Welcome to The Top 5 Percenter™ Blog
Dive in for concise, powerful insights on elevating community banking. Discover strategies and success stories for superior performance, from boosting financial margins to cultivating a dynamic culture. These posts literally contain the secrets of the Top 5 Percenters™. Sign up to the newsletter so that you don’t miss a single post.
The Three Books That Can Move Mountains [VIDEO]
I am a nerd. I've always been a nerd. When I was a little kid, I used to go to the library every other day and I would drag books all the way up to my chin back onto the bus and back off of the bus, then back to the library. I'd fill up with books about twice a week. I've always had a passion for learning and discovering and finding out what other people know—rather than having to discover...
Step-by-Step Blueprint to Get to and Stay in Top 5% Performance
I believe that we all take great pride in legendary performance. In this episode, I’ll show you how you can have your best year ever and show you the system that doubled the profit in less than three years for over 70% of the stock banks that used it. If you’re the kind of leader: ...who is already in the top 5% of NIM, growth, ROA, ROE, and Efficiency Ratio, you’re going to love...
What Is Your Conversion Rate From Inquiry to Customer? [VIDEO]
What is your opportunity cost per inbound call? In other words, how much profit is lost per mishandled call that doesn’t turn into a lead, then a customer, then a full relationship? I'm going to show you some math that's going to make you a little bit crazy as an executive of a bank. Video: What Is Your Conversion Rate From Inquiry to Customer? Let's imagine for a second that you spend a million...
Create a Rockin’ Culture, Even in Difficult Times [VIDEO]
When times get a little challenging, people can wig out and the team dynamics get a little interesting. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Culture can be managed and culture can remain great, but you're going to have to pay more attention to your culture than ever before during challenging times. Video: How to Create a Rockin Culture During Difficult Times World events are impacting the level...
Make This the Year NIM Stands for Nothing Is IMpossible
I've been in banking for more than 30 years. Recently, I tried to estimate how often I've heard a community bank CEO say, “No matter what we do, we can't get our NlM out of the 3s. It’s impossible.” It turns out that I can’t estimate it. The number's so high I've lost count. Whenever I hear a CEO, CLO, or CFO declare, in front of the team, that banking is a commodity, I am never surprised to...
Heard of the “Challenger Sale”? Here’s What Works Even Better…
The past decades and even centuries have witnessed much banking innovation. Consider pneumatic capsule transportation (1799), the credit card (1950), and the ATM (1967). Those innovations were external—easily visible to everyone. But there is also a history of innovation that's internal to the industry, with bellwether changes to banking sales management and its increasing focus on the customer....
How To Ethically Steal Your Competitors’ A+ Top Clients
Loan growth. Ears of bank CEOs across the country perk up when those two words are spoken, especially now in 2022. But there's a caveat to that as well. Grow loans too quickly and regulators will be all over you, assuming all manner of misdeeds. Too slowly and your earnings and NIM suffer. Many bank CEOs tell me they're doing well...but they see danger on the horizon with small businesses being...
Cross Sales Part 3 of 3
The last two times we connected, we've been talking about the need to improve the cross-sales within your bank to create a better sales experience for your people. And to make sure that you capture the entire customer relationship by creating a transformation of the process that attracts the customers to you. Good Intentions Aren't Getting the Job Done Let's say it: Good intentions aren't...
Cross Sales Part 2 of 3
The last time we met, I told you we’d be coming back this time to discuss: how do you boost those cross-sales and how to do it by having a cultural transformation within your organization. Because that change in your culture and improvement in your bank's culture is key to transforming results by making sure that your customer feels heard and moved along. Outdated Sales Systems & A Better,...
Cross Sales Part 1 of 3
If you want to improve the performance of your bank, you're probably going to need to improve your cross-sales. When your people are meeting with your customers and they're accomplishing six, seven, eight, maybe nine, or sometimes ten cross-sales on average versus the 2.2 which is typical in the industry, you don't need nearly as many people and you can pay everyone that you have a whole lot...
How to Build a Top Performance Culture
How do you, as an executive, build a performance culture that attracts top talent, retains top talent, and allows your bank to thrive? Top performance culture is easier said than done—but it can be done You just have to know the magic performance culture formula that works for other banks and apply it within your bank for the same results. But finding that magic formula is the key. I've had...
Do You Have the Right Chemistry on Your Team?
By Ross Bernstein The best-selling author of nearly 50 sports books, Ross Bernstein is an award-winning, Hall of Fame, peak-performance business speaker who’s keynoted conferences on all seven continents and has been featured on CNN, CBS This Morning, ESPN and Fox News, as well as in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. He’s spent the better part of the past 20 years...