Heard on WHO Radio the other morning: Consumers are psyched out by the economy, which in turn psyches out business. As consumers spend less, businesses respond by lowering prices in an effort to entice buyers to their stores. Thus begins the slow death spiral.
Studies show that consumers are buying; they’re just more discriminating. They are focusing more on value.
The moral for businesses and credit unions is to be conscious of value and spend your efforts building brand loyalty.
The future is uncertain. But then it has always been. The primary difference today is that the uncertainty manifests itself at a faster pace, giving us less time to prepare for and deliver our response.
Credit unions, don’t let this economy psych you out. You are more than a commodities broker. You have built a community based on fair practices, mutual gain and uniquely positioned financial products. Keep forging ahead, and your members will do the same.
1 comment so far
1 Matt Hand // Aug 24, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Your message rings true to the core of the credit union movement. At Credit Unions Rising we like to say, “Credit unions were made for times like these!” During the Great Depression, when farmer’s literally needed seed money to keep our food supply stable, it was the cooperative forces of credit unions that enabled them to overcome great economic challenges.
Read the history of Kona Farmers Federal Credit Union:
“On a windy, rainy night in 1936, a group of 10 coffee farmers sat down in Kealakekua at the Konawaena High School cafeteria, and drew up a charter to form their own credit union. Because they had difficulty obtaining loans or service from banks, this new credit union helped its first members get through the challenges of the Great Depression and kept their farms and families going.”
( https://www.hicommfcu.com/membership/membership.html )
Over at Credit Unions Rising, we’d like to bring credit union voices together to develop ideas that will help us lead America’s economic recovery, just as we did 80 years ago. Here’s an idea for a step towards that goal: http://bit.ly/2lDqmD
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