Second Installment: Are Fox(es) Watching Your Bank Hen House?

When I started this blog series, the first fox I focused on was “compliance.” We are keeping that blog, and future “foxes“ blogs,  on earlyandco.com for a while, so you will have the complete set for review. While I have not received any negative responses re: the compliance blog, I’m sure there are some. I believe this to be true: anytime you present a thought to any significant size group, some will probably agree with it, some probably will not. As I go through my list of “foxes“, I would expect the same to be true with each one. Never the less, uncovering the foxes, and briefly discussing them, is an important and helpful thing to do, so we move forward in our discussion.

The second Fox is something I love very much: Marketing.  I was a senior officer and the director of the Marketing, Marketing Planning, and Training and Staff Development divisions of a large local community bank for several years. Doing effective, productive bank marketing was, and is, a personal passion for me.

Continuing under the heading of improving a bank’s overall Performance and Perception, here goes: All marketing efforts, from the efforts of the lowest paid staffer in the Marketing department, to the division head, to the bank CEO, MUST be focused on the bank’s “goal”, NOT on any Marketing Director or CEO’s personal “role”.  From here I could spend page after page amplifying this, but I don’t have the time available to write it, and you don’t have the time to read it. So, I am going to relate a recent personal experience that illustrates that “survival”, particularly “ keeping your job” survival, is real and very much alive.

When I first started Early & Co ( E&C ), I spent days, weeks, months and years on the road calling on banks to develop bank clients. While most of our new clients today come from referrals from other E&C clients, I still make an occasional sales call on a bank CEO to keep my "feel"alive. Recently I sat down with the CEO of an excellent community bank to discuss ways we could help it perform even better. As we talked, he got excited, and since he was excited, I was excited! Then he dropped the "role"shoe:  He wanted to have his Marketing Director call me to discuss it, and he would take her pro or con recommendation on using, or not using, our company. I shuddered. Been there done that. When she called, me, we discussed all the different things we do for our bank clients, and she dropped the "role"comment: “It sounds to me like you want to take my job!” Bingo… realistically it was over. She was into hen house survival “don’t possibly endanger my job" role playing, and she never focused on how she, working with E&C to make her marketing efforts even more effective, could help the bank hit and surpass it’s goal…AND in the process, help her career!

Was she wrong to 100% focus her on her “role” over the bank’s “goal”. I think so, but you decide that. She was the Marketing ”Fox”, watching over her bank’s “Hen House”, protecting her job! The REAL problem , however, was not with her. That problem rested with the CEO…who, while he should do all the due diligence he wanted to do on E&C, and talk with any and all of his department heads related to the areas where we provide assistance…SHOULD be a CEO who looks at the bank’s problems and opportunities openly and honestly, and then takes whatever legal, ethical , and affordable actions he can take to help his bank hit his bank’s goal!   

In recent weeks I have met with two of our client bank CEO’s, each of whom leads the best earnings bank on assets in their state, both being CEO’s who  focus on goal before they focus on role. Making hard decisions to protect the hen house is what leaders in all levels of the bank do. It’s not always easy, but it is always very effective!

Installment three of “Hen House”coming soon.

Are Fox(es) Watching Your Bank Hen House?

We’re all familiar with the old adage,“ Don’t put a fox in charge of the Hen House”! We’d all agree that doing that is a very bad idea. And yet, since the dawn of the new oppressive banking regulations era 6 or 7 years ago, I’ve observed that bank after bank across the country is doing exactly that. This leads to sleepless nights, and daily scratching of CEO and Board of Directors heads wondering why their bank’s earnings and growth continue to suffer!

Well, here’s the bad news: There is more than one fox that may be sitting and gazing at your bank, salivating! The good news is that these foxes can be eradicated if we recognize them, and have the guts and fortitude to do something about them. Today I’m going to briefly overview just one fox, and in future discussions we’ll overview some of their fox siblings and cousins.  

The first fox for many of you: Your almost paranoid emphasis on compliance. Should you stay on top of compliance? Absolutely! Should it become the CEO of your CEO and board emphasis? Absolutely not!!! Never forget that every bank, large or small, local or spread across the nation, should first focus on the two “P’s“: Performance and Perception. If your bank is so focused on compliance that your compliance focus interferes significantly with your bank’s Performance, you have a problem! In many banks today, the bank CEO has effectively allowed the bank’s compliance officer to become the bank’s CEO in critical areas. This affects your bank’s Performance, and your diminishing Performance affects you, your board, AND your customers. Now you have a second problem: Your Performance drop  negatively affects your market Perception.  And your bad Perception then further affects your bank Performance. It’s a Catch 22 which you must avoid, or get out of, as quickly as you can!!!

Compliance emphasis. Where does it fit in your bank? That’s something you really need to focus on so you can develop the emphasis that is specifically right for your bank. For one bank  that I’m very familiar with, the emphasis has been on making a large volume of quality loans to carefully selected key markets, and on controlling bank wide expenses. The result has been that they are the best earnings on assets bank in their state, and resultantly face less regulatory interference than most banks face. Compliance emphasis. It’s a “One size does not fit all” situation. Compliance. You can’t take it or leave it. You can control your focus and exercise more control over your bank operating results! It’s up to your bank to set the course. Every bank has likenesses, and every bank is as individual as a fingerprint. Get the help you need from whomever you need, but get it as soon as possible.

The next blog from Early & Company: Another fox watching the Hen House.

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!

The “ Why “ and “ How “ of Making Out- of- the- Bank Sales Calls:

In this blog, I’ll make a few brief overview comments on the “Why”. In Early & Company’s  in- your- own- bank training, we cover the “why“ and “how“ in depth. Here goes:

A fact: Most people don’t like to sell anything! Why? There are many reasons, but here are three very common ones: 1) So many amateur sales people have pestered us selling cars,  insurance, investments, retirement programs, et, etc, that we mentally see sales people at the bottom of our social structure, 2) We’re not sure we can answer all the questions which might be asked, and 3) We don’t like the possibility, even the thought of, rejection.

As a group, bankers, in particular, don’t like to sell! Why? Well, again, from among many reasons , here are three very common reasons : 1) For the reasons given in the paragraph above, and because we have not viewed ourselves as being in sales. Often we’re evaluated by our supervisors on everything else, i.e. Loan Quality, Balancing Our Windows, etc, etc., 2) Until recent years, we haven’t really had to sell. But here’s the good news: Competition for banking customers is more competitive now than it has ever been, and here’s the bad news: It is going to get worse! 3) And the granddaddy of all the reasons given by us bankers for not making sales calls, We THINK we don’t have time because we’re so busy!

From this point in our training, we address the subject of “ What sales IS NOT and what sales IS”, then move on to the meat of the training on the “ How “ to decide upon who to call on,  Making the Effective Sales Call , Overcoming Resistance, and “ How To KEEP the Customers We’ve Attracted “.

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!