 
By Tony Delumen, CLTC
For years I struggled in financial services, continuing to make calls to people who supposedly requested a free consultation from some Midwest marketing firm that sold me their names. I hated making those calls and always found a sense of “buyer’s tension” in each meeting that came out of those leads. It wasn’t until I built an alliance with credit unions that I really took my business to the next level.
Today I have a business that provides exclusive financial planning services to more than 25,000 credit union members, and I never have to make a single cold call. I’d like to share my plan for business success with you. Here are five steps I follow:
1. Offer what others don’t.
First, start with something that sets you apart from your competition. I currently offer an added value to credit union members: I provide a free financial plan to each person who schedules a meeting. The plan is developed after I thoroughly interview the member and compile his financial data. This personalized approach allows me to understand the member’s financial goals and objectives. The completed plan presents a comprehensive evaluation of the member’s financial profile and my recommendations for improving his situation.
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Tony Delumen says approaching credit unions is easier than you think. First, he recommends that you:
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1. Visit the onsite manager of the credit union you wish to work with.
2. Find out the kinds of financial planning information he thinks his members want and/or need.
3. Suggest ways in which you can provide his members with your data. Delumen has found these methods to be effective:
- Placing flyers into members’ monthly statements.
- Sending direct mail to members’ homes.
- Dropping by each credit union weekly to catch up on news.
- Introducing himself to new employees and members at credit union events and openings.
These methods help position you as a resource in financial planning while promoting you and your business.
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2. Sell only the best.
I made the decision long ago that if I were going to offer a product to a client, it would be the highest quality. With that said, I recommend that you always look to highly rated companies for your solutions before you go to lower-rated firms. This simple concept has gone a long way with credit unions, since they pride themselves on providing the best for their members.
3. Make the relationship better.
I developed a partnership a while back with a financial services marketing firm serving credit unions. The relationship was based on a philosophy that not every credit union member is alike, and having a clear understanding of each member can lead to more sales and greater member loyalty. This customer-centric approach can be summed up as presenting the right product, at the right time, to the right member.
4. Establish your own guidelines.
Development of your business should be rooted in best practices. I analyzed member data and segmented members according to demographics, psychographics (using demographics to determine attitudes and tastes) and behavioral data. I then created marketing campaigns that were targeted and personalized to the members. This refined approach has proven to be the most effective way to generate revenue and develop trust between the member and me.
5. Share information.
Most credit unions and their service providers operate in separate silos, not sharing valuable, timely information. As a result, significant revenue opportunities can be missed. I’ve come up with a better way to do business with credit unions. I share my expertise in finance with credit union executives, which provides them greater insight into their membership and the knowledge necessary to make better business decisions. More importantly, it has allowed all product lines to become additional lead sources for me, enhancing the effectiveness of the services I provide.
Although my business success has been with credit union, I believe you can find your own success when you follow the five steps I’ve defined. You may never have to make another cold call again.
Tony Delumen, CLTC, is a 26-year-old financial advisor with MML Investors Services, Inc., which is based in the San Francisco Bay area. He currently works with three credit unions. Call him at 925-979-2354.
JANUARY 2006
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