Community Service Lessons from the Boy Scouts

This year the Boy Scouts of America are commemorating their 100th Anniversary and, to celebrate, they have created a program that we all can learn from.

They have created a Centennial Award. It is a special patch with slots for 5 ribbons - each ribbon signifies completion of achievements in a particular category:

• Leadership
• Achievement
• Community Service
• Character
• Outdoors

To earn a ribbon, a scout (or adult leader) must complete 3 of 5 specific tasks.

So, how would this work at your institution?

You could create a program for your staff and for your customers/members. You can create any categories you like, but let's use Community Service, since it makes the most sense. How about outlining the following standards:

1. Participate in one American Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity project
2. Donate food or time to any local food bank
3. Volunteer at least 1 hour to any local high school function
4. Participate in or donate to the American Cancer Society Relay for Life
5. Organize a litter pick up in your neighborhood

After completing any 3 of the 5 activities above, your customer or staff member get honored in some way.

Don't make it too complicated, base the program on the honor system and take their word for it. The idea is simply to motivate people to participate, not to create a program-policing nightmare.

By creating standards in areas like Community Service, Leadership and Financial Fitness you can have a complete program that would surely effect your community for the better and provide your bank or credit union with unique and positive public relations.

And in this time of negative publicity for financial institutions, wouldn't now be a great time for some good-will in your neighborhood?

Take care,

Eric

6 Ways to Pinch Pennies and Grow

Don't let a tight budget stall your growth.

As marketing professionals, you're being expected - ney, demanded - to do more with less. The good news is that it simply takes some creativity ... and who has more creativity than us marketers?

Here are 6 ideas (some creative, some not) to help jump start the ol' mellon and get those neurons firing. Please, please, please feel free to add more by commenting to this blog.

6 Penny Pinching Ideas:

1. Create a referral program

OK, it's nothing new, but your existing customers can be your best asset. And let's face it, no matter how big you are - you have a lot of customers. It can be as easy (and cheap) as printing small, pocket-sized cards offering $5-$25 for the customer and their referred friend. Make sure you offer an incentive to both.

I've had success printing a brochure-sized piece with 4 business card sized offers of $10 to each - saying: Earn up to $40 by spreading the joy. Quarterly, I'd include it in newsletter mailings to all customers and watch the spike in new accounts.

The keys: Keep it easy, Keep it trackable, Make it fun.

2. Internal promotions

Don't want to incentivize your customers? Use your NEXT best asset - your staff. Make a game of which branch can recruit the most new customers. Offering incentives to a smaller group of people (or teams) will be easier on the budget.

3. Get out of the office

You should, of course, participate in the local Chambers - but how many bank/CU employees are out on your behalf? At a minimum, all senior management and board should be expected to be active in the community and promote the institution.  

The key: From church elder, to scout leader, to chamber committee member, there are plenty of opportunities to contribute - just make sure that promoting the bank/CU (elegantly) is also being done.

4. Bank@Work

Many credit unions have already mastered this - but, with a community charter focus and limited resources,  many more have forgotten this art.

Whether you call them SEGs or Commercial Clients, you have customers who have employees. And those employees are prospects. Find ways to communicate with them.

The key: Make sure your commercial staff teams up with your retail staff and vice versa.

5. PR - or "Image Management"

Your institution has a wealth of interesting stories that are likely overlooked because, since you see it everyday, you don't look at them as newsworthy. I'll bet your local news outlets (hungering for good news - especially from local financial institutions) would disagree.

• You mean banks ARE lending?!?!: Let them know how much you've lent to date. Even if it seems small by your standards, to "Tammy the teacher," it will seem huge.
• Case studies: Have you saved a family from foreclosure? Helped a kid go to college? Helped a student afford a trip overseas? Your staff do amazing things for customers everyday - it's the beauty of their job. Collect and share those stories.
• Share your expertise: Few understand finances better than bankers (at least lets hope so!). Be the local resource for sound financial guidance. In this economy, you may be able to work out a deal to author an ongoing "Smart Finances" section - aim high!

6. Fish where the fish are

Focus your budget on your existing customers, there are fewer hurdles - so it's the smart spend.

• Focus on customers with only 2 or 3 products: Single service customers are likely single service for a reason - build the relationship with those that have multiple, but few products.
• Look at depositors with no loans - especially mortgages. Don't reprice existing, but try to get customers with other institutions mortgages to refinance with you.
• What about depositors with no checking: Get them to view you as their primary financial institution.
• What unused HELOC balances are out there?  Go get 'em.

For at least the next six months or so, we will have to work a little harder to maximize our budgets. You don't necessarily have to spend a lot to gain a lot - you just need to be creative, utilize your entire staff and have fun.

Take care,

Eric

Pondering the Road Ahead - what will change?

Could we finally be seeing a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel? There are reports of some positive economic indicators. And, economists are suddenly cautiously optimistic, even forecasting a recovery ahead, albeit slow.

When we come out of this morass is a question I'll leave for others. But I do think we as marketers and planners need to spend some time thinking about how the world will have changed in response to this unprecedented financial crisis.

