Integration of the NON Sales Culture

What You Say

Sales: Educate and advise customers and members on institution product and services to cultivate a win-win relationship … benefiting the consumer and growing the bank or credit union.

What They Hear

Sales: Push products and services on customers that they probably don't need because my boss said to.  I may get a couple extra bucks for my efforts, but ultimately it’s all about growing the institution.

Odds are that if you polled your staff, very few want to be in “sales.”  The term has grown to have a bleak connotation.  Seriously, go to Google Images right now and search “salesperson” … go ahead, I’ll wait …

Do you really want to be most of the bottom-feeders that show up in that search?  Well, neither does your staff.

Yet, so many places focus on and preach about a "Sales Culture."  You hire consultants and trainers and go to seminars and webinars … all in search of the secret weapon that will make your people "sell."

Here’s some free advice … It doesn't exist!

So, while none of your staff want to be greasy haired, panel jacket wearin’, slime balls – they do want to HELP people.

Most financial institutions focus far too much on the wrong things.  Think about the last 12 months.  What percentage of your staff training was on operational issues and transactional business?  Is that where you grow your business?  No, it’s grown by the relationship opportunities.  The face-to-face, meaningful, “they came here to do something important” stuff.  This is NOT the time to "sell," but the time to build rapport and trust.

There are 5 simple steps to the NON Sales Culture:

   1. Get the customer talking

   2. Listen for cues on financial need

   3. Translate those needs into products and services

   4. Describe how your products and services can fulfill the need

   5. Ask if they want to open the helpful account while they are here

Facilitate Meaningful Conversation

The most important step is to get the customer to talk and to learn to REALLY listen.  To get them talking, you simply need to ask the right questions, then shut up and know what to listen for.  Here’s are a few starter ideas using checking as an example:

The Basics:

• Where do you have your checking account today?
• What do you like about it?
• What would you change?
• How do you use your account?
• What other important accounts do you have at other institutions?

The REAL Helpful Stuff:

• Learn about their family.
• Learn about their job.
• What d they do for fun?
• What life milestones are happening in their life?

This is a helpful front line tool that you can implement today
to help your staff ask the right questions EVERY time.

You don't need Zig Ziglar to fly in and train your team on this stuff.  By discussing the power of Meaningful Conversation to your entire staff: tellers, new accounts, lending, investments, call center, collections – you’ll have an integrated relationship building machine that will help your customers and grow the business!

We bring these marketing philosophies to credit unions and community banks nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too. Contact us to see how.

Nearing 240,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues. Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker. Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848

Follow me on Twitter @egagliano

$#*! Bankers Say

This week, I had the privilege to, once again, conduct a customer experience analysis for a client.  This is one of my favorite activities as a consultant.  I get to walk into bank and credit union branches from all over the country and see the very best ... and, unfortunately, the very worst in what our industry has to offer.

Every time we conduct this exercise, I'm shocked by the stuff that comes our of banker's mouths.  We spend so much time training our staff on operational issues that, when they walk onstage with a customer or prospect, that's all they know to talk about.

Here are some examples of $#*! Bankers Say that we've heard when asking for information on checking accounts:

• "We don't have that phone scanning thing for checks, but I think Chase does."
• "We'll have to run you through Chexsystems.  And, if you qualify, we'll tell you what accounts you qualify for." (Not a great way to make a customer feel welcome)
• "We require two forms of ID." (So what)
• "It will cost you $50 to open an account." (They meant the minimum balance to open the account is $50)
• "We have a checking account for seniors." (To an obviously middle aged customer)
• "The brochures are over there." (They point and the conversation's over)
• "Tell me what you want."
• "We have the (XYZ) account, but the fee is..." (or any "But" statement!  Nothing good ever comes out of an employee's mouth after the word, "but.")
• "Our checking account pays interest, but the rate isn't very good." (See?)
• "They have a good online banking system." or "They can open the account." (Like the person doesn't actually work at the bank)
• "Is the checking account for you?" (No, it's a gift!)
• Any personal introduction after the conversation has ended and the customer is walking away.

And my personal favorite...

• "If you'd like to open an account, you can come back and talk to me. (Why not, right NOW?!?!)

To avoid this type of experience, follow a few simple guidelines:

• Find out what the customer needs before you start spewing information.  Ask: Where they bank now, what kind of account they have, how they use it, what they like and don't like about it.
• Make one or two product recommendations based on the customer's answers.
• Focus on benefits.  How will this account make their life easier based on what they said they want.
• Leave fees for the account opening.  Fee disclosure is a regulation, but doesn't need to be used to "sell" a product.
• Don't read the brochure to the customer ... know your products.  It sounds basic, but too many bankers seem to be learning the product while they read the brochure to sell it.  Better yet, every employee should have an account from your institution.
• "Conduct" operations ... don't "discuss" them.  In a restaurant you never hear, "We'll be happy to bring you that steak, but first someone will have to kill a cow."  

And most importantly...

• Treat every customer as if they are a guest in your home!  Don't point ... walk them over, make formal introductions and for goodness sake ...  SHOW SOME PERSONALITY!!!!

For a blog about our customer experience process and more tips, click here.

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With nearly 152,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues.  Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too.  Contact us to see how.

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker.  Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848

                                       

Weave the Web ... Draw the Flies

A lone spider in a swarm of flies, but no web, starves.

We had the pleasure of spending part of our week with a new client.  In many of our new engagements, we start with a “Discovery Phase,” where we analyze the client’s financials, product usage, branch experience, corporate culture, competition and markets.  This particular client was not uncommon.

