Talking about the importance of customer service is pervasive in credit union circles, but Rica DeMoranville goes the extra mile when doing business with members.
Friends even have a nickname for her unique brand of interaction: “’Rica Rides,” a reference to her willingness to visit members’ homes and businesses on sales calls.
“That’s my motto,” said DeMoranville, a New Bedford native and branch manager at First Citizens’ Federal Credit Union. “I will go to the client; I will bring everything to them, to their place of business, to open their account and come back without them ever having to leave their office.”
Michele Hurd, an enrolled agent for Ed Sylvia CPA in New Bedford, met DeMoranville when she stopped by the office during one of her ’Rica Rides. Hurd ended up joining the Summit Referral Group formed by DeMoranville, which meets weekly as a networking outlet for local professionals.
“She came in to meet us and we really hit it off,” Hurd said. “It’s a very small CPA agency, so it’s nice to have other people to contact if our clients need help, and to have this trust in that person to refer out to.”
DeMoranville has deep roots in community banking, with two decades as a manager at Compass Bank branches in Fall River and Somerset. After Compass was acquired by Sovereign Bank in 2004, she started looking for jobs at locally-owned institutions and responded to an advertisement for a branch manager at First Citizens’ Federal Credit Union.
“It’s more like the hometown feeling of Compass Bank and not the big guy, where you’re just a number,” she said.
DeMoranville majored in elementary education at Bridgewater State College and that background has influenced her community involvement. Since 2010, she has volunteered for the Southcoast Mentoring Initiative For Learning Education And Service Inc. (SMILES), a literacy mentoring program. Participants are paired with a student from a local school for reading sessions, and follow the student from grade to grade.
“You try to establish a relationship with them,” DeMoranville said. “It’s rewarding because you’re working one-on-one with someone and watching them develop.”
Mentoring is a theme at the credit union as well, where DeMoranville oversees a staff of nine employees. Every month, the branch is rated by mystery shoppers who telephone or visit in person, and then fill out a questionnaire rating customer service on a point scale ranging from zero to 100. The expectation is that employees will score 96 or above, and those with scores below 90 are retrained.
The attention to detail appears to pay off. One new member told DeMoranville she joined the organization because of its high rating on social media sites.
“There isn’t a lot of difference between (community) banking and the credit union, between Compass and here. It’s still all about customer service,” she said. “With the bigger banks? Not so much.”
