It is 7:30 a.m. on a beautiful fall morning in Cresco, IA, and Bootie Kapler, Club Director at the Cresco Union Savings Bank, boards a shining motorcoach with 40 of her bank's senior club members. Ahead lies a trip to Branson, and Bootie warmly greets her customers over the microphone, checks her clipboard, and announces the start of the event. As the coach pulls out of the bank parking lot the bank's president, on hand for the departure, waves as his customers enthusiastically wave back. It's one of the many October events offered by Cresco's most popular community program, the bank's renowned Union VIP Club.
Building Enduring Customer Loyalty
Bootie Kapler has been in her job since 1987 and knows every one of her 1,700 VIP Club members by name. She has traveled the world with them from Branson to Banff, from Paris to Prague. In addition to travel, Bootie organizes seminars, parties, pot luck dinners, and health fairs including flu shots. In order to belong to the club one has to carry a minimum balance of $1,500 and be over 50 years of age. Bootie's club represents an important part of her bank's deposits, and her efforts have created a customer base with fierce loyalty to her bank and its programs.
"Bank clubs are essential in today's environment,” states Rodger Johnston, president of the American Heritage National Bank in Long Prairie, Minn. “Our Pioneer Club is the backbone of our bank's marketing program." Johnston designed and built a log cabin bank covering 33,000 square feet in St. Cloud. In one year, the structure has become a Minnesota landmark. The bank's Prairie Companion Club is one of the most successful bank clubs in the country with more than 1,200 members. According to Johnston, the bank's philosophy for the club is that "life is a special gift and great adventure for all to enjoy". A capacity crowd recently attended the club's first Annual Comedy Variety Show in the 12,000 square foot Log Bank Ballroom. The event featured an evening of fun and laughter with coffee and dessert. Price of admission was a donation of food or cash to the local community food shelf. The audience included bank and club customers and other community residents some of which arrived by bus or car from the bank's locations in Long Prairie and Browerville, and from as far away as the Twin Cities.
Community Banks Early Trend Setters In Senior Marketing
Long before senior marketing became a Madison Avenue buzz word, community banks had discovered the potential of this lucrative and expanding population segment. "Over the last 10 years, thousands of banks have successfully launched senior clubs," says Daniel Prins, president of NABOR, the National Association Of Bank Club Organizations. "With their caring approach, our member banks have made their customer base almost impregnable to competition from technologically more advanced big banks and other financial services providers with aggressive telemarketing programs." NABOR, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., is a non-profit organization providing education, benefit programs and professional networking opportunities for banks and has 3,000 registered members nationwide representing some 4,500,000 senior depositors.
And Now The Baby Boomers...
While most banks aimed their original programs at senior citizens the market is,of course, wide open for expansion into the exploding Baby Boomer population. A nationwide survey conducted by NABOR in 1996 showed that the average age of 68 percent of bank club members is over 70, leaving a segment of 32 percent with distinctly different needs. "We recommend that our clients honor the past, welcome change, and embrace the future,” says Jeff Sisk of the Sisk Company in Fort Worth, Texas. “They have to look at the club needs of the Baby Boomers and add new services to the three B’s -- Branson, beans and bingo -- that made them so successful up to now!” The 25-year-old Sisk Company is the leading account enhancement firm in the U.S. providing services to financial institutions.
Service Innovations For Club Customers
Many banks have indeed been quick to react, and their efforts have met with positive results. "We just started our Golden Image Club last November and we included some new club features such as special interest options and an attractive CD rate coupon," says Ann Rysavy, marketing director at Commercial State Bank in Wagner, S.D. "To appeal to Baby Boomers we added accidental death insurance, prescription drug discounts, and 50 percent off in thousands of hotels across the country. Results have exceeded our wildest expectations."
Hi-Touch Meets Hi-Tech
Many banks are also recognizing the importance of today’s technology. "The seniors of yesterday didn't want to use ATM machines," notes Steve Lichtenfels, director of Retail Applications at Online Resources and Communications Corp. in McLean, Va., the industry leader in providing electronic banking to financial institutions. "The seniors of today demand convenient ATM locations and ask their banks for on-line banking. We see a golden opportunity to assist banks in combining their demonstrated 'hi-touch' expertise with our 'hi- tech' solutions."
For example, Online Resources' program allows banks to offer customers remote access bill payment, funds transfer, and account information services 24 hours a day via a touch-tone phone, the Online Screen Phone, or their own PC and the World Wide Web.
"Our Screen Phone combines the look, size and function of a standard phone with the ease-of-use of an ATM machine, at a price everyone can afford," notes Lichtenfels. "Banks also like the opportunity it offers to promote new bank services or to display rate information.
"Online banking is not a future vision or tomorrow's dream. It's available today, and today's customers are looking for anytime, anyplace access."
Jim Pfleider, president of Gage Travel, Inc. agrees. "In our efforts to assist banks we try to make things as easy as possible. We have put all our programs on the Internet --www.gage.com -- to provide our client banks easy access for their travel planning." Gage Travel, Inc. is one of the leading travel providers to bank clubs. The Company offers BanClub Adventures, a series of popular travel programs for bank senior clubs, and Golden Circle Travel Awards, custom-designed trips for key bank clients, to events such as the Super Bowl, The Masters, and The Indy 500, as well as hunting, fishing and golf outings.
Why Banks Find Club Services Profitable
Bank Clubs create opportunities for cross selling other bank services and generation of ancillary fee income, states Sisk. They significantly increase customer loyalty and make the bank a convenient "one-stop" location. Clubs also offer the opportunity to attract new customers with new deposits, enhance the bank's image and boost employee morale. "Establishing a club could be one of the smartest and most enjoyable steps a bank could take," says Sisk. For information contact NABOR, 6518 Walker Street, Minneapolis, MN, 55426; (612) 926-4114, fax (612) 927-8127, or e-mail nabornetdp@aol.com (ARA)
Courtesy of Article Resource Association; www.aracopy.com; e-mail: info@aracopy.com
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