on sales culture without significant improvement in results, but fail to question if they are even building the right mouse trap.” He challenges banks to develop a new type of sales culture built by creating value for customers. In other words, provide a service that customers find valuable that, at the same time, initiates dialogues and creates sales.
What kind of service will do this for banks? To find the answer, you only need to look at what customers are facing today. Customers are scared. For many, the bottom has fallen out of their retirement savings. They are fearful of losing their job. They feel they have no place to turn for answers. The world as they knew it has changed.
And the world too has changed for bankers. In many cases – trust – the backbone of the customer relationship – has eroded. For banks to acquire and retain customers today they need to focus more and more on the value customers see in their bank relationship. The new customer experience needs to go beyond an array of product... Read More >>
Truebridge blog looks at financial services marketing with a focus on education and cross selling
Truebridge, Inc. announced today that they have launched a company blog, which can be found at http://www.truebridge.com/. “The site will provide information, opinions, and encourage feedback on marketing topics that we feel are important to the financial services industry”, says Stewart Rose, President of Truebridge. “We will have a particular focus on education based marketing and cross selling but it won’t be limited to that,” says Rose. “We want to explore what is being done well and what is not,” he added. “What are the factors behind the successes and failures? What can we learn from other industries?”
According to Rose, “There is just so much information out there, it’s a matter of sifting through, finding what may be relevant, and sharing opinions on what it means to the industry.”
Customer Education Based Marketing – Empowers Frontline Staff, Drives Referrals
Richard Shupick manages the investment and insurance program at the $15b Flagstar Bank. The program has twenty reps employed by Essex National Securities. Using an education based marketing system from Truebridge, Rich has developed a process that makes it easy for frontline employees to generate more referrals everyday.
From the Flagstar website, customers and employees can directly access an online Financial Answer Center that provides educational information on hundreds of topics. Customers get the information they need when they need it-based on their stage in life. The online content is packaged into a series of downloadable Quick Guides under the Flagstar name and with the picture and contact information of the exact person that can help them with that topic.
“These are not typical glossy sales brochures but educational white papers on various topics with a picture of the rep. They become personalized just-in-time marketing materials that we use to drive referrals,” says Rich.
“When it comes to generating referrals, our frontline staff were not comfortable starting the dialogues that need to occur”, says Rich. “They were afraid of being asked questions they could not answer. That’s all changed,” he says. “Knowing they have a series of Quick Guides to offer, they are comfortable asking customers; What’s Your Goal?.”Handing... Read More >>
