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.
Removing the Risk Roadblock
We’ve all been there. The car salesman slides the paperwork across the desk at you, pointing at the signature line. Just this one last step, he says, and there’ll be no way out.At least that’s how it can sound to the customer as she wipes her sweaty palms, wondering if she’s doing the right thing, wondering if she’s considered everything, wondering if she’s taking too big of a...RISK.Risk is...
Really Stupid Things Smart Bankers Do
Even though it was 20 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. One of the attendees at a bank CEO conference came up after my speech and began to lecture me. "There's one distinction you're missing, Roxanne. We bankers, we're like sheep. The first one marches up to the ledge and falls off, and the rest march in step screaming Baaahhh! as they fall one by one over the ledge. You have to...
Getting Your People to Do What Needs to Get Done
I’ve seen it happen a million times. Managers tell me, “But we told them what to do, showed them how to do it…and they’re still not doing it.” Financial institutions actually have more of a challenge with this. Because every workday involves quantifiable numbers, the assumption by managers is that everything can be controlled—including people. The typical management approach to increased sales...
You Are Cordially Invited: The Power of Truly Targeted Marketing
Fortune cookies and horoscopes are miracles of marketing. They predict something that happens to almost everyone every day (“You will meet someone new”) and somehow make you feel like it was written just for you. Well, sometimes. That worked a lot better when I was ten. Nowadays, I’m not likely to be impressed unless every Sagittarius on Earth is run over by a guy named Keith on the same Tuesday...
What IF it didn’t Need to Be So Hard
Chasing your tail is never a flattering or productive exercise. Most executives are exhausted by the constant need to “run” the business. Can you relate? Michael Gerber’s The E-Myth Revisited talks about something that can make your life easy — The Franchise Prototype. Think McDonald’s. Think Starbucks. Think UPS. Successful businesses create impenetrable systems –“the system runs the business,...
The #1 Top Motivator for Employees
According to a recent study by Teresa Amabile and Steven J. Kramer, when 600 managers were asked to rank the impact on employee motivation and emotions of the five workplace factors that are commonly defined as significant influencers—incentives, recognition, interpersonal support, clear goals, and support for making progress—they identified “recognition for good work” as Numero Uno. And...
How to Beat Price Objections Without Being ‘Salesy’
Almost every financial service request begins with someone asking a price question. “What are your mortgage rates?” and “what are your car insurance rates” are the typical questions heard many times each hour at almost every financial institution in this country. Unfortunately, our research shows that well over 90 percent of those rate shoppers receive the rate with no additional attempt to help...
Time for a Radical Obligectomy?
Something's gotta give. New research shows that employees are exhausted to the core. The stresses of the workplace are so far beyond the good ol' days. Remember when we used to take lunches together every day off site? Me neither. Well, it's been a long time, anyway. And trends have a way of, well…trending. The load isn't likely to lighten anytime soon. As a leader, how do you help keep your...
5 Biggest Myths that Hold You Back from Seizing Today’s Opportunities
It’s party time…that time you’ve been waiting for to pick off the top loan customers’ key deposits from the weak banks around you. You don’t need to buy them IF you know how to pull in all their business with ease. To do that, you must shatter the myths that will keep you in a state of inertia: 1) "Our people know how to sell." In fact, they are excellent rate quoters. Most don’t even know...
The Counter-Intuitive Secret to Attracting Better Customers
Fortune cookies and horoscopes are miracles of marketing. They predict something that happens to almost everyone every day (“You will meet someone new”) and somehow make you feel like it was written just for you.Well, sometimes. That worked a lot better when I was ten. Nowadays I’m not likely to be impressed unless every Sagittarius on Earth is run over by a guy named Keith on the same Tuesday...
Why Should They Choose YOUR Bank?
Why would you buy a Volvo? Safety. Why would you drive a Mercedes? The prestige. Why would you buy a BMW? The driving experience. Last question. Why would you drive a Pinto? Price.Now for the reality. Volvo is not the safest car. For many years, Saab actually had a better safety record. Mercedes is only considered a prestige car in the United States. In other countries, is a taxi. It has been...
How to Eradicate Low Performance
How do you get people to do what they’re supposed to do—not sometimes, not sorta, but consistently and for real? This month I met an executive who said something that shocked me. He said that only 40 percent of their people are achieving their goals. FORTY percent!!! Yikes. Imagine what it does to the bottom line to let 60 percent of people off the hook from doing what they are expected...