3 Ways to Cultivate a Member-Centric Sales Culture

Sales cultures vary from workplace to workplace. The most influential and successful cultures tend to be the ones that have committed time and energy to establish a service-oriented sales environment. Organizations that have not adopted this consumer-centric sales approach often find it difficult to achieve the same level of success. They will more than likely experience lower retention rates and a weakened reputation, as well as fewer overall sales.

Pushy sales associates who are concerned with quantity over quality could turn members away from in-branch interactions and cross-sale opportunities, which are already losing out to online retail sales.

Figuring out each individual’s needs is quintessential to a credit union’s sales success. Effectively uncovering and fulfilling the unique needs of each member is the single most effective way to consistently make sales. Employees who have a member-focused mindset when interacting with consumers are sure to outperform those who have a transactional or product-focused sales style, though unfortunately these styles tend to be the norm.

Building a member-centric sales culture does not happen overnight. Instilling member-centric sales strategies will require three things: Coaching employees on how to build these new skills, creating individually-cultivated trainings, and establishing goals that foster each employee’s strengths and weaknesses.

1. Realize Results With Coaching

Most teams and employees will need coaching on what to do and what to ask to get to the offer solutions each individual member actually wants or needs. A Deloitte study found that organizations with effective coaches are 130% more likely to realize stronger business results. An effective coach:

• Spots and fosters talent and potential in people;
• Guides high performance and productivity;
• Instills confidence in their employees; and
• Improves communication skills and strengthens relationships.

2. Modernize Training Strategies

Finding effective ways to increase employee retention of new skills can be challenging. “Blended learning” is a training style that presents information in a variety of ways, to compliment all styles. This training approach offers a variety of strategies for teaching and reinforcing learned skills.

Blended learning involves a mixture of physical and digital education, which could include online learning portals, in-person and webinar workshops with experienced professionals, and mobile games that reinforce learning to enhance knowledge retention. With this on-demand approach to learning, your employees can learn at their own pace and on their own terms.

3. Set Individualized Goals

Creating goals catered to each employee’s learning style and pace will promote member-centric sales and service practices. Though it may take time and resources on the front end, setting and tracking goals can quickly strengthen the success of individual employees, sales teams and the credit union as a whole, especially when leaders offer the right amount of coaching and support. A supervisor’s ability to track and measure employees’ goals can result in more methodical actions and decisions, sustained focus and momentum, and increased productivity across sales teams.

A good first step for moving toward a member-centric sales culture is to determine which employees are already taking this approach so they can help their peers to adopt these practices. These employees can advocate for the success of these sales strategies, and they may even be willing to help coach other employees. There are also many third-party solutions available to help credit unions build and sustain strong training, coaching and goal-setting practices.

Julie ann Wessinger is National Director, Client Performance Strategies for Allied Solutions. She can be reached at julieann.wessinger@alliedsolutions.net.