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 Seven-Step Formula for Creating a Franchisable System
Can you give them what they need to succeed? Not unless you’ve created a franchisable system to help them duplicate your success.
Here are the seven crucial elements of building a franchisable system in your own bank:
Mergers and Acquisitions: If an Opportunity Falls in Your Lap, Are You Ready?
The coming bank consolidation isn’t a surprise. It’s been predicted for years. In fact, the next 18 months are destined to be a major “shake out” period when 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.
Bank Culture: The #1 Predictor of Future Growth and Profitability
Culture asks, “Will your people leap over tall buildings in a single bound to make sure your client is successful in their business or personal financial goals?” “Will you go beyond bank “product” to create Unique Selling Propositions that rock their world and cause hundreds of thousands of dollars of impact for them? And will your people have fun doing it so that your system is sustainable?
The 5 Biggest Marketing Traps Almost Every Bank Falls Into—and How to Avoid Being One of Them
Ready to stop wasting your marketing dollars and grow your profits and safety with a predictable model of organic growth of top and bottom lines?
Confidence Trumps Sales Training EVERY Time
Thousands of bank executives are waking up to 2013 saying, “SALES training! Of course! It’s SALES training we need.”
Yeah, well sometimes the first thing that pops into our heads isn’t a keeper. Sales training is fine, but it’s NOT what you need to solve your problem and create a sustainable solution.
7 Secrets to Keep Your Acquisition from Going Over the Cliff
So you’ve decided to acquire another bank. For nearly 25 years, I’ve been giving the same advice about acquisitions: DON’T DO IT. I’ve had good reason to give that advice. Many banks try to solve their inadequacy of systems, education, and strategies by acquiring. And many banks are poised to do exactly that this year. So now you’re going to get a finger-wagging lecture from me, right? Not...
Systems, Tools and Methods That Build Banks FAST
Growing a bank isn’t some mysterious process that involves tea leaves and oracles. It’s more like building a house or tuning up a car’s engine, with a power tool for every step and a hand tool for every part you need to work on. Effective builders have a “franchise system”—the proven best way to do things that minimizes mistakes and maximizes results per hour spent.
The Beginning of the End of Rate Matching in One Powerful Step
The process begins with one crucial step: Find out what matters to your best customers, then build hundreds of Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) around those components and list them explicitly in your marketing materials.
7 Reasons Low-Performing Banks Stay in the Pits
Most banks focus on what they should do. That’s a good thing. But too few seriously evaluate what they are currently doing that has to stop. Awareness of the common characteristics of low-performing banks can keep you from falling victim to any of these practices before you join the group.
Let’s start with the first four:
The 5 Myths That Tank a Bank Sales Culture
Let’s face facts. You know it is true. Banks stink at sales culture.
Most say they’re working on it…but most have been “working on it” for three decades now
How to Put Your Strategic Plan Into Action.. and Always Win with Bank Builders™
For starters, if you want it to be read and followed, it’s one page long. No, not 3 to 5 pages—ONE! And it starts by identifying target niche markets because that’s what the whole plan has to be about.
If an Acquisition Opportunity Falls in Your Lap, Are You Ready?
Of course, it’s commonly known that 50% to 80% of mergers fail to meet expectations—in fact, they’re economically a disaster.