Do you feel that your financial needs and goals are met by your financial institution? When you're looking for a solution to your unique needs, you don't want to be sold to, but rather guided, on your financial journey. Join Carrie and Shea as they discuss what sales should look like for credit union members with Hinna Jamal, Sales Strategy Officer at Leaders.
"One of the big pieces is asking meaningful questions and understanding that the active listening is the biggest piece to the conversation,” said Hinna. “So, listening to respond is one piece, but listening to understand, interpret, and give solutions is completely different."
If you think about sales, you might not be fond of the image that comes to mind, such as a cars salesman who is trying to push a deal. The sales team at Leaders Credit Union is looking at sales in a whole new light to give their members full transparency about their products and services. While many sales interactions are transactional, Leaders strives to instead focus on the needs of their members.
"We use more of a needs-based approach,” said Hinna. “What that means is we are asking questions intentionally to understand what your needs are. We'll ask open-ended questions. We'll try to understand where your pain points are, where your opportunities are, what you're feeling, what you're needing. Then we try to provide the solutions in the end.”
One of the most pressing financial worries of people today is inflation, which has caused a significant increase to overall expenses. Another concern that many Americans have is their debt with 60% of them saying they have more debt than they can pay off. To help their members through these challenges and help them achieve financial freedom, over fifty financial champions at Leaders Credit Union are certified financial counselors through the National Credit Union Association.
Wondering what it would be like to be a member at Leaders? Visit our membership page to learn how we can help you on your financial journey. Be sure to watch this episode on YouTube or listen on your favorite platforms.
Shea:
Hey, this is Shea.
Carrie:
And this is Carrie.
Shea:
Welcome to the Pocket Change podcast.
Carrie:
Where you'll learn better ways to spend, save, and invest, and take control of your financial journey.
Shea:
So, Carrie, have you ever been in a sales situation, maybe at a car lot or maybe buying an appliance or something? A lot of times they can be a little pushy, overbearing. We've all been there.
Carrie:
A little obnoxious sometimes. Not all the time, but yeah, I tend to try to turn the other direction and walk the other way.
Shea:
Yeah, sometimes we run away, but in any case, sales is a part of some things we do here at Leaders. Not every sales interaction is that way. But at Leaders, we've tried to build a culture of leading the way on our members' behalf.
Carrie:
That's right. We are their financial champions.
Shea:
And as their financial champion, we're going to talk to someone here at Leaders who's helping us lead the way for our members to champion their finances on their financial journey.
Carrie:
Yes, I'm excited to talk to our guest today. We're excited to welcome our guest, Hinna Jamal, Sales Strategy Officer here at Leaders Credit Union. Welcome to Pocket Change, Hinna.
Hinna Jamal:
Thank you, Carrie.
Carrie:
We're so happy to have you here with us. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got to Leaders?
Hinna Jamal:
I would love to, absolutely. I started my career when I was eighteen years old. I had a family friend who started a mortgage company. He was actually a mortgage broker, and he knew me through the family, and so he said, "You know what, would you like to be a loan processor?" I thought, "Well, sure. Why not?" So I started off as a loan processor. Within two years, he saw my ability to build relationships with people, and so he promoted me into a loan officer position. So at the age of twenty, I was working from 8:30 to 5:00 and then going to school from 6:00 to 10:00. So I was able to not only get that work experience, but then also go to school. So I was a loan officer for 2-3 more years, and then 2008 hit. And I don't know if you guys remember, that was the year of the housing crisis.
Shea:
Yeah, not good for a mortgage officer.
Hinna Jamal:
Yes. So I actually was very fortunate that I went to a career fair at my university, and I stumbled upon a bank, Flagstar Bank, and they were hiring for a management trainee. And so I thought, You know what? I'm going to make a change. This is the time. This was before the bubble. I decided to apply. I went through the application process, got the position. I started the management trainee program, and I, fortunately, got out right before the mortgage crisis. So it was really great timing. I was really fortunate to have that opportunity. That management training program really lined me up to be able to see all the different areas in a bank and credit union and a financial institution. I was able to work in finance, accounting, in the retail branches. I was really to understand how every piece makes that whole puzzle. So I was able to do that for a year. Then I interviewed, I was a teller, and I interviewed for an assistant manager position, became an assistant manager, then became a branch manager. So I was with Flagstar, which then got bought out by PNC for about five years, became a regional manager at the end.
