Top 15 Post: Chad Huseby
I would like to take this opportunity to depict the past, present and future of the Positive Ticketing Program that I implemented in three branches of Servus Credit Union in September of 2012. I will also outline how the program aligns closely with Servus Credit Union’s commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility which is highlighted in our mission statement of “building a better world one member at a time.”
In August of 2012, two months after accepting the Branch Manager position of the Delburne branch, I began thinking of various ways to strengthen and deepen the relationship with our membership. Delburne is a small rural village in Alberta, Canada with a population of approximately 800 people. Shortly after arriving in Delburne I was introduced to Constable Bart Warner who is a member of Royal Canadian Mounted Police whose role sees him based out of three schools in the area. His job is to provide a police presence in the schools while building rapport and relationships with the students, it’s a fantastic program. After meeting Bart I began to think of various ways that our branch could support his program which in turn would strengthen our membership and the community. I landed on trying to bring “positive policing” to the area. The “Positive Ticketing Program” was then pitched to Bart and his sergeant and the program was fully functioning within a month. Our marketing team at Servus produced five-hundred “positive tickets” for a total cost of $300. The Servus Credit Union branded prizes that are handed to the youth in exchange for a ticket cost $600. Thus total start-up cost of the program was $900. In order to promote the program I attended a detachment meeting that included all of the RCMP members of the Three Hills detachment along with representatives from the local media providers. Several articles were written from our launch meeting which created a great buzz for the program.
Eleven months since the program’s inception I am happy to report that there has been over 250 tickets issued to young citizens of the area who have been “caught” doing positive things! The original prize inventory is still being utilized by all three branches and thus no additional costs have been incurred. The local newspaper outlet in Three Hills has requested that we host another event as they would love to profile the program and the “positive policing” that the officers are doing. The program has been so well received by the officers that the acting sergeant has implemented a monthly goal/quota that each officer is expected to write in positive tickets! The RCMP officers love the program as it gives them a chance to reward good behaviour, as opposed to always punishing people for their negative actions. For Servus Credit Union the reason why the program has been successful is two-fold. The program drives traffic into rural branches when the tickets are redeemed, in a rural environment traffic flow is often an issue and thus higher traffic equates to stronger financial performance. In addition to increased traffic the program highlight’s our strong commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility and making our communities a better place for all of our members by rewarding and thanking the youth for their positive actions.
The opportunity to expand this program to other communities and branches within Servus Credit Union is high. Shortly after the program was launched in three Servus Credit Union branches I was able to speak to our Chief Operating Officer about the potential to grow the program within our branch network. The consensus was assuming the program was successful in the three branch “pilot” expansion would be considered. In addition to expansion I am currently working on developing matrices that measure the ROI of the program based on the 250 tickets that have been handed out. Lastly after watching the NTCUE video a local oilfield company has inquired about the possibility of partnership with the program so I am excited to see how that progresses. For a very low cost the results have been outstanding and the program has made a positive impact on the youth of the area and Servus Credit Union.
Thank you very much for reading!
Chad
