NEW YORK — Attendees of CUNA's America's Credit Union Conference & Expo learned that focus and maintenance members are ways to grow membership.

Rudy Hanley, president/CEO of SchoolsFirst Credit Union, formerly Orange County Teachers Federal Credit Union, presented a breakout session on successful growth strategies in the industry.

Hanley said that credit unions encounter problems when they try and do too many things at once. While he agreed that generation Y needs to be served by credit unions, the underserved provide a great opportunity for membership for credit unions and that credit unions should look into offering retirement services he said that credit unions should not try and offer all these services at once.

“If we believe in member service then we're going have to make sacrifices and not offer products we can't back up with member service,” Hanley said. “Don't get into all these products at once, pick one to focus on because otherwise you'll be spending a lot of money with very little results.”

Hanley also said that how many members you bring in is not as important as how many members you lose and that its keeping members for the long-term that is going to bring a credit union success.

“They'll be members living in Africa that stay members because they love the services you provide,” Hanley said.