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.
Don’t Let Your Customers Have “Frightening” Customer Service Experiences
Are your employees scaring your customers away because of their “ghoulish” service? Do your team members know how to convert someone asking for a rate into a client delighted to pay premium pricing and immediately bringing all their accounts? Most banks know they should mystery shop, and almost all the good ones currently do. But when it comes to getting the benefits out of that shopping—catchy...
5 Ways to Command Higher Pricing without Losing the Deal
Here Are Five Ways to Improve Your Bottom Line and Customer Satisfaction 1) Bundle your products so there are no apple to apple comparisons: “Our 7-year mortgage program happens to come with free checking, free bill pay, free Internet banking, a free debit card AND a line of credit that will cover overdrafts at a reduced rate of $____ if you sign up for this package prior to closing.” 2)...
Ten Commandments for Complaint Recovery
Follow these ten steps to alleviate customer complaint calls and save your company name: COMMANDMENT #1: Express appreciation for the feedback. "Thank you for telling us about this. We appreciate customers who let us know when things aren't right." COMMANDMENT #2: Show empathy. Empathy can be a powerful tool to disarm an angry customer. With compassion in your voice, say, "It must have been very...
10 Steps to Implement a New Policy or Procedure
If you want to excel, you must excel at the implementation of every policy and procedure you roll out. Here is a 10-step template to make ensure each implementation rocks. Help every person “feel the pain.” Make sure people experience the pain of not fixing the problem, so they are engaged in fixing it. Hold a “brainstorm solutions” meeting Engage your people in coming up with solutions. Develop...
Strategic Planning Bottlenecks: Part Two
Last week I revealed the first two bottlenecks that are roadblocks to creating a kick-butt strategic plan. Discover the remaining three bottlenecks described in today's blog post. BOTTLENECK 3: No strategies in the strategic plan It seems ironic that a strategic plan would not have any strategies in it, but if you read a few dozen strategic plans, you’ll quickly find that a defined strategy is...
Strategic Planning Bottlenecks: Part One
It’s been around for decades. The old strategic planning model. You head to the retreat center. Wear khakis. Revise the mission statement until it reads “To be a leading provider of financial services in a four-county area with outstanding customer service, high-quality products, and above rate of return to our stakeholders.” THEN, after that useless exercise, you do the SWOT analysis and create...
The Top 24 Words That Sell
In order, these are the most compelling words that cause people to buy. Make sure your sales letters and presentations are filled with them. PRINT THIS AND KEEP IT HANDY TO REVIEW EVERY LETTER YOU SEND. You How New How to Amazing Announcing Breakthrough Just Discover Free New At Last Sale Protect Now Astonishing Introducing Secrets of Which Only Yes Here Why...
What’s the One Best Predictor of Organic Growth?
Fred Reichheld, author of the 1996 bestseller, The Loyalty Effect, revealed that a “5% improvement in retention can boost profits by up to 100%.” These numbers confirm what many of us already know—it’s phenomenally important to keep your customers coming back. Now Reichheld is back with a new book that reveals that, of all the metrics of business, the best predictor of organic growth can be...
Two MAGICAL Questions You MUST Ask Yourself Before You Start 2012 Planning… or 2012 Could be Rough
Who are my ideal clients? What individuals and businesses? Be specific. “Small business” is NOT a target market. “Entrepreneurial-minded medical industry practices” is a target. What problem does each ideal client have that you can solve both effectively and profitably? Your entire strategic plan should start and end there. Everything in-between needs to focus there.
Research Your Competition
Determine what advantages you have over each of your main competitors. Then ask questions to encourage prospects to actually tell you your competitors' weaknesses: "How long does it take for your lender to get back to you when you leave a message?" “How long does it take to get money at your current bank when you want to invest in a new opportunity?” Not only does it help you understand more...
![Three Challenges Facing Community Bankers and How Top Performers are Fixing Them [Video]](https://emmerichfinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/three-challenges-facing-community-bankers-and-how-top-performers-are-fixing-them-video-aw5nC6hcOco-1080x675.jpg)
Three Challenges Facing Community Bankers and How Top Performers are Fixing Them [Video]
Roxanne Emmerich share’s three of the biggest challenges she sees banks dealing with today and the processes top-performing banks are using to fix them. Let us know what you think!
Calling it Tight: Running a Tight Ship
Someone’s late for a meeting. Nobody calls the person on it. Next week, three people are late. That’s no coincidence. Eventually, there won’t be a meeting in the entire organization that starts within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. Sales reports aren’t done accurately or aren’t timely. Well, it’s your top producer so…what can you say? Then, the top achiever stops doing the reports all...