“Gentlemen, this is a Football!”

I thought I had seen it all. After years as a banker directing three of the six divisions of a  $600 million community bank, and now more than 20 years after founding Early & Co, which now helps banks across multiple states with Marketing, Advertising, Staff Training, and Leadership Development, I’ve been amazed by the deluge of regulations reigning down on bankers over the last couple of years. I’ll confess that on more than one occasion, like most of you have also thought if you’re completely honest with yourself, I’ve been briefly tempted to just throw up my arms and surrender! Take me government, take me regulators, I’m yours! Fortunately, I’ve managed to get over it and move on!

Two things always get me back on track:  1) Gentlemen, this is a football, and, 2) Some very wise and sage comments from the CEO of one of my highest performing client banks.

Let’s start with football : When new coach Vince Lombardi held his first team meeting with his Green Bay Packers team…following several years of inept Packers performances…he held up a football, made his famous “ this is a football” announcement, and proceeded to take the team back to the beginning, focusing on fundamentals and performance under pressure. Did it work? The Super Bowl Lombardi Trophy isn’t named for him because he developed the largest number of football plays or complex solutions. It is named for him because he didn’t make excuses, he instead developed the most fundamentally sound performers and winners the game had seen!

Now, the sage thoughts from my wise bank client CEO. After he and I had met for several hours with his bank’s Executive Management Team and listened to their worries and legitimate concerns about all the new and onerous regulatory burdens, he simple stated, “ Folks we’re going back to what made us”, and in essence picked up his “ banking football .“ Over the following months, he proceeded to lead the bank in re-focusing on customer service, appealing new services, making sound and well documented loans, AND the resultant high earnings performance they wanted.  

High Performance Banking. It isn’t Rocket Science, it isn’t complicated. It’s still about fundamentals, service, and performance. Don’t drop that football!

When Common Sense Should Prevail

I recently spent a couple of days in the hospital. Nothing serious…just needed a small tune-up. One of the things I’ve really focused on in recent years is the simple act of observation. Not so much on observing things and beautiful scenery, although I do try to do that, but on observing people.

So as I tuned and turned the volume up on my listening rod those couple of days, I observed that many patients had not figured out one simple hospital fact: Be VERY nice to the nurses and techs! Don’t worry so much about the doctors who come around sporadically. They are important, but the nurses and techs are the ones who do the heavy lifting with patient care and service 24/7. They are often the unrecognized heroines and heros  of our society!!! Show and tell them you genuinely appreciate everything they do, and the great care they give. Three interesting things happen when you do: THEY feel better, you get even BETTER service from them, and YOU feel better when you’ve made THEM feel better! It’s definitely WIN, WIN, WIN.

How does this apply to banking? Well, even more than your board and senior management group, your staff, from the newest to the most veteran contact and non-contact staffers all across your bank, is the group that is really your nurses and tech group. They take care of easy customer situations, difficult customer situations, winey customer situations, appreciative and unappreciative customer situations, happy and unhappy customers, and on and on. They provide your customers with the service they want and need to remain customers, and as a result of doing that, they put food on your table, and a roof over your head. What a group! Are they special? Absolutely! Should you show and tell them you appreciate them? At every opportunity, and minus an opportunity, create one! They’ll be happier, your customers will get the service they want to be happy, and you’ll be happier too! It’s WIN, WIN, WIN for sure!

e-Statements: Why are people reluctant to switch to them?

It is very easy for bankers, and we folks working with bankers, to get caught up in technological developments and assume that everyone else will be excited too. In my personal banking career before I formed Early & Company, our bank introduced many new services that I just KNEW everyone would immediately get excited about. Occasionally they did, often they didn’t.

But e-Statements are so good, why wouldn’t everyone jump on board?

Well, there are several reasons, and I’ll address three of them here. At the top of the list for slow acceptance of this service, and acceptance for any other new service being introduced, is that people don’t like change! You can bring up all the logical reasons to people that you want, and you’ll be effective with some, but many will be reluctant to change. Should that discourage you from working hard to achieve new service and product acceptance? Only if you are willing to accept the status quo, and never achieve the services acceptance and bank earnings results you could have achieved!

A second reason is that people are concerned that their e-Statements won’t stay on line long enough. Research shows us that e-statements really should be available for a mimimum of 12 months, and preferably for 18 months. Even after 18 months, many customers want to know they will be sent a paper statement if they want one for their taxes, or for any other reason.

