Merry Christmas to you, your team, and your family.  At a time like this, we should stop and reflect on what this holiday is all about.  

It’s all about family, and we know it—because having the love and the ability to impact other people in the world and the ones that we brought into the world is a wonderful thing. 

But listen: Our family extends beyond the family that we’ve given birth to and the one we’re birthed into. We also have a family called our team. And a family called our community.  And the one thing that causes me to get up in the morning every day and work hard to help community banks thrive is knowing the impact that a community bank has within the community.

Let’s face it, when the last community bank leaves the community, you’ll get brain drain and a lot of other problems. This is a great time to reflect on how what you do matters. It is the impact you make on your community and the people within it. And that is so much more powerful than the transactional things you’re thinking about. 

So, Merry Christmas to you, your family, and others, and please give them the gift of presence this holiday. Because remember—when you listen and are aware of what their needs are, they feel valued.
And what could be a better present under the tree than that?

– Roxanne Emmerich

I hope you’ll watch and share the video with my thanks and best wishes for your holiday. 

The post Merry Christmas [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

Video: Bank Marketing Isn’t What It Used To Be

The post Marketing Isn’t What It Used To Be [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

Do you hold the entire relationship for every one of your bank account holders? 

I hope you do. But maybe you don’t. And maybe your people don’t know how to get effective cross-selling done.

If you’re not averaging five, six, or even seven cross-sales on every new relationship that is opened up in your bank, somethings just not right yet.  

And it doesn’t mean you have bad people. It just means they don’t know what to do for effective cross-selling. But they’re going to need to figure it out.

Think of it this way. I’ve watched bank after bank after bank move their cross-sales and new account figure from 2.2 up to five in less than a year.

At the end of the year, they’re always surprised. “Oh, look at that. Our efficiency dropped by 10 points. We weren’t even cutting expenses.” Oh, no, you don’t have to. It’s dealt with on the revenue side. And look at the equation here. How beautiful is this, that we didn’t have to hire more people, and we didn’t need new buildings. 

All we had to do is that every time a customer, or a new potential customer, walks in that person knows how to turn them into a customer and create an entire relationship using tried and true cross-selling strategies that work. 

That takes some skills, that takes some distinctions, it takes some understanding, and it takes some repetition. Most banks have given this lip service for decades. They’ve talked every year about how they’ve got to get past the order taking. 

Saying so doesn’t seem to get it done. What is your defined action plan? The one where you know with great certainty that you will, within a year, be up to five, six, or even seven cross-sells? If you say it can’t be done, look at the case studies on our website, and you’ll see hundreds of banks that have pulled it off. So if they can do it, you can do it—but you have to do things correctly. 

Is this the year that you own the entire relationship for your bank account holders? I hope it is.

– Roxanne Emmerich

Please watch the video above and share it with your exec team and board. 

The post Can You Retain And Win All Of Your Bank Account Holders’ Business? appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

The days of transactional banking are over. 

Yes, there was a day when the customers would walk into our lobbies. Yes, there was a day where they came looking for us. Yes, I remember those days, too. 

Those days are long gone 

And it was a rapid turn. Yes, the amount of traffic coming into our lobbies had been declining. But boy, when we closed the doors for COVID, that changed everything from transactional to transformational.  And now we are in a transformational model instead. And those banks that hang on to their transactional model where they sit behind their desks cannot possibly compete in this world where the apps are stronger, and the competitors are stronger. 

What’s necessary now? 

Your people are out having conversations with people. And not only do they need to have conversations that are initiated by the banker, but those conversations need to be effective. They should be asking the right Socratic questions to find out what needs to be improved in the relationship:

• How to get them unstuck
• How to get them to create commitments for what they’re going to do next
• How to make a decision about moving ahead with their business and buying one of your services

These are just a few examples of some of the Socratic questions that they need to master. 

In addition, the old belief that having universal bankers was going to get the job done only means that we have people who understand several different product lines. 

Transactional to Transformational 

But listen, having product awareness is, of course, a baseline, and it’s necessary, but it does you no good when people are not walking in the door. The new model of transformational banking means that they’re saying to you, “You are the only banker that I’ll ever need.”

– Roxanne Emmerich

Please watch the video above and share it with your exec team and board.

The post The Transactional to Transformational Model for Community Banks appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

What if you thought about your bank as a franchise? 

Seriously, any business should think of itself as a franchise system. And everything in your bank should be thought of as a system. And of all the bank franchise systems, the most important of those is the revenue system. 

Let’s face it.  Revenue solves lots of problems. 

But most banks really don’t have a revenue system. They have a lot of well-meaning people who work very, very hard, make a lot of calls, and try really hard. But they don’t have a system to figure out and identify who your next most profitable customer is. 

Seriously, there are top 100 next best prospects. So how do you figure out who they are? And then how do you put them into a system? 

If you don’t have a system:

• How do you begin to create reputational equity with them so that they’re falling in love with you and starting to be disconnected from their current bank before you even do the call? 
• How do you set up the call to make sure that you have a 100% chance of making sure you have the appointment? 
• How do you prepare the team between making the appointment and having the first call with all the right things they need to do to ensure they get the second appointment and close the deal?
• What happens between the first appointment and the second appointment?
• What happens on the second appointment to make sure you close it 85% of the time, even though they didn’t come looking for you? Even though they love their current bank and you charge premium pricing compared to what they’re currently paying at their incumbent bank? 

