"Typically a female high school graduate, the teller is the person who knows when a member gets married, has a baby, is looking for a house, sends the child off to university, inherits money from a parent, retires, gets ill and dies. Tellers know all this financially telling information because they chat with the members, look into their eyes and, often, make friends with those members. Credit unions have always expected their tellers to be friendly and trustworthy, but it was their ability to record transactions accurately and balance the cash that determined whether they were hired, retained or promoted. Now that credit unions have learned a strategy-switching secret, they are realizing that tellers can be the key to anticipating what members need and when they need it. "

- By Laureen Griffin