Acquisitions Are For Wimps
by Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC
The Emmerich Group Inc.
Minneapolis, MN
What if bankers did sell? No, I don’t mean show a product listing when someone walks in the bank. I don’t mean going to the Rotary meeting. I don’t even mean making a few officer calls each month. I’m talking about results-dynamic growth in deposits and loans.
When most bankers refer to their sales culture, it usually applies more to their efforts than their results. Banks have been failing miserably at competing with non-bank competitors.
Growth is not hard. It’s all in the systems.
McDonalds has been a legendary success. Is it the fine cuisine? Hardly! Is it the atmosphere? Depends where you are coming from. Is it Ronald? He doesn’t do much for me. It’s the systems! They are a company run by 16-year olds, but with finely tuned systems; their operations run consistently and flawlessly.
Banks have succeeded in creating successful systems for administering the transactions of banks. They have failed miserably at creating replicable systems for growing their banks.
Here are a few of the systems you need to focus on to grow your bank:
Create a system of sales questioning for each inquiry.
I have been speaking to bank groups for years about our mystery shopping research which reveals that when we call banks for rates, we are offered rates with no attempt to sell or service in 98% of the cases! Over the last eight years, we have not seen evidence of any improvement in this area. Banks need to consciously develop a procedure for inquiries that will raise the sales attempts during inquiries from 2% to 100%. The first bank we worked with had been stuck at $40 million for 4 years. Within two weeks of using this system, the bank picked up $2 million, and within six months, they had grown to $60 million.
Banks that we have worked with using this system have found it unbelievably easy to grow deposits dramatically within days of developing and the applying the systems. They say it is so simple and inexpensive, it is hard to believe they waited so long!
Develop a targeted database.
The days of mass mailings and radio-broadcast bank advertisements are numbered. The cost effectiveness of mass communications is dismal. The effectiveness of logging every inquiry into a relationship database and creating a flawless system for followup has proven to grow business cost-efficiently.
Systematize referrals.
Create a system to refer business to other areas of your bank that allows for follow-up. Without a system, lenders make loans, tellers take deposits and new accounts open accounts. Rarely do they effectively transfer business between them. Most banks operate as functional silos with no connection between departments. For example, lending areas complain about not having enough deposits to be able to make more loans, yet they are tragically ineffective at bringing in deposit accounts.
Create a system for follow-up.
Articulate a concrete plan. For example, all new accounts receive a hand written thank you note sent within 24 hours from opening the account. All new accounts are called with one week to check for satisfaction and penetrate other possible business opportunities. Accounts rated “A” are mailed customized mailings quarterly and called at a minimum every six months.
If you don’t have systems for growth, don’t complain about how hard it is to grow your bank. Then again, you can always acquire.
Roxanne Emmerich is president of The Emmerich Group Inc., which works with banks to help then grow their business. Ms. Emmerich is the author and producer of Breakthrough Banking®, the sales-culture training system. She also speaks regularly to banking groups across the country. For additional information, call 800/236-5885 or e-mail office@emmerichgroup.com.
