How to Move Beyond “Trusted Advisor” Lip Service to Get ALL of their Deposit Business

I believe people want to work with “the best.”

When people truly trust you, and you bring value that exceeds your additional pricing, people are willing to bring all their business to you and your bank. At that point, the price has little relevance. They know that what you provide is worth the cost. That’s a prime position for you to be in—now here’s how you’re going to get there.

If you’re the kind of leader:

• Who has a team member who already knows how to get large checking accounts without the price being relevant while getting the entire relationship, tune in to find out how others from your team can replicate that winning approach to increase your profitability.
• Or, if you have a team that is scattered and reactionary in how they help your clients with their deposit approach, so they don’t have their deposits divided up amongst many financial institutions, you’ll be glad to know there is a system to consistently get those large new deposit accounts to bring their entire relationship to your bank. Keep listening.
• Or perhaps you are concerned that your lobby traffic is less than half what it used to be, and you’re wondering how you’re going to hang on to your current customers and replace lost business with low-cost sticky deposits, this is perfect. Continue on, as there are proven strategies that are working for other banks that can be applied in weeks.

Granted, there are some challenges that seem to get in the way of getting sticky deposits without having to match rates.

• First, most banks don’t have the right systems in place. They have many well-intentioned people doing their best. But their “service skills” are not enough to help that customer with all their business. That’s fatal.
• For banks with people already averaging 6–7 cross-sales (because they are masterful in value, they add as a trusted advisor), the problem is that because lobby traffic is a fraction of what it was, they don’t get enough opportunity to create those consistent results.
• If your team can’t average 6–7 cross-sales on a new account that walks in, how can you get them ready to do the “outbound” work that must be done to get and keep good customers now that lobby traffic is a fraction of what it was?
• Lastly, many people and businesses believe they should diversify where they have their deposit accounts. Most bankers don’t know how to counter that logic in a way that helps the customer, so they only get a piece of the business.

EVERY bank is facing at least one of these four challenges. Think about your situation—what are your pain points?

Now on to the solution. Here are five steps that will help you improve the stickiness of good deposits within a few short weeks.

Step 1: UNLIKE bank programs that address sales training in a vacuum (as if teaching them will fix the problem), you have to address the REAL issue. You don’t have a sales training problem; you have a confidence problem. You need to make sure your team members have fire in their bellies and an impenetrable belief that the targeted perfect prospect is best served by coming to you—and is hurt when they don’t. They must also know why and exactly how to add that massive value and communicate it, so the buyer makes the right choice. It’s not their fault—sales training in a vacuum without an organizational development process tied to an aligned strategic planning and marketing process has never worked once on planet earth. Just think the number of your friends from other banks that have told you that not only did it not work, it often destroys their “happy culture.”

Step 2: Know which USPs best align for that deposit prospect based on what you know about their psychographics and firmographics. Your system must make clear what your differentiating value is in a way that the prospect can interpret that value, so it will give them peace of mind and an understanding of the financial impact—the significant cost of NOT doing business with you. The client can now be extremely clear that even though it is painful to switch relationships to you, it’s the right choice to do just that—and do it immediately.

Step 3: Customize your sales system to get the customer explaining the substantial dollars that not having your USP could cost them. That way, they are telling YOU why they can’t live without you. Nobody ever argues with their own logic.

Step 4: Ask the deeper level needs questions that get to the emotions, as well as powerful questions about what matters most with the relationship. When customers are saying things like, “I can’t believe I just told you that,” you know you’ve earned the “trusted advisor” spot in their brain and heart. That takes high-level skills to get to that result consistently.

Step 5: Once they’ve given you the signal that they’ve already decided they can’t live without you, offer a holistic set of recommendations all at once and explain how each fits into what they told you mattered in their needs assessment.

The steps are simple:

1) Build the confidence that you are the best answer.
2) Match your USPs to that specific prospect, so they know that you get them.
3) Get the client telling you the cost of not doing business with you.
4) Get beyond the “logical brain” to the “emotional brain” so that you have a powerful authentic relationship.
5) Explain how each of your recommendations solves one of the clearly identified issues they disclosed to you.

With this type of professional sales approach, you’ll sound wise—not sales-y. Your prospects will applaud your character, trustworthiness, and brilliance instead of backing away from a slick sales pitch. That makes you the preferred choice in your market for the elite customers for whom pricing is a small concern versus the massive value you bring.

Keep at it. And don’t miss next week’s video. It’s all about getting more deposits by putting your team through some foundational sales process education—but unlike any “training” you’ve seen before.