Good day, my fellow monster mortgage movers! This is Mort the Mortgage Mentor and I’m coming to you from my interstellar space machine, still flying solo. Everyone here at myCUmortgage (and I personally) continue to recognize the importance of social distancing and how it’s helping ensure the health and safety of our mortgage experts. We encourage you to do the same and help flatten the curve. Together, we can do this.
Together.
I emphasize this because even though it can feel like you’re all alone as of late, you’re not. Much like my fellow star travelers on my home world of Amicitia, humans are social creatures. That’s why it’s so important to stay connected through these unprecedented times, and the best way to do this is by communicating.
We all recognize the importance of effective and efficient communications. In the credit union world, communication is the key to ensuring that we are meeting the needs of your most important asset: your members. Such is the case at myCUmortgage, where we want to stay connected to all of our stakeholders, including our experts, partner credit unions and their members.
We’re fortunate that in this day and age, electronic and digital communications are the norm. Now’s the time to take advantage of that!
Here are a few ways you can do it:
- Remote Working, if Possible: As much as we want to be side-by-side with our friends and colleagues—not to mention all those members you know on a first-name basis—now’s the time to put some distance between you when possible. If the appropriate technology is available, working remotely or completing your job responsibilities from home accomplishes that. Make provisions in the way your credit union does business for the safety and well-being of all of your valuable stakeholders.
- Digital Banking: In today’s digital age, many businesses and financial institutions are encouraging customers to do business digitally. This definitely applies to how your credit union members can access their money and their mortgages while respecting social distancing. We are doing this at myCUmortgage by encouraging members whose mortgages we service to sign up for Customer CareNet, where they can access all they need to know about their mortgages from their computer or mobile device. Of course, if digital banking is not an option for your credit union, be sure to incorporate social distancing standards at your branch locations and encourage use of ATMs, where available.
- Audio and Video Conferencing: There are so many tools available and scalable to any size credit union. Use them to forgo those face-to-face meetings. Most of us are accustomed to audio teleconferencing but have only dabbled in video. Don’t be shy—we all want to SEE each other! That’s what helps us stay connected. It’s fun for family and friends, too.
- Social Media: This is a vital communication channel you should already be using to reach your members, particularly the millennial members. Now, it’s more important than ever. Let your members know about updates or changes to business and processes due to the pandemic. Be sure to let them know we’re in this together and don’t be afraid to send some positivity their way. A smile and some encouraging words speak volumes to your members.
- Traditional Digital Channels: While we want—and need—to embrace the communications methods I’ve just described, we can’t forget our existing digital channels. Email, websites, texting… these are all ways your members are accustomed to hearing from you. Keep up on all of these to help ensure your messages reach your members.
myCUmortgage and many of our partner credit unions are embracing these new ways to stay connected—it not only demonstrates you’re available to your members but also that you are proactively striving to keep business as close to normal as possible. We like to call this “Business as myCUsual.”
We’ve made great strides in the past couple of weeks to deliver our partners and their members business as myCUsual. You can do the same at your credit union. All you need to do is to start connecting with your members.
Staying connected is vital. Reach out to your members, business partners, friends and colleagues. They miss you as much as you miss them—it’s through digital communications that we will all get through this, together.