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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.
5 Steps to More Core Deposits
Regulators and bankers have one common concern right now—get and keep deposits as interest rates go up. Sounds easy, but it hasn't been all that easy just to get deposits when rates have been low, and so getting better at this immediately is important. I'm going to cover five must-do-now strategies that you need to have happen pronto to make sure that you get and keep those deposits to weather...
Can Your Team Survive Strategic Planning?
If you haven’t done your strategic plan yet, be thinking about—not only the things I covered recently about strategic planning—but also the fact that one of the most important things you can do is bond your team. Here’s the thing: if you’ve got great strategies, but people are not aligned behind them, the likelihood of getting them done is slim to none. Now, what happens in most strategic...
How to Turn Your Personal Bankers Into Cross-Selling Stars
What if you had personal bankers who could each bring in million-dollar-business checking accounts—2 to 4 of those each month—with great regularity? And what if you could have other personal banker specialists who focus only on your top 100 most-profitable customers, and you could get an average of 13 cross-sales on those accounts? And what if you had personal bankers who could proactively call...
A Seldom Used Secret Weapon in Community Bank Sales
Selling has changed…and if it feels like selling, you’re doing it wrong. The whole premise of sales in community banking is on a fundamentally weak base right now. What we don’t understand is that what we need to do is delve deeply into customers’ needs—but only after we get permission to not be talking about the rates. Our first question needs to be the Break Preoccupation with Rate Question....
3 Hidden Dangers of Cross-Sales
For decades now, I’ve seen the statistics run along the same alarming, flat line…cross-sales of new accounts in banking AVERAGE…AVERAGE, just 2.2 per account! Let me spare you the complex math… That means MANY banks are below 2.2 cross-sales per account and some are above—but not far. Cross-sales may seem like a small issue, but the industry-wide cross-sale contagion poses a near and very...
Getting Strategies Into Your Strategic Plan
It’s strategic planning time…all over again. This year, you have the unique opportunity to change the way you’re doing things to change your results.The best way to do that?Make sure you have strategies in your strategic plan.Now hold on—you’re thinking you have them. I’m going to challenge you by telling you that in twenty-five years of looking at banks’ strategic plans, I have only seen a...
The Three Can’t–Miss Pieces of a Functional Strategic Plan
It’s that time of year again…it’s time to create a strategic plan to have a profound impact on next year’s financials—your growth, your profitability, and the safety of your organization. Now, to do that, you really need to think about the fact that most strategic plans are…pretty darn dysfunctional, in that they’re missing a few key pieces. Let’s talk about what’s missed the most. 1. Focus On...
Ten No-Fail Strategies to Create Profit-Rich Growth-Part 2
Last week I discussed the first five strategies to help transform your bank to be stronger and more profitable than ever before. Now let’s dive into the next group of strategies that will impact the bottom line. 6. Free the vigilantes. Ray Kroc used to say that until every bathroom in every McDonald's was clean, they would not add to the menu. You must be equally dedicated to getting your people...
Ten No-Fail Strategies to Create Profit-Rich Growth For 2016-Part 1
Major consolidation will continue to be the norm in the banking industry over the next 18 months. In fact, next year is destined to be a major “shake out” year where weak banks will be acquired or closed—and banks that are in a position to capture the best customers in town will become stronger and more profitable.With careful strategic planning, YOUR bank can become one of these stronger...
What You Must Ask About Your Strategic Planning Process
Imagine a strategic planning process that allows for the right strategies proven to lower risk, improve profit, and build a sustainable system that creates predictable organic growth that actually was implemented and exceeded. You don’t have to imagine. That system exists, and it works. It’s used by the highest performing banks in the country—the ones with ROAs over 2 and net interest margins...
7 Ways to Guarantee Your Strategic Plan Will Fail and How To Avoid Them (Part II)
Last week I discussed the hard truth behind most banks’ strategic plans: they lack…well, strategy. Let me quickly recap last week’s fails to avoid before diving into the next four. 1) The plan is a list of goals, and does not list the strategies on how to obtain those goals. 2) The plan is not focused on your next most-profitable customers. You target generic, you get generic. 3) The plan does...
7 Ways to Guarantee Your Strategic Plan Will Fail and How To Avoid Them (Part I)
Let’s be frank: Most banks get no real value from their strategic planning process—just a list of unimaginative goals with none of the revolutionary thought needed to transform results, and very little hope of even getting beyond the book on the shelf. If that sounds familiar, don’t be embarrassed. You’re certainly not alone. Having talked with thousands of bank executives over the last few...