Do your members know about BALANCE Counseling?
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Positioning Your Program
At BALANCE, our partners often ask, “How can we increase the usage of your counseling services?” We usually answer that it takes a multi-channel approach – that is, you need to educate your audience using every communication tool you have available. Often, your audiences may not even realize you offer free financial counseling as a benefit of doing business with you. So, getting the word out early and often about your financial education partnership is an ongoing task.
According to the latest National Financial Educators Council report, American adults lost, on average, $1,819 due to personal financial errors in 2022. How does someone lose over $1,800? The losses come from various sources: not knowing when or how to refinance a high-interest auto loan, paying overdraft fees, not knowing how to shop for better deals on auto insurance, etc.
Positioning yourself as a source of financial education, even through a partnership with a third party such as BALANCE, will build customer trust. Let them know – whether it’s by email, social media, tv screens in the lobby, newsletter articles, or website mentions – that free financial counseling is available to them that will ultimately help them SAVE MONEY.
If your organization offers products like “second-chance” loans or “second-chance” checking accounts, why not make a budget session with our counselors a required part of the application process? Or if a customer is denied a loan, send them to us for a credit report review so they can learn what steps they need to take to get that loan.
Our Financial Health Score Check-Up counseling call takes a positive approach to counseling and is an excellent tool for people who may think, “My finances are in a good spot, so why do I need counseling?” The call includes a short quiz that the caller completes to give them a better picture of their financial health. We have a complete marketing kit available to help promote this type of call, and it’s free for the asking.
Encouraging your audience to use our counseling services can never be a “one-and-done” thing. It takes multiple mentions, multiple times, using numerous tools. We are here to help you get the word out as often as you need us to.