WICHITA, Kan. — At Meritrust CU here, the two branches overseen by Sara Carver are something of a study in contrasts.
While the branch on East Kellogg Street may not be one of the $966 million CU's "big three" as far as transaction volumes, said Carver, "for our number of employees, we stay hoppin'."
Twelve employees — including four part-time staffers — work at that branch, plus Carver, and while there are not a lot of regulars at the branch, it primarily serves commuter traffic from members who work in Wichita but live in Andover or other suburbs.
"We see a lot of folks from the aircraft industry who live out in the suburbs and travel into Wichita for work," she said. "It's a wide variety of clientele when it comes to demographics. I wouldn't put a name on it as 'We see this particular type of member at East Kellogg.' We see all types of members."
On the other hand, Carver called her branch at West Maple a slower location, with eight employees split half-and-half between full- and part-time staffers. That branch is also in a more affluent area, so "being that we're in a neighborhood and the only thing around is a doctor's office and a grocery store and then it's all housing developments, we're seeing people do things that they would do more on their day off," she explained. "They're coming in to see us if they have a service issue or if they need to get a loan or add an account or switch institutions. So teller traffic is a lot slower."
While many credit unions have seen slowdowns in branch activity, Meritrust continues to grow and is seeing an increase in branch traffic and transaction numbers, according to Carver. The credit union offers online and mobile services for members, but the branch manager noted that internally Meritrust puts a heavy emphasis on sales and service training to keep the branch relevant.
Keeping it Relevant
Even with sophisticated ATMs and mobile banking, said Carver, "people still want access to the branch. They still want to come in and see somebody. They're looking for those knowledgeable types of questions, and they want us to help them with whatever we can in those instances. Or if they've had something go wrong, it's comforting to come in and see a person, so through our sales and service model we hope to be those people they want to come see."
Meritrust has also renovated some branches and built new branches to include more modern design with teller pods, rather than the traditional teller window. At East Kellogg, for example, Carver said it's not unusual to see one or two tellers up front with MSRs roaming the facility to assist members.
On Fridays, however, the CU might put more tellers on duty while Carver roams the branch and assists with services that don't necessarily require a teller, such as showing members how to deposit a check by using their smartphone.
The credit union uses FMSI for its staffing and traffic pattern predictions, relying on historical data for recommendations on how to staff for specific times. Based on that information, it recently added a teller at the East Kellogg branch, whereas at the West Maple location it continues to focus on part-time employees, filling full-time vacancies with part-timers in order to have more flexibility for scheduling during higher volume times.
Mixing Sales & Service
There's no one product that sells more than another at Meritrust branches, said Carver. What's more important is the focus on the sales and service model that the credit union uses to deepen relationships with members.
"We do a significant amount of training on questions to ask and how to listen to a cue," she said. "So if a member says 'I'm out picking up a new stroller' or 'I'm picking up a crib,' we know what's going on in that member's life."
In those instances, she said, Meritrust reps start by congratulating the member and then asking about savings, before suggesting the member speak with a Meritrust investment representative. While the CU has four investment reps that travel between locations, "I'm lucky enough that at both the East Kellogg and Maple branch I have an investment rep who is based out of our location."
Carver emphasized that while the nature of the branch continues to evolve, members still want good service — but they want it in the time and place of their choosing, whether that's on the phone, online or in person.
"They want to come see us when they want to come see us," she said. "They want access in all of those different mobile avenues. I think they're all still very relevant, so as long as we continue to provide good service and don't drive them away, they'll still want us."
