Transcription:
From the CEO's Perspective: Growing in Asset Size

Bill Klaproth: When you've been searching for the right insight, advice and information on financial marketing, you know where to go, The Speakeasy, the exclusive source for financial marketing insights, with a shot of human. Starring Kelly Hellickson and Hilary Reed from EmpowerFi, strategy infused data driven marketing solutions for financial institutions nationwide. I'm your host Bill Klaproth. On this episode, we talk with Sherri Stumpf, Former Chief Executive Officer at Black Hawk Community Credit Union in Janesville, Wisconsin. As we discuss how to grow your assets, Sherri , welcome to The Speakeasy. We are so excited to talk with you. So let me start with this right out of the box, in your 10 years at Black Hawk Community Credit Union, you grew your assets from 300 million to 720 million in 10 years. Can you cliff note this for us? How did you do that?

Sherri Stumpf: Well, you know, it was a really tough time and I know that credit unions in today's economy are going to go through a lot of the same things. In Janesville, Wisconsin, at that particular time, after the economic collapse, they also were compounded with the collapse of General Motors there in the Janesville market. So the unemployment rate was over 15%. It was a lot of crazy chaos at that particular time. And so there was a lot of remaking of the community at the same time that we were remaking the credit union and trying to grow that business. So I know that this is going to be particularly interesting to a lot of people who are suffering during this time. Right. Thinking that maybe it will never come back, it'll come back.

Hilary Reed: That's great. And Sherri , what was that? What was the appeal? Was there any sex appeal, so to speak and coming from where you were coming to a little Janesville, Wisconsin population, what 73,000 at this point in time?

Sherri Stumpf: Actually, it was kind of funny, you know, I came out of the Minneapolis market and at that particular point in time, looking at what Janesville was going through wouldn't be appealing to a lot of people. I love a challenge and the community was very well put together in terms of their commitment to each other and to what they wanted to see for the community. And so it had been resilient. It had been through a lot of different turmoil over the years and it always come back even stronger. And so I knew that going to that market and trying to help them put that back together was going to be the right thing to do.

Kelly Hellickson: Sherri , what do you think was the biggest factor in growth you had there? If you had to pick just one, maybe two, I'll give you two. What would you say the one or two biggest factors in that growth?

Sherri Stumpf: So first I would say it was really the community focus that the credit union had. This is the kind of community where people pull together in times of trouble. And that's what I was talking about, the resiliency of the people. And when the credit union reached out and said, how can we help you? Right. We were in a really terrible spot at that particular point in time financially, but we still reached out to the people and said, what can we do? We had 250 employees. And there was a lot that we could do to volunteer in the community. And because of our relationship in that way, people really thanked us and recognized and rewarded us and wanted to be a part of what it was that we were doing to contribute back. In addition to that, the piece that we're talking about here today, about how to grow your assets, it was really about what does the community need you to do? There are a lot of people who go into the idea of growing your credit union. And I always ask, why do you want to grow your credit union first and foremost? Is it to serve more members? Is it offering more services to help people in the community? I mean, I really think that credit unions are uniquely positioned to help the community first and foremost. And as a result, your credit union will grow.

Kelly Hellickson: Yeah, that's really great. So just being a forced for a force for good in the community, regardless of the economic situation, I think that's super important. Just keeping the face of the credit union out there, no matter what, that's really amazing. It's organic, right? The asset growth, isn't just, Hey, let's bring in a bunch of deposits. We'll grow our assets. It's organic, it's marketing, it's culture, it's the community force for good. It's all of those things. And I think that's super important to remember, like you said, especially in these similar times that things will come back. So just, you know, now is the time to market actually more than ever, probably market your brand and your culture out there.

Sherri Stumpf: Exactly. And if you think back to the reason that credit unions exist, it's about people helping people. And so if you go back to the core of what you were created to do, and that is your main focus, I think you grow because it's a great concept.

Bill Klaproth: Sherri , I've got a question for you, that really makes sense. So you mentioned earlier this community focus, I'm just wondering when you look at that, was it more marketing? Was it more program services? Was it people? Was that all of the above? Can you talk about the mix of how you put this together? I'm just trying to think of someone listening. They're like, that sounds great. How exactly do I do this? So maybe you can kind of break that down for us on how you did this.

Sherri Stumpf: Sure. I think it comes down to that question that I just talked about and that's why, why you want to grow? There are a lot of successful credit unions that are less than $10 million, they're successful in their own right because they, they understand why they're serving the needs of the people that are credit union members. And if that's what they hope to accomplish, and that's where they're comfortable, that's where they should stay. When you come into a community that really has a need for people wanting to pull together and to make the whole community stronger. I think the credit union can play an important role in leading that, right? People don't know how to get involved. People don't know how to volunteer necessarily. And so the credit union plays that role of going out and bringing people together and saying let's unite, and let's decide what we want to be as a community. And financial institutions have always been kind of at the base of that. Let me help you do that. And people want to be involved in it and they reach out to you, and you grow in spite of whatever problems in the world there are, people want to be involved in things that are good.

