Phase 1: Laying the Foundation

• Implement specific policies and procedures. Drake said he had to spend time studying Washington State-specific regulations around commercial services, and educating the credit union's leadership on the policies and procedures.
• Create a technology infrastructure that will support your commercial services. HAPO Community identified which vendors and software providers it wanted to work with, and ended up completing a core conversion because its existing core could only handle retail accounts. It also added an analytical software system for analyzing credit, and created a system of virtual files for staff, ensuring all loan files were well-organized and consistent with one another.
• Hire a team and develop a unique commercial services brand identity. HAPO Commercial Services created its own logo and a separate office area within the credit union's headquarters. It also hasn't been shy about advertising – Drake explained that a "Vegas-style" sign promoting the department's services is affixed to the side of the headquarters building and can be easily seen by people driving by.

Phase 2: Training, Testing and Launching

• Spend time fine-tuning the new culture. Drake noted educating leaders from across the credit union about commercial services and what they needed to do in their roles to ensure its success – and keeping them on track – was a challenge. He compared training leadership to handing them scripts for a specific movie. "I realized some of the people I had given scripts to had shredded the script," he said, adding that every area of the credit union was touched by the new department, even facilities.
• Build partnerships. HAPO Community has teamed up with CU Business Group, the Northwest Credit Union Association, TMC Financing and the National Association of Credit Management for assistance.
• Emphasize service in the beginning. Drake said HAPO Commercial Services gave $100 gift cards to businesses that were the first to open accounts at the credit union and put up with the new department's growing pains.

Phase 3: Production

• Consider additional hires. In this phase, HAPO Commercial Services hired a relationship manager and a commercial loan documentation specialist.
• Think about future products and services. HAPO Commercial Services currently offers equipment, commercial real estate, aircraft and unsecured loans; working capital lines of credit; business Visas; traditional and premier business checking accounts; a premier money market account and remote deposit capture. It's now looking at adding Treasury management services, which will include a premier analyzed checking account; desktop RDC; sweep services; positive pay and online banking.
• Work to retain members and stay relevant. "One key to making it work is having branches and relationship managers work together," Drake noted.