How will what has happened in banking and the economy over the last 18 - 24 months change our industry in the next 10 years?

I'm not talking simply about the regulatory changes we will all have to navigate, but, what has this done to the psyche of our customers?

Ponder the following and share your thoughts so we can paint a picture of what to expect in 2020.

How will the experience of surviving and economic meltdown change how businesses and individuals deal with their finances?

Will customers have new expectations of their financial partners as far as transparency, knowledge, guidance, etc.?

Will this change how customers seek credit? More cautious about
accepting credit? More skepticism about the fine print?

Will customers become more receptive to financial management products?

Is the increased interest in savings products and a rise in the personal savings rate a newly ingrained behavior of the future or is it a temporary reaction?

How will the dramatic crisis of trust in the financial services industry impact our ongoing customer relationships? How can we turn the tide? Are there other industries that have faced a similar break in trust that have overcome it successfully? What did they do?

I'm sure there are other questions to look at to see how the relationship between customers and financial services providers will change. Share them as you think of them.

Now the big question -- how do we incorporate these changes into how we market and what financial services products we offer?

We are looking ahead at MarketMatch, asking questions and realizing that we will be doing business in a changed world. Call me and let's ponder the future together.

Deanna

Top 10 Ways to NOT Think Like a Bank

To be a better bank, don't think like a banker.

If you want to  ...  no, since you NEED to sell more products, look to the business sector that sells the best ... RETAIL!

What does your favorite retailer do that makes you want to spend so much money?

1. They go to great pains to know you through loyalty programs 
2. They train their sales staff to ask questions before they recommend product
3. They make it easy to buy in the store and on-line
4. Specialty shops become your advisor and product expert
5. They package products in "bundles" that make intuitive sense to you (think Value-Meal)
6. They create advertising with a clear call to action that evokes some emotion
7. They sell the relationship ... not the product
8. They empower their employees to think like entrepreneurs
9. They focus on how the product will make your life better ... not the product features
10. The BRAND is priority #1

For more discussion on bringing retail strategies to the financial world, please register for our free Brown Bag Lunch being held on Friday, May 15 at 1:00 PM EST by clicking here.

Take care,

Eric

Banks Can Learn From Obama

Barack Obama will become the 44th president of the United States for many reasons.  Among them are his exceptional communication skills.

Obama will become the country's "communicator-in chief" in just a couple of months, in large part because of the way he presented himself in a variety of challenging and stressful communication situations (does the global financial crisis and the loss of trust in banks come to mind).

Obama connected with millions of Americans on a human and personal level.  Persuading customers (or voters) is about more than having logical or sound ideas.  Facts, data and details alone won't motivate and move people. It won't inspire them.  Obama understood this and worked hard to improve his communication style.

It seems like everyone wants to sell solutions today. Actually doing it, however, requires a fundamentally different starting point when it comes to how Marketing creates and delivers customer communications.

Today, the top three challenges faced by traditional bank marketing and sales departments looking to move to a solutions selling approach are:

·       How do we shift from product-centric messaging to more customer-centric messaging?

·         How do we create more solutions-oriented, value-driven customer communications?

·       How do we drive, more consistent, high-quality customer conversations and collateral materials throughout the sales cycle? 

There’s a significant opportunity to avoid parity in your value propositions and set your company apart in the competitive marketplace by truly communicating with customers in the way they want to buy. 

Since product managers often have P&L responsibility, they may charge myopically and parochially into creating the ultimate product training, sales information, marketing content, and customer communications tool kit -- extolling the virtues of their particular offerings.

Essentially, they equip business development people to tell the customer: “Here’s what it is. Here’s what it does. Here’s why it’s good for you. And, here are some ways that we think we’re better than the competition.”

Does this seem to be the typical outline of a product launch and sales kit at your company?

If product management or marketing is going to help a business development person create and sell a “solution” for a customer – whether in a conversation or presentation – then they will have to show how their product, or particular features of that product, can be applied to help the customer accomplish a real business goal, or solve a business problem.

Unfortunately, too many product marketers, while having a good grasp of their products, don’t know enough about their customers’ problems or goals.  Ultimately this “company-centric” view can trickle out to sales and service people. As a result, aligning products and capabilities with real-world customer needs is left to chance with only the most intuitive business development people doing it naturally – the trait that sets them apart as successful consultative sales people.

The opportunity is to “codify” this intuitive solution selling approach and begin to pre-build marketing messages and sales content in an attempt to clone the best customer conversations and collateral materials for your overall sales staff,  whether it's retail or business banking.

This requires a transformation of your sales coaching and customer-facing communications.

One way to think about it: as organizations we need to move from traditional company product-centric messaging to customer problem (or goal)-centric messaging.

The key lesson here is communication...communication...communication.  It's taking the good products and services that your bank has developed and communicating to the customer or prospect how they have relevance to their particular needs today, tomorrow and in the future.

Whether or not you voted for Obama, he continues to offer valuable communication lessons to any professional who must persuade, motivate and inspire others.

Cheers,

Nick Vaglio, CFMP