Hinna Jamal:
Then I found a boy and got married and moved to Memphis. Then I started work for Equifax Credit Bureau. And from there, I worked as a sales manager at Equifax for about five years, selling credit data, marketing data. After that, I decided to take an opportunity as director of operations at a local credit union in Memphis that developed into a chief operations position. Within that five-year tenure, I was there, and I enjoyed working in the credit union world. It really lined up with my purpose in life. I think that the credit union world really were built to help the community and help people.
Shea:
People helping people.
Hinna Jamal:
Yeah. That's what I felt like my purpose in life is as well. It really lined up with my purpose in life. Then I was approached with an opportunity at Leaders, and I took that opportunity. Now I'm here as a sales strategy officer and I'm really enjoying it. The culture here is phenomenal. The heart of all of the financial champions at Leaders is really what differentiates Leaders in my eyes. Being able to have that purpose, along with being able to work with people that have that same heart as you do has really been a tremendous journey for me.
Shea:
We're glad to have you a part of the Leaders team. We know you're helping our members through different challenges they may face, especially with sales. We'll talk a little bit about that, but what are some of the economic factors that are affecting our members?
Hinna Jamal:
Absolutely. As you all know, and we've all felt it, inflation has been a huge piece of the economic impact that's affected our members and all the consumers. Just to throw out some numbers, about 56% of consumers are saying their expenses have increased because of inflation. That makes sense. I feel it myself. So I can imagine that 56% would say that. 60% report having more debt than they can pay off. So you're put in a position where you don't feel stable. You don't know if you're going to be able to make your mortgage payment, your car payment, or any of your utility payments. Your light might be shut off at any moment. So it's a scary thing. It's a scary thing to feel. Overall, total US consumer debt has increased to $17.46 trillion.
Shea:
With a T, trillion?
Hinna Jamal:
Trillion dollars, which is up 2.8% from last year.
Carrie:
Wow.
Hinna Jamal:
It's quite a bit. What our consumers are doing, what our members are doing, is they're leaning on debt to be able to leverage the expenses that they're having, the increase in expenses. What we have been charged with at Leaders Credit Union as their financial champions, is finding solutions to best suit them and that guide them through this economic turmoil.
Carrie:
What are some areas that our members are looking for assistance?
Hinna Jamal:
All of our members are really diverse. We're all diverse in the way that we live our lives, our lifestyles, the way that we make purchases, the way that we do things. So, understanding each member is really critical, and understanding the likes, the dislikes, the pain points, the things that are really affecting you, Carrie, and you, Shea, is really important. So, what we really focus on is, understanding four specific areas of how you're conducting your finances, which is everyday money management, savings, borrowing, and account safeguarding. So traditionally, we always think, okay, well, credit unions are for saving money and getting money.
Shea:
Having a checking account.
Hinna Jamal:
Right, but now that we have so much technology at our fingertips, it's more than that. It's how can we protect ourselves from fraud? How can we make sure that we're to have that convenience in our hand, but then also be able to make sure that we are utilizing all the tools that we have. Our members are really looking to, just like we are, looking for ways to make money, save money, and bring convenience and ease to the table.
Shea:
That's right. The term sales can sometimes have a negative connotation, but how does Leaders treat that a little differently?
Hinna Jamal:
Yeah, I know. Sales is a dirty word for a lot of people. When I think of sales, traditionally, sales has really been more of a transactional method, which is really you look at specific benefits of a product or a solution, and then you really sell those benefits. So when I think of that, I think of a car salesman. You go to a car dealership, you look at different cars, they'll tell you, "Oh, this car, it's red. It could go up to XYZ miles per hour. It has these safety features. You would look great in this car. You would be able to protect your family. These are the benefits of that car, and that's why you should purchase this car." At Leaders, we do things a little bit different. We use more of a needs-based approach. What that means is we are asking questions intentionally to understand what your needs are. We'll ask open-ended questions. We'll try to understand where your pain points are, where your opportunities are, what you're feeling, what you're needing. Then we try to provide the solutions in the end. I think it's very different than the transactional where you're pushing, and I think you feel it.
