Are Your Employees ‘Friendly, Smiling Incompetents?’

By John Franklin

John Franklin: Having a well-dressed, well-mannered, and courteous person mess up my lunch order, transaction, or phone request is of no comfort to me.

If you believe everything you hear and see in advertising, every business in the U.S. has the most courteous and friendly staff. Employing friendly people is certainly important for credit unions, but there needs to be more.

I've grown weary of being served by friendly, smiling incompetents. If value, service, and convenience are the secrets to success, it would seem that competent employees would fit in there some place.

Having a well-dressed, well-mannered, and courteous person mess up my lunch order, transaction, or phone request is of no comfort to me. In fact, I'd just as soon they'd be surly so I could be surly back without feeling guilty about it.

I'm not picking on credit unions. In fact, I believe competency is much more common with credit union employees than it is in the general public. I don't even mind when new employees don't know something. But in those cases, I do expect management to be on hand to help them.

What's most frustrating is when employees don't know and they don't care. It's as though it's my problem because they don't know their jobs. It's up to me to search through 28 aisles in Lowe's because they don't know where to find the widgets and don't care enough to go find someone who does.

Every business has turnover and changing technologies, regulations, and product offerings. Change guarantees there'll always be something employees don't know. Still, that's no excuse for unleashing them on unsuspecting clientele without providing a backup from management.

If employees who meet the public aren't up to speed, management had better be on-site, ready to solve problems, answer questions, and soothe ruffled feathers. When managers do this, staff learn much more quickly and the clientele are much more satisfied.

There's no excuse for poor service. And service is measured by more than one standard. Courtesy is only one of those standards. Doing the job right is even more important.

As businesses grow, there's a tendency for management to get further removed from their customers. This is true in credit unions as well.

On one hand, this makes sense. As more decision making becomes "macro" and the credit union grows, the move to private offices on the executive level seems needed and justified. But a real effort to maintain an experienced management presence in the member service operation is an absolute necessity to make sure members are treated properly, efficiently, and competently.

In fact, I highly recommend that senior management take time at least once a week to walk around the lobby area, visit a branch, and speak to members and ask for their input. It's the best form of market research available.

I predict our competitors will place a new emphasis on providing really good service. In these truly tough economic times—with reduced demand for financial products—it'll be widely recognized that providing top-notch service will add to the value of products and create a competitive advantage.

Financial services are fairly homogenous, and competing on price is a nonstarter in this period of very low interest rates and low demand. That leaves service and convenience as the two major variables that can attract, or repel, business.

As you go through the next week, evaluate the attitudes and competency of the people you deal with in restaurants, stores, and other service providers. Compare them with your employees.

Do you really know how your staff treat members? Do you assume they're courteous and competent because they're credit union employees? It might be a good idea to find out. After all, most consumers don't complain. They just leave.

John Franklin is executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Credit Union National Association, Madison, Wis. Contact him at 608-231-4266.