Profitable Bank Differentiation: How Top Banks Rise Above the Rest

Colorful hot air balloon rises while several others remain grounded, visual metaphor for bank differentiation.

This last year was brutal for NIM compression at most community banks. And yet it was understandable, and it reconciled with some nice PPP fee income that drove up the profits of many banks.

However, bank boards are now more than a little concerned. Since fee income from PPP won’t be there in 2022, they are wondering how you intend to bump NIM back up without sacrificing loan quality or growth.

Why has it been such a struggle for thousands of banks to figure out how to end the “we can do this deal as long as we match the rate” conversation that has been going on for…well… decades?

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How To Command Bank Premium Pricing

And hear your customers say, “I Don’t Want To Work With Any Bank But You.”

If you don’t care about  bank premium pricing, you can stop listening right now.

This is for bank executives who want to figure out how to command premium pricing despite the too-common assumption that banking is a commodity. Therefore, they cannot command premium pricing—or, at best, maybe 25 basis points more on the loan side.

Here’s The Problem 

Any bank that can only command 25 basis points of premium pricing will probably not have its name on the front door five years from now.

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“I don’t want to work with any other bank but you” [VIDEO]

If you don’t care about premium pricing, you can stop listening right now. This is for bank executives who want to figure out how to command premium pricing despite the too-common assumption that banking is a commodity. Therefore, they cannot command premium pricing—or, at best, maybe 25 basis points more on the loan side.

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150 Basis Points More… [VIDEO]

Terry Slattery, the Legend of IBM, the person who brought in more business for IBM than anyone has before or since, has been a dear friend and partner of mine for almost two decades now, helping our banks figure out how to grow their revenue streams.

Terry recently said he has never seen a harder sales environment in his career across every industry.

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The Antidote to Commodity Hell

If you’re feeling trapped in rate competition, you’re in “Commodity Hell”… and it’s not a fun place.

 

When your customers and prospects view you as no different than the bank down the street, you create a situation where retaining customers and attracting new ones is beyond difficult.

The first reaction is to blame the customers. You’ve heard it at banking conventions before. Someone will complain, “Customers don’t care about relationships anymore. It’s all about rates and fees.”

That’s backward thinking.

Yes, it is all about rates and fees if you don’t give the customer any other good reason to use in making their decision.

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The Three Most Regularly Violated Marketing Principles that Cost Banks Millions

 

I believe there are many ways to do anything—but there’s only one best way.

In this episode, I’ll show you how banks utterly destroy their potential by violating little-known and often-broken marketing principles.

If you’re thinking, “I don’t even know any marketing principles to violate—I leave that to other people”—you need this episode, because you must understand that ultimately you are responsible for the profit of the bank. Even if you don’t have the title, you need to know what not to do that wastes your shareholders’ dollars.

If,

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