As marketers, conventional wisdom says that it is our job to drive traffic.  That’s because we are the “great communicators.”  And to be honest, I can’t disagree.

But, because we are the great communicators, it is also our job to manage internal communication.

While we have a ton of data yet to collect and analyze for our new client before seeing the whole picture, it is obvious that, given their corporate culture, the focus should be on internal communication before we pursue external initiatives.  In short … weave the web BEFORE we draw the flies.

Holes in the web allow prey to fly right by.  Here's what you can do.

Connect the parts: Like a spider web, your corporate structure needs to be tightly woven together.  If you have gaps in your branch network or between business units, you’ll miss opportunities. 

Look at all of your branches.  Do any of them feel forgotten or on an island?  If your corporate location is the “main office,” what are the rest of your branches … minor?

Do your business units have the best interest of the entire organization at heart or are they focused on their individual goals.  Do you have “mortgage customers” or “bank customers / credit union members”?  There is a HUGE difference.  How about referrals?  Can your tellers identify a proper Wealth Management prospect, for instance?  Do they know what to ask in order to qualify them?  Do they want to?

I don’t care if it takes a truckload of TNT … blow up the silos!  Get every corporate entity reading from the same playbook, looking out for each other’s interests and communicating.  An employee doesn’t need to be proficient in every product from every business line, but they should have a basic knowledge of what each product is, who would benefit from them and who they can contact quickly to get help.

Consistency:  A successful web is evenly disbursed from top to bottom.  And the fly will get treated the same no matter which part they fall into.

Think about it.  McDonald's didn’t become the world’s largest food chain because they are gourmet.  They are successful because you know what to expect.  A Big Mac tastes the same in Ohio, Florida or Florence, Italy.

The same should be said of your branches.  I should get treated the same at the corporate location as I do at your smallest, most rural branch – or your largest, busiest branch. 

You can accomplish this through tight, consistent hiring standards and a well communicated and demonstrated corporate culture.  You can also assure consistency with ongoing training and uniform sales tools across the institution.  Set service standards that become the backbone of your culture and that every employee must live up to.

Review, Repair, Rebuild: For the last month or so, I’ve been watching a spider on my back porch.  Every 2-3 days, this little sucker is repairing or completely rebuilding her web. 

It’s basic nature that things change.  Through market conditions or internal factors, gaps may open in your web.  Create a process to review the web periodically to determine if areas need to be reconnected or if changes are so great that we need to reconfigure the whole darn thing to catch the most opportunities.

If you focus on drawing flies before the web is sound, you’re going to miss a lot of opportunity and experience wasted effort, resources and budget. 

First, weave the web – then draw the flies.

For a case study from a community bank in Lawrenceburg, KY, click here.

With more than 130,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues.  Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs about financial marketing.  

We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too.  Contact us to see how.

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker.  Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848

4 Tips to Get More From Your Next Conference

There is a lot that I love about being a conference speaker!

First, conferences are rarely held in undesirable locations … I’ll see you next week Hilton Head!!!

But even more than the sunny locales, it’s the people, the energy and the brainpower packed into hotel conference rooms (and occasionally the hotel bar) that I love.  I’ve found that you can never get a group of marketers together without great ideas taking flight.

As you prepare for your next conference, here are a few tips to help you avoid simply collecting great ideas and actually putting them to immediate use.

Immediacy:

Don’t wait until you get on the plane or back to the office to create your summary notes.

• Use the voice memo feature on your phone to remind yourself of the really great ideas
• Send yourself emails so that great ideas are waiting in your inbox

Network, network, network:

We all know the value of exchanging great ideas with colleagues, but have you ever asked for a copy of someone else’s session summaries?  By trading session notes you can:

• Gain a whole new perspective on sessions you mutually attend
• Extend your conference reach by gaining session notes on breakout topics that you did not attend. 

Bring the Learning Home:

As you sit in your sessions, consider what will be best to share with your management team and staff:

• Any new ideas
• How the ideas fit into your existing plan
• How your customers or members will benefit

Ultimately, listen to your speakers and ask yourself:

• What ideas can I turn into training?
• What ideas should be the focus of our next management meeting?

Once you have your world-changing ideas summarized:

• Prioritize them based on what makes sense immediately and fits your existing plan and what should wait for future initiatives.
• Outline next steps and assign responsibilities to get it done.

Action Plan:

In short, to get the most from your conference experience, you need to treat the conference like a project or campaign with:

•  Timelines
• Milestones
• Measurement

By moving from idea collection to bringing home meaningful, actionable plans, you can better demonstrate the value of conferences and, hopefully, justify attending more.

For a quick video blog on this topic, click here.

With more than 115,000 visits worldwide, we hope that you enjoy this blog.  If you find it helpful, please share it with your colleagues.  Also, check out our YouTube Channel for short video blogs.  

We bring these marketing philosophies to community banks and credit unions nationwide, and would love to bring them to your institution too.  Contact us to see how.

MarketMatch is also a nationally and internationally requested speaker.  Contact us to bring our marketing ideas to your next conference.

Here are the conferences where you can find MarketMatch.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MarketMatch is a marketing firm, dedicated to the credit union and community banking community.  We utilize knowledge-based strategies to help you FOCUS on the right story that will generate the greatest  MOMENTUM and prove the best RESULTS with our written ROI Guarantee.

See our story here. (click)

Chat with me LIVE! (click)

Or email me directly (click)

937-426-9848