How Sound Credit Union Fully Implemented Kadince in Less Than Two Months

The Cold Call

When a cold call pops up on your screen, chances are you ignore it. Or at the very least think, oh no, not again.

In November of 2022, Jennifer Reed was no different. 

Jennifer is the VP of Public Relations at Sound Credit Union, a $2.7 billion financial institution based in Washington. She had received dozens of cold calls over the years, and most of them had never led to a sale. 

That was about to change. 

On November 1, 2022, Jennifer answered a cold call from Jack, a wonderful Kadince sales rep. 

“Hi Jennifer,” he said, “Can I steal a minute of your time?”

After receiving a “Yes” (and probably an eye roll he couldn’t see), Jack asked Jennifer some questions about her institution and how they currently track community involvement data. Like so many other institutions, Sound used a mix of spreadsheets and email to track donations, volunteer hours, and events for 26 branches across the state. And it was just Jennifer managing all this data! 

Jack then told Jennifer how Kadince could make this process so much easier. No more spreadsheets. No more emails back and forth. Just one system that could track and manage all community involvement data.  

Jennifer wasn’t quite convinced, but she asked Jack to email her some information. She then spent some time on the Kadince website and watched the overview video. 

Soon, she wanted to learn more. 

In fact, she scheduled a demo for the very next day, November 2nd. 

The Demo Process

Jennifer met with Ben, another awesome Kadince sales rep. They covered the entire Kadince Community module in 45 minutes, and Ben answered a lot of questions. Jennifer loved the dashboards, reports, and widgets the most because she knew that they could help her better illustrate Sound’s community involvement. Sound has multiple types of contributions (donations, sponsorships, scholarships, etc.) and she loved that they could have different forms and approval processes for each. And the Events module was a big win, as they host a lot of events and Jennifer was tired of tracking them in spreadsheets.

Kadince Events dashboard

“After that demo,” Jennifer says, “It didn’t take long for us to realize that we needed to move forward with the partnership. Kadince is an amazing tool and I couldn’t wait to start implementing it.”

It only took one demo for Jennifer to know that she needed Kadince. Most potential customers go through several demos before making a decision, but Jennifer didn’t want to wait around. 

Now it was time for Jennifer to present Kadince to her leadership team. “It was one of the easiest business cases I’ve ever moved through the channels,” she says. “Kadince speaks for itself. When you share what it does with your team, it’s obvious how helpful it can be.” 

With leadership on board, Jennifer and Ben began discussing pricing and next steps. Soon, they came to an agreement. 

By November 22nd, all the paperwork was signed and Sound Credit Union was officially a Kadince customer. Now it was time to start using the software. 

Implementation

Right away, Jennifer began working with Shannon, her Kadince Customer Success Manager. She also started the LMS training, which includes modules and videos that teach new customers how to use Kadince. “I’m the kind of person who just jumps in,” Jennifer says. “I went through some of the training, but I didn’t watch all the videos. Instead, I started playing with the system and went back to the LMS when I had a question. Or I reached out to the Kadince support team. I could send an email and someone would respond within minutes to tell me how to resolve the issue. It was fantastic! The customer service at Kadince is full circle, from the very beginning to when you’re using the tool yourself. Unlike some other vendors, the service doesn’t stop at the sale.” 

Setting up a new software is a big project, especially when that software tracks ALL your community involvement data and you want to fill in that data for the last several years. But when you’re as determined as Jennifer, this big project doesn’t have to take a lot of time. 

“My goal was to have Kadince fully implemented by February 1st,” Jennifer says. “I understood that this might not be doable, with how much time I would have to spend on it. But I was ready to stop using those spreadsheets. At the very least, I wanted to have our donation form up and running by the beginning of the year.” 

It was a lofty goal, but Jennifer didn’t let that scare her away. 

“December is quieter at our credit union as people go on holiday,” Jennifer says, “This gave me time to dive into Kadince and focus on it. I spent a lot of time adding the organizations, volunteer hours, etc. so we would have that history. Adding everything took me about a month. From there, I just started the process over for the new year.” 

In the end, Jennifer finished implementing Kadince on February 6th, 2023, only a few days after her original goal. To say Shannon was impressed with Jennifer’s drive and determination is an understatement! “Jennifer is super duper independent and loves to figure things out on her own,” Shannon said. “She isn't afraid to jump in and test things out."

Now, 8 months into her Kadince usage, Jennifer is happier than ever. “I’m glad to be an advocate of Kadince. Your tool is so fantastic and has made my life so much easier over the last 8 months. Talking about it with others is natural. In fact, as I talk to people from other financial institutions, I tell them how much Kadince could benefit their organization. I believe what Kadince offers can be a great asset to my peers who track their community involvement.” 

“Before Kadince, I was tracking all of our donations, sponsorships, volunteer hours, and events in a spreadsheet. Knowing there was a platform that could make this easier sounded wonderful. It was one of the best cold calls I’ve ever taken in my career. Now, Kadince allows our team to track our efforts more consistently and has helped me alleviate so much of what I was doing manually.” 

Schedule a demo to learn how Kadince can help you track, manage, and report your community involvement data. And if you ever receive a cold call from Jack or another Kadince sales rep, answer it. Jennifer is glad she did. 

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