Small-town credit union embraces customers

Phil Hagen

Monday, Nov. 3, 1997 | 11 a.m.

BOULDER CITY -- Bill Ferrence is trying to explain his trick in turning the Boulder Dam Credit Union into the town's dominant financial institution.

How the majority of his relatively slim marketing budget doesn't really even go to marketing; it goes to this community of about 14,000 located 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas.

How it's really no trick at all, since most of the ideas of what to do with the money also come from the community. Somebody will just walk into his office, announce their cause and, more often than not, walk out with a check.

Like just the other day, when he reached into the credit union's pocket and pulled out $100 so the Boulder City High School student council could light up its homecoming with fireworks.

Boom! Instant marketing.

But how does that add up? You give away $100 in party favors here, a T-ball sponsorship there, and in two decades you go from $3 million in assets to $265 million?

"We spend a fraction of what most institutions this size spend and we have the entire community feeling good about the credit union," the manager of 23 years says. "And we, in turn, feel good about being able to fill their needs."

Just as he puts a period on that thought, a couple of exclamation marks walk in: Two smiling teenage girls with flowers.

"We just wanted to say thank you for the money for the fireworks," one says, placing the vase on his desk, across from another fresh thank-you bouquet.

Now there's a pretty big marketing bang for Ferrence's $100. Did he stage this for a reporter or is it the luck of the Irish for the Notre Dame graduate?

"This happens constantly," Ferrence says with a grin. "It's a mutual admiration society. We love them and they love us. That's why we've been successful."

Sounds more like Barney & Friends than Smith Barney. But you'd be surprised how this philosophy has translated into big accounts. Since Ferrence took over in 1974, the credit union's accounts have climbed from 3,000 to 21,500, and its market penetration has gone from 20 percent to 90 percent. That's virtually unheard of for a credit union in a community where there are other choices.

"We're unique in that we're competing with three of the largest banks in the country. Yet, in Boulder City, we have a corner on the market," Ferrence says.

To longtime customers like Bill Harbour, there's an even simpler explanation of how that happened.

"Bill," he says flatly. "Bill's promotion. He just spread the word, and he did an excellent job."

This town may be divided over a lot of things, but not about who gets the top credit in the credit union's success story.

"Bill sure gets it all as far as I'm concerned," says Ralph Godwin, the Boulder Dam Credit Union's treasurer and a longtime board member. "He's a born leader."

Slow start

Folks weren't sure at first. That was back when it was the Boulder Dam Federal Credit Union, and, though it's still a community credit union, few people really knew that or bothered to find out.

"We had a lot of savers but not a lot of borrowers," Ferrence says of the 57-year-old institution. "Getting a youth involvement program going was very important."

But when he started promoting at that level, people would say, "Why are your wasting money marketing to first-, second- and third-graders?"

"Well, today, those kids are 28, 29 and 30. Today, those kids are taking out loans and buying things with Visa cards. You have to bring 'em in early. ... That's why we get involved in every area of kids' lives."

There's the Moola-Moola program, in which the credit union spends up to $15,000 a year in promotions and giveaways to encourage even the smallest deposit; there are the schools, to which Ferrence sends letters every year to find out teachers' needs; and there's the city recreation department, for which the credit union sponsors more than 25 sports teams.

In the bigger picture, the words "Boulder Dam Credit Union" are everywhere in town. At the golf course, there's a big sign on the No. 4 tee box that says if you get a hole-in-one, you get $100; at the bowling alley, if you roll a perfect game, you get $300 (though nobody's ever done it); there are credit union floormats in front of businesses all over town; the wind screens on the public tennis courts are sponsored by the credit union; and, if you're still keeping score, the high school football field features a scoreboard brought to you by you know who.

Don't forget the many community events in Boulder City: "You name it, and I'll bet in some way the credit union is involved," Ferrence says.

Members don't seem to mind the expenditures anymore. "My God, I'm a member and I certainly don't complain about spending money that way," Harbour says.

Besides, using its $150,000 marketing budget that way has paid dividends. Not only is it less than a quarter of the usual marketing allowance for an institution with those assets, Ferrence doesn't spend any of it on the usual marketing stuff, such as direct mail. He doesn't have to anymore.

"The accumulative effect over the years is tremendous," he says.

Bully pulpit

His only advertising splurge has been his "From the Manager's Desk" column, which runs every week in the Boulder City News. While it's a showcase for the services the credit union offers, it's often a community bulletin board, letting residents know the high school music department is in need of used instruments, or that the hotel will host a chili cook-off.

Sometimes it's even a soapbox. For a guy who likes to wear a white hat, he's sure not afraid to unload both barrels.

A few weeks ago, he referred to the kids who have been vandalizing the credit union's Courtesy Bikes program as "jerks." For those who think Ferrence might be getting a little cranky in his old age (54), the word "jerks" appeared as early as 1979, when he berated those who were spreading rumors that the credit union had frozen all accounts.

He's a longtime fighter of anything that'll hurt real estate values in the area, such as the city selling land without public approval. And he'll continue to do so, with the U.S. 93 bypass issue moving to the front burner.

"A bypass? That scares me to death!" he wrote recently.

"I'm sure some people tossed bombs in his office over that one," jokes Harbour, a former editor of the Boulder City News.

It wouldn't be the first time. But when the smoke clears, Bill just smiles and goes about his business.

"Bill likes a scattergun approach, where he goes out and shoots his opinion and retreats," says Boulder City Chamber of Commerce President Robert Crowe. "That's his style. He doesn't like to run for political office and doesn't sit on committees, that sort of thing. But his opinion is certainly more widespread than most people's. ... He's obviously a voice to be reckoned with."

An open door

If you want to reckon with him, you don't have to stiff-arm any security guards or sweet-talk any secretaries. You don't even have to bring him flowers. You walk right in.

"He's very easy, very approachable," Harbour says. "He certainly has an open-door policy over there."

Open-phone policy, too. Call 293-7777 and ask for Bill.

Don't think he appreciates the irony of the big-time banks in town that boast top-notch service but whose numbers in the phone book have an out-of-town prefix.

"In many cases, you have to call somewhere in California to determine whether a check will clear -- and then they will charge you for it," Ferrence says. "Honestly, with the mergers and acquisitions, it's getting worse and worse."

The only obstacle you're likely to encounter at the credit union is the ever-present gantlet of bake-sale tables.

"But that's what makes the credit union the credit union," Ferrence says.