USA Today recently posted an article “Credit unions growing commercial lending business“,  in which the author talks about the expansion of commercial lending with credit unions.  True, it’s more difficult to get any loan today than it was about a decade ago (for one thing, you’ll probably need a pulse). True, credit unions have potential for increase in commercial lending market share, but the same challenge still exists as with personal lending: how do you define and find the right prospects to lend to?

Before thinking that business lending is the newest, must-have tool in the credit union arsenal consider the following:

• How well do you know your current members?
• What do your most profitable members look like? If you don’t know the answer to this question, then chances are there is tremendous uncovered potential right within your existing membership.
• How many of your members are using you as their primary financial service institution?
• How many have the potential for expanding relationships into checking (share draft) accounts; credit card accounts; consolidation loans; auto loans; mortgages and investment products?

Finding the right members (and lenders) is the difference between a jalopy and a finely-tuned, well engineered automobile. When credit unions apply a scientific approach to new member acquisition and retention, magic will happen.

The founders of the credit union movement were brilliant. They saw a need and they built the solution all around it. But they first took the time to understand their target market before embarking on their venture. The rules of the game continue to change. Exceptional customer service is more than providing 24-hour banking, convenient branches and branch hours. It’s also understanding what your (customers) members need, sometimes even before they know they will need it.

Regardless of what kind of lending you are engaged in, or planning to be engaged in, you must understand your market and target audience. And if business lending is the right fit for your credit union, ignore that sneaker slogan (don’t just do it); do it wisely! There are more tools available today than ever to help glean insight from data. Use them! I'm not sure business lending is the sharpest tool in the box for America's credit unions, but I do know that using tools improperly can often time lead to injuries.