From Lobby Visit to Contact Management

Most experts agree that the branch will always remain a highly relevant and strategically important delivery channel, despite the growing activity in the online and mobile channels. Celent, a Boston-based financial research and consulting firm, believes that financial institutions with highly evolved branch channels are typically highly motivated by providing the most convenient service level possible and letting their customers choose their favorite ways of interacting with them. In other words, they simply place a high value on face to face interactions and all facets of retail consumer service.

Recognizing these facts, Better Branches, a San Francisco-based CUSO, developed the Better Lobby solution which effectively monitors traffic, oversees productivity, and reduces staffing costs. As members visit the branch for non-teller services, Better Lobby records arrival time, wait time, visit purpose, and consultation time. Better Lobby enables both branch and head-office staffs to have a real-time view of lobby activity, and replaces the ubiquitous - and ineffectual - lobby clipboard.

Having developed the Better Lobby system in 2003 and subsequently rolling it out to numerous credit unions across the United States, Better Branches quickly realized the need for an affordable and practical add-on module: CRM (Customer Relationship Management). However, the Better Branches management team, which includes executives from SAFE Credit Union, was well aware of the somewhat tarnished image that CRM has for both exorbitant costs and meeting resistance from employees who are reluctant to embrace complicated and time-consuming software applications.

Thus was born Basic Contact Management (BCM) – an elegant solution that was designed from the outset to precisely tackle many of the negatives associated with unsuccessful CRM implementations by being:

Low cost

Easy to learn

Painless and quick to implement

The primary goal of the Better branches development team was to marry Better Lobby and Basic Contact Management into a seamless system that helps credit unions move beyond their typical transactional mindset into a new paradigm of personalized member service characterized by one where they can deliver superior member service due to the fact that for the first time they can actually view member contact history, as well as important follow-up activities. Members greatly appreciate it when they do not have to ‘start from the beginning’ with a particular issue and this can only be accomplished when contact history is easily and consistently captured, recorded, and reviewed by any staff person.

In action, BCM integrates with Better Lobby to include branch or call center conclusion notes. The flexible system includes three convenient ways to input contact notes:

1) Branch Visit – at the time of completing service on branch platform, using the Better Lobby

conclusion page

2) Call Center contact – can be recorded on the Better Lobby Call Center pop-up conclusion page

3) Direct entry into Better WorkGroups Contact Management tab from any location in the credit union by any staff member.

Because the system is straightforward - yet powerful - staff members embrace it and actually utilize the software, as opposed to many CRM systems that all too often turn into unused ‘shelfware.’ The well designed user interface allows employees to quickly and easily set reminders, priority tags, and personal action items so that nothing falls through the proverbial cracks.

In today’s highly competitive financial services marketplace where consumers have a wide range of choices online and via the extensive nationwide branch networks of the top mega-banks, more and more credit unions are focusing on perfecting the overall member service experience. By implementing a combined system such as Better Lobby and Basic Contact Management, credit unions are able to take a giant leap towards this lofty goal by empowering all of their employees to collaborate and serve members in a timely and efficient manner.

David Johannsen is the author of this article on Credit Union. Find more information on CRM here.