Hinna Jamal:
When you go to a car dealership, you feel pressured to purchase that item, were in a needs-based approach you think of it like a doctor. You go to a doctor, you tell them all of the different symptoms you have, and then they give you a diagnosis and a treatment. It's similar to what we do. We're figuring out their needs, we're figuring out what the diagnosis is, and then we're giving them a treatment plan, essentially.
Carrie:
How do you think that Leaders is implementing the needs-based approach that you mentioned?
Hinna Jamal:
Yeah, so that's a great question, Carrie. We have put a lot of different tools in place. The big thing for us is being consistently consistent. So if you go into the branch, you call in, you go online, we want to make sure that each interaction feels the same. So we're making sure that all of our financial champions are trained to have the same conversation, are using the same tools. One of the other big things that Leaders has done is we've invested in our financial champions. We have over fifty financial champions who have gone through a financial counseling certification program through our Credit Union National Association. That really shows that not only do we have the heart and the passion to fuel our members, and what they are trying to accomplish in their financial journey, but we also are empowering our financial champions with the minds, the mindset, to be able to give them the tools and resources to be able to be that financial champion and make their lives better.
Shea:
I know Carrie and I have gone through that. We're both certified financial counselors and it really gives us the information to know how I can help this member that's sitting in front of me that may have XYZ financial issue or situation they're dealing with. Because every member, like you said, is different, coming to us with a different life stage and scenario. Having that background knowledge is vast, a lot of different knowledge pieces to that, but really gives us that that knowledge that we can take and bring to the table because we are members financial champion. We want to champion their finances. How are we staying true to our mission? We power our members' passions and make lives better.
Hinna Jamal:
Absolutely. One of the big pieces is asking meaningful questions and understanding that the active listening is the biggest piece to the conversation. So listening to respond is one piece, but listening to understand, interpret, and give solutions is completely different. So that's been one of our key initiatives this past six months is to provide training and giving our financial champions the tools and resources to be able to have that educated conversation, ask those meaningful questions, active listen, and be able to really guide our members through their financial journey. Our number one priority is the well-being of our members. So we have the power to impact our members if we're really, truly trying to understand what situation they're in, where they are in their financial journey. So what really it boils down to is connecting, connecting with Carrie, connecting with Shea, and really understanding through the active listening where they're trying to get to.
Carrie:
So it sounds like you are helping to build a culture of caring financial advisors. So I'm curious, what is your best piece of financial advice for us today?
Hinna Jamal:
Oh, that's a fun one. So I would say, invest in yourself. So a lot of times when you think about financial advice, we think about how can we save more money, but oftentimes, we don't talk about how can we make more money. So when I think about those two facets of saving money and making money, I think investing in yourself primarily comes down to investing in education, and so when I say education, I'm talking about vocational school, I'm talking about two-year associate degrees, I'm talking about college degrees and on. The statistics around it are really interesting. They say that high school graduates earn $6,000 more annually than those that don't graduate, and that's $240,000 over their lifespan. And the numbers jump up once you get an associate degree and you're earning potentially $480,000 more over the lifespan than an individual who doesn't get a degree. So investing in yourself and investing in education is truly your pathway to earning more money and having more earning power. So my biggest piece of advice would be invest in yourself, invest in education.
Carrie:
That's great advice.
Shea:
So we got another fun question. If you had some pocket change, maybe not as much as we just mentioned, by getting a degree, but just some pocket change, what would you do? What would you spend it on?
Hinna Jamal:
Yeah, I don't have a really fun answer for that. I thought about it and I was like, well, I could put it in a savings account. But then I really thought about it and I'm like, you know what? This is money that I don't really need. So I would go to the grocery store, get some food, go home, prepare some small meals, and go ahead and pass it out to some homeless people. And I would do that with my children so then they see the impact of helping others.
Shea:
Passing it along.
Hinna Jamal:
Yeah, helping others.
Carrie:
That's great. It makes a bigger impact.
Hinna Jamal:
And it really, again, as I mentioned earlier, it really aligns with my purpose in life, and that's the reason I'm here at Leaders, helping other people.
Carrie:
Well, we're so happy you're here with us at Leaders. And thank you, Hinna, for being on the Pocket Change podcast with us today.
Hinna Jamal:
Thank you, Carrie. Thank you, Shea.