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Conexus Credit Union uses advisors and training to educate and appeal to small business owners.
Over the past 18 months, Conexus Credit Union has been working to widen the focus of conversations its business advisors have with business members from primarily lending to encompass deposit accounts and cash management services as well.
“This is a real change for our team,” says Maggie Sinclair, VP/business banking at the $7.15 billion credit union serving 121,000 members throughout the province of Saskatchewan. “They’re very good lenders, but our aim now is to offer more holistic advice—‘five-star conversations’ that begin with finding out business owners’ immediate lending needs and then moving on to questions on how we can make sure your business is protected.”
In progressing toward that aim, Conexus CU changed the title of its business service staff from “relationship managers” to “business advisors” to underscore their role in advising business members on the full range of financial services the credit union offers. The business advisors have also been trained in new questioning and conversational techniques to identify members’ needs for business financial services.
As the largest credit union in Saskatchewan and sixth largest in Canada, Conexus CU serves more than 10,500 business members in diverse sectors, including agriculture, commercial real estate, oil and gas, health care, manufacturing and retail. The 85 business advisors with Conexus Business Solutions—with the support of other CU associates, a specialized cash management team and a centralized support staff—manage approximately $4.5 billion in total funds and serve business members’ needs out of the 41 CU branches across the province.
Another strategy in its shift toward more holistic business services is to introduce Conexus Business Accelerator (CBA) Training, a series of courses for small business owners “ranging from starting a small business all the way through succession planning,” Sinclair notes. “We’ve been working very hard at looking at how to support our members’ financial wellness. Better financial acumen is one way that we can make a difference in our business members’ lives.”
Conexus CU partnered with Meyers Norris Penny, a leading Canadian accounting, tax and business consulting firm, to develop the curriculum for the courses. MNP also provides the subject matter experts from its own staff or other business partners to lead the courses.
“This is how we can get financial wellness to our business sector,” Sinclair says.
The introductory CBA brochure describes two dozen courses on financial management, recruitment, marketing and networking as well as managing time and stress. The first sessions offered this summer focused on business planning, social media and financial fluency. The most popular course to date is on business taxation, in which 75 businesspeople enrolled in the first session.
Conexus CU business advisors have been promoting the CBA offerings enthusiastically and are even participating in some of the courses, which are offered in webinars and on site. “In most sessions, we’ll have between 15 and 20 advisors who are dialing in to participate so that they better understand the needs and concerns of their clients and can enrich their own development,” Sinclair notes.
Conexus CU will continue to refine course content and offerings based on participants’ input, she adds.
“We ask them, ‘Did we hit the mark? Did you get what you expected?’ The feedback has been very positive that they are coming away with tools to help them grow their business,” Sinclair notes. “There was a large cost to get the courses set up, but over the long term the funding is well worth the price to improve our offerings to our members.”
Karen Bankston is a longtime contributor to Credit Union Management and writes about credit unions, membership growth, marketing, operations and technology. She is the proprietor of Precision Prose, Portland, Ore.