Bill Klaproth: Well, that is true leadership in the community. And people gravitate towards that. So the results speak for themselves. So specifically on marketing, how did you do this then? What were the tactics that you used? Was it banner ads, direct mail, email marketing, specifically on marketing. How did you do this?

Sherri Stumpf: Well you have to understand your community first and foremost. What are the people really interested in? Where do they need the help? And then how do you reach them? So what kinds of things? It was really interesting to come from a market like Minneapolis, where I was the CEO of True Stone, and that was a big credit union. And the marketing was completely different. So when I got to Janesville, you have to say, what are people interested in and how do they want to connect to the credit union? And then you use tools and techniques to reach them where they're at. So I would tell you in a small community like that it was about supporting local business and that's where we started.

Hilary Reed: So that's super interesting. Sherri , how long did it take you to get to know that little community just coming in like that? And what did you do to get to know the community?

Kelly Hellickson: Yeah, that's a great question because I'm wondering too twofold Sherri , you know, what did you get to, what did you do to get to know? And then did you use any sort of data mining any sort of software programs?

Sherri Stumpf: You know what, in the beginning, no, in the beginning it was getting to know the community and in order to get to know the community, you have to get out, you have to go and you have to belong to these groups and organizations. And there were a lot of things. If you look at Rock County where Janesville is located, it has 1006 nonprofits in Rock County alone. It's like one of the highest in the country and the needs of the people dictate that, right? So then you say, well, how can I get involved? So you go out and I was on the board of the local Chamber of Commerce. There was a program there called Arise and Arise is the revitalization of the downtown community. And I was part of that board. I was the co chair of that initiative. And so you just get to know people and learn about what it is that motivates them. And then if you think all the way back to the beginning of how the credit union was formed, it was formed for the employees of general motors. Okay. So General Motors goes out of business and people have a lot of needs because they're now unemployed or they're, they were transferred to other States.

How is it that we could come alongside them and provide them services and products that were going to help meet their needs? So it wasn't till much later that we started implementing some of the software and things like that, what Kelly's asking about once you get everything foundationally set, and you're really in a situation where you understand your community, you understand what it is that they want for products and services. Then I think you can really go after the, when you're talking about growing your asset size. Now you've got things situated where you say, alright, now, what do we need to go out and do?

Hilary Reed: Fantastic, a woman with a plan? What are your plans now? How are you taking your leadership success in your tenure, your career? What are you up to now? What are some things on the horizon for you Sherri ?

Sherri Stumpf: Well, I'm working with a number of companies where I'm helping with setting these foundational pieces, really coming in and talking to them about values and their mission and even things like, what would you have in your employee handbook? How do you want to communicate to your employee base about their importance to your organization? I am working on a number of things along those lines, policies and procedures, things that really strengthen the base of an organization.

Kelly Hellickson: Right. That's fantastic. And I think that's something that everyone can relate to, especially in terms of when we're talking about asset size, right. You know, to kind of recap, you need to have a need and a want, a solid game plan. And then I really liked what you said that you need to get out. You need to get out in your community. If you are a leader, especially if you're a leader at a credit union and you need to fact find, you need to figure out what it is that they have a need for, and the best channel and way in which to deliver that need to them.

Hilary Reed: Exactly. Yeah. I agree. I think that's great. Really, you know, so many CEOs we see these days are sitting behind the desk and you know, saying, well, that's why I hire people who know how to do those things and they let everybody else go out into the community and do those things for them. And I think that is a really, really crucial part of what you said is getting out and doing it yourself. It's so great to hear from someone.

Sherri Stumpf: They want to hear from you.

Hilary Reed: Yes. Yes, absolutely. And I'm so glad to hear it from somebody who's been in that seat, you know, for so many years. So thank you so much for the insights.

Bill Klaproth: Absolutely. Sherri , thank you so much. I too have a page full of notes here. Community focus, know your why, supporting local businesses, as you said. And then as Kelly was mentioning that, integrating yourself into the community, I think that is so important. And as you said, they want to hear from you. So thank you so much for sharing your time with us. We really appreciate this. Thank you again.

Sherri Stumpf: Thank you.

Host: And thank you for listening to this episode of The Speakeasy Podcast, and to connect with Hilary or Kelly, or for more information on strategic planning, please contact them at EmpowerFi Today. That's empowerfi.org. This is The Speakeasy Financial Marketing Podcast. Thanks for listening.