This takes a system.  And it’s going to take great adherence to a well-thought-out A/B split-tested system. 

It works. In fact, there are banks that have radically transformed their performance and profitability by thinking of their bank as a bank franchise system and putting all the elements in place. And then the crazy thing is watching everyone execute with perfection as opposed to winging it. 

That’s the game you want to be thinking about. So think of your bank as a franchise system. But of all the franchise systems, the most important system of all is that of safe, profitable revenue.

– Roxanne Emmerich

Please watch the video above and share it with your exec team and board.

Want to find out more about the bank franchise system that can get you to top-of-peer performance and stay there? Get your copy of the Breakthrough Banking Blueprint here. 

The post What is a Bank Franchise System? appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

Merry Christmas to you, your team, and your family.  At a time like this, we should stop and reflect on what this holiday is all about.  

It’s all about family, and we know it—because having the love and the ability to impact other people in the world and the ones that we brought into the world is a wonderful thing. 

But listen: Our family extends beyond the family that we’ve given birth to and the one we’re birthed into. We also have a family called our team. And a family called our community.  And the one thing that causes me to get up in the morning every day and work hard to help community banks thrive is knowing the impact that a community bank has within the community.

Let’s face it, when the last community bank leaves the community, you’ll get brain drain and a lot of other problems. This is a great time to reflect on how what you do matters. It is the impact you make on your community and the people within it. And that is so much more powerful than the transactional things you’re thinking about. 

So, Merry Christmas to you, your family, and others, and please give them the gift of presence this holiday. Because remember—when you listen and are aware of what their needs are, they feel valued. And what could be a better present under the tree than that?

– Roxanne Emmerich

I hope you’ll watch and share the video with my thanks and best wishes for your holiday. 

The post Merry Christmas [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

Gratitude is the filter with which we take in life. At every moment in time, things could be a whole lot worse. And that’s what gratitude is–seeing the good things. 

I constantly remind my team about when I was growing up milking cows, going to the barn in the morning when it was 20 degrees below zero with snow blowing sideways.  This set a bar that has been easy to rise above. Right now, no matter what I’m doing, it never feels like work. I’m in a state of gratitude. My life is always better. 

Gratitude and Being Grateful

No matter where you are in life, be grateful for what you have. Because that gratitude brings joy.  And on this special holiday, one of the best ways to extend gratitude is to lift someone else up. 

Make a conscious plan today about who you’re deciding you’re going to make an impact on in the next two days, and get busy. Make a difference in their lives. We feel best about ourselves when we’re giving to others and shifting their lives. 

Be very intentional this Thanksgiving about making that difference. Choose your target, have some fun, and
Happy Thanksgiving.

– Roxanne Emmerich

I hope you’ll watch and share the video with my thanks and best wishes for your holiday.

The post A State of Gratitude [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

Video: Bank Marketing Isn’t What It Used To Be

The post Why Bank Marketing Isn’t What It Used To Be appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

How do you, as an executive, build a  performance culture that attracts top talent, retains top talent, and allows your bank to thrive? 

Top performance culture is easier said than done—but it can be done

You just have to know the magic performance culture formula that works for other banks and apply it within your bank for the same results. But finding that magic formula is the key. 

I’ve had the great honor of working with some of the most revered banks with the best cultures in this country. Our clients are basically a Who’s Who of best places to work in America, within their states, and also with the American Bankers Association. These are banks that get culture and care about it very deeply. During a time like this, the importance of improving culture directly correlates to your ability to attract and retain top talent that creates and hits performance metrics, drives profit, and loves every minute of it. 

There are a lot of mistakes being made in culture 

Many organizations think about culture, “Oh, let’s hire those firms where they bring in the people who taught leadership in the army. That should work.” Well, people don’t like to be shouted at, so that doesn’t go over very well. And there’s also very little correlation to treatment with where you want to go. 

Culture is basically a series of systems that engages everyone to tie into the organization’s values, behaviors, and performance metrics. And all of those need to be tied together in a way that is playful, fun, enjoyed, and celebrated. It’s a system. Culture is always a system. But you need the right system to attract that top talent right now and retain them. Because during the Great Turnover Tsunami and the Great Resignation, it’s never been more important to make sure that you not only have people in seats but that they are performing in those seats as well.

I have a masterclass coming up where I’m going to go deeply into some of the best tools and processes to help you attract the best people, retain the best people, and create the performance culture you never dreamed was possible. Like I said earlier, it’s easier said than done. But it can be done with the right tools. I hope to see you there.

– Roxanne Emmerich

Please watch the video above and share it with your exec team and board.

Come to “A Culture that Rocks” Masterclass in May to get the tools to attract and retain top talent and rock your results. Register now! 

The post How to Build a Top Performance Culture appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

When I started as a lender, I got a briefcase, got in my car, and went up and down the street calling on folks hoping that they would bring their commercial and agricultural relationships to me.

Well, sometimes they did, and sometimes they didn’t. I thought I was doing the best thing possible because I watched what everybody else was doing. I did the same thing and got the same middle-of-the-road results.

I didn’t know then what we know now.

Harvard Business Review has a great article about how team selling outperforms individual selling by a truckload. The reality is, we’ve got to get good at team selling and banking. And yet most banks still think that team selling is simply, “Okay Joey and Jