The Power of Team Selling

I believe a team can create results that far exceed the sum of those achievable by its members.

In this session, I’m going to share with you how you can dramatically increase the chances of getting larger deals at premium prices by utilizing team selling instead of the “individual contributor” model of sales.

If you’ve already begun selling via teams and you’re getting good results, you’ll be glad to know that you can take it up a notch and apply even more tweaks to improve results.

If you’re all in on the individual sales model, but it’s not really working as well as it could, you’re going to love seeing how this process has helped banks knock it out of the park when their current model wasn’t getting the best of results.

Or maybe you’re really frustrated that sales are happening with those who stumble through the door instead of the very best potential clients, the ones who can be targeted and closed without the nasty four-letter word “rate” being brought up. If so, you’ll love this episode, because you’re about to get a plan to get the traction you deserve finally.

There are usually three issues that cause banks to not get good results from their initial attempts at team selling.

• First, they don’t know what roles team members should play or even who should be in each team to optimize the chances of success.
• Second, the individuals don’t know how to pass the baton of responsibility to prepare for the first and second meetings, so they don’t know how to bring value to each call.
• Third, the very structures, accountability systems and incentive pay programs you have set up right now may be the very problem keeping you from getting the right kinds of deals.

Every bank seems to run into these problems.

I’m now going to give you three steps that will dramatically change your results in just a few weeks.

Step 1: Many attempts at sales training seem to create more of a mess of offended prospects and lost opportunity from the few “very best” prospects in your area than they bring results. You first need to create your Level 4 Unique Selling Propositions—the extreme differences you uniquely bring to the table, so the prospect can’t wait for your first meeting.

Step 2: Establish a clear targeting program for the right few prospects—no more than 100 organizations—and build reputational equity before your first contact. You want them in love with you before you show up, so you don’t ever look like a “vendor.”

The goal is to systematically pick off and close 50% of that Top 100 list each year… all at premium pricing, and all with full relationships, so your people provide maximum ROI from the salary dollars you are paying.

Step 3: As opposed to putting together a few teams and keeping them together, instead put together teams based on education, sales ability, and emotional intelligence assessments. The initial “call on the team” might have a few different members than the “deliver and bring in all the business meetings” team. The point is to bring in the right players and unique skills that are right for each prospect so that the customer doesn’t even bring up the price and instead asks, “how soon can we start?”

Again, three steps. Start with building the right Level 4 USPs, then target the Top 100 in a way that closes at least half every year, so that you dramatically increase your franchise value and recurring revenue while lowering your risks. Finally, use the right team approach, so the correct people are selected for the right teams, they know how they each must do their jobs, and they pass the baton smoothly so that no “dropping of the ball” happens.

By doing this, you can get the profit per employee involved in sales too often quadruple within six to nine months—which does some great things for your efficiency ratio and your bottom line.

Make sure you tune in next time, when I’ll show you how you can transform the accountability of the team assigned to loan growth so that you can get the very best customers at the very best pricing, without ever having to match a rate again!