And, thirdly, customers want to know…and they often doubt this…that their on line statements will be as thorough as the ones they receive in the mail. Add to this the common perception that e-Statements are hard to read, and you see a best case scenario that bank e-Statements would be a PDF exact copy of the actual paper statement.

Well, that’s enough excitement for today! There are other reasons, and suggestions for ways to improve your e-Statements acceptance. Do your diligence and research, and contact us to talk further. 

Loosen up and PRAISE. Your staffer will feel better, and so will you!

Since I work with banks every day, I’m sensitive to regs, current issues, opportunities. I have a business bank account in my home community, and I recently sent this letter to the area supervisor of one of the bank tellers. I’m changing the town name and the names of the people involved, but everything else is exactly as I wrote it. My letter will be in quotes. 

 “ Dear Judy, 

I’m sending you this note to commend Susan Johnson, a Branch Service Leader at one of your Brownsville offices. Susan has never asked me, or in any way implied to me, that I should send you a commendation letter. I just strongly believe that if we feel we have the right to complain when poor service is given, we should also step up and acknowledge excellent service when it is given! 

In these times of economic challenge, too few employees understand the importance of providing customer service that goes beyond customer expectations. Susan does. Every time I come into the bank, Susan greets me with a smile and calls me by name. And it’s not just me. She does the same with just about every other customer too! Over the years, I’ve heard many customers comment on it positively. When I deal with Susan at the teller window, everything is always handled professionally and efficiently too. The bottom line is, I feel good when I leave the bank! 

One reason I am especially sensitive to the area of outstanding customer service is that I own a business where one of our services is providing customer service training to banks. On more than one occasion while training, I have used Susan as an example of how bank customers would like to be treated. Susan is great! 

Sincerely, 

C. Nelson Early” 

Did the letter help Susan? Yes. Did it help me at least as much? Absolutely!!! My application lesson for you as a banker: Don’t spare the praise for your staffers who’ve earned your praise. Everyone benefits, especially the bank!

Banking Moments of Truth, Session 5

Moments of Truth...small things which can have a large impact, positively or negatively. We’ve already overviewed four of them, and today we’ll add a fifth one to our brief discussions.

Someone calls you on the phone, but you’re in a meeting, with a customer, out of the office, or tied up in some way. They leave a number with someone in your office, or on your voicemail, for you to call them back. They don’t know how busy you are, that the bank examiners are in the bank, that tomorrow is Board meeting day...or whatever. They just want you to call them back. He or she may logically realize that you’re busy, but emotionally to the person leaving a call back number, calling them back is the most important thing you have to do today!

So what do you do if the whole day has rushed by and its time to go home and you have a stack of calls to return? You know the answer. Perhaps its a quick call to thank them for calling, and setting up a time for a longer time to talk, or calling and leaving a message that you’ve been tied up all day but that you’ll call them back in the morning. Then making a note to yourself to call them back in the morning....and calling them back the next morning.

I could go on and on, but the message is clear: never leave for the day without at least making an attempt to call back everyone who has left a message for you to call. Will you always be able to do that? Probably not. But openly and honestly trying your best to do that puts you way ahead of most of the competition with this important Moment of Truth.

Banking Moments of Truth, Session 4

Today we’ll briefly discuss another Moment of Truth...those small things which can have a large effect, positively or negatively, on our customers and potential customers. Today’s subject revolves around defining and practicing what I refer to as “Cross-Serving”, instead of “Cross-Selling.” I’ll only briefly overview it here, but if you’d like to discuss it in more depth at no cost or obligation, e-mail me or contact me by phone at your convenience. I’ll be delighted to help.

Cross-Serving represents an attitude centered around helping the customer or prospect. Cross-Selling in banking is focusing on products and services the bank wants to sell more than focusing on what the customer or prospect really wants or needs! There is a huge difference. When we and our staffs remember to ask ourselves, “What services do we offer that would really benefit (customer or prospect name)”, we’ve taken the right first step. Step 2 is a simple check of CIF to brief us on the services, if any, the person currently has with our bank. CIF also logically clues us to many services the person doesn’t have with us.

Cross-Serving is not bank focused. It is customer focused. And, the customer or prospect can tell the difference instantly! It’s the difference between trying to force a drink of water on someone, and asking a thirsty person in the desert if they’d like a cold drink of water!

Cross-Serving. Something you and your staff can learn to do that the customer or prospect will genuinely appreciate.

Banking Moments of Truth, Session 3

This session on banking Moments of Truth briefly overviews one element under the broad heading of, “ Listening.” In future sessions we’ll overview other subjects under this heading.

In many banks the group in banking that management least tends to solicit input from, and listen to, is its tellers and CSR’s. These key staffers often see and talk with more customers daily than management sees and talks with in a week or a month. Plus, customers tend to open up to tellers and CSR’s about their likes and dislikes more than they tend to open up to management. As we recommend programs to banks to not only train their tellers and CSR’s, but also to actively seek their input, we occasionally get comments from management that focused efforts to seek teller and CSR comments would only end up in “ gripe” sessions!

In working with tellers and CSR’s for years, we can emphatically say that nothing could be further from the truth! As a group, tellers and CSR’s are dedicated to the bank and helping it succeed , and giving them opportunities to input is sincerely appreciated and effective for the bank. You may be able to initiate and develop these programs on your own, but if you need help, get it from us or from someone else you know can help. Soliciting input from your tellers and CSR’s. It’s a listening Moment of Truth that is much too important to delay acting upon!

Banking Moments of Truth, Session 2

Moments of Truth. Moments which may seem like small moments, but which can positively or negatively influence big decisions. In my last message I briefly referenced a Moment of Truth that happened to my wife and myself at a restaurant. Today I’ll throw out another Moment of Truth in the first of a series of Moments of Truth which happen every day in banking.

Someone calls the bank or a department in the bank, and asks to speak to (name). The telephone response from some bank employees is to simply ask, “Who’s calling?” What does that response mean to the customer or prospect calling the bank? Research tells us that many people have little or no positive or negative response. It also tells us that more than a small percentage of callers have the mental response that, “ If I’m the right person calling, I’ll get to speak to (name), if I’m not, I won’t get to speak to him/her.” Should the caller have that somewhat negative reaction to the bank staffer’s response? Probably not. Do many of them have it? Absolutely! It’s a Moment of Truth.

So what should the telephone responder say when the caller asks to speak to someone. Research tells us that the simple response, “ May I tell (name) who’s calling?”rarely evokes a negative response, and often evokes a positive one. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s a positive Moment of Truth.

Back to the Basics

I just got back from watching a grandson play a hard fought basketball game. His team trailed until late in the third quarter before going back to basic teamwork to pull together, finish strong, and win.

That’s what we have to do in banking today. All the new federal regulations and a stagnant economy can keep us frustrated and ineffective unless we go back to fundamentals and focused team effort. Are we really planning and setting goals in key areas, or are we free wheeling right now? Are we doing everything we can to serve, develop, and solidify our customer base? Are we re-emphasizing customer service and customer service training? Are we identifying and working on those “moments of truth" that happen every day when we deal with customers and folks who are "not-yet" customers? Are we pulling together as a team, focusing on the fundamentals, to win?

In 2011, lots of banks will struggle, lots will have great years. That’s the way it has always been. Which bank will you be? The choice really is yours! Go back to the basics and get rid of any “woe is me" attitude that our economy and regulations may have brought to the surface. 2011. It can be a great year for your bank. It’s your choice.

Steady, Not Spectaclar, Gets It Done!

This past week-end, I was glued to my flat screen TV watching the greatest golfers in the world at the US Open Golf Championships at California's fabled Pebble Beach course. The views were spectacular, the course challenging and difficult.

Its often been said that sports represent a microcosm of life. I think there is certainly some truth to that. I've observed that week-to-week on the regular courses the PGA plays, the winning score is often 10, 15, or 20 under par. Spectacular scoring! The courses are not set up to be as difficult as the US Open courses are set up to be. At the Open course every year, the course is so difficult that par or over often wins. Par won this past week-end when Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell won, shooting a final round with only one spectaclar hole, but avoiding the disasters that hit every other leading contender as they tried for the spectacular!

What does that say to us about life? Two simple things: One, the more difficult the circumstances...like an on going tough economy and rapidly changing regulations...the more bankers need to focus on fundamentals like great customer service, sound lending, and time honored banking practices. Its not the time to go for the spectacular " birdies " of life, that can lead to the bogies, double-bogies, and " others ." And, its the time to make sure our people understand and buy into that! Stay steady, and make the birdies when clear opportunities arise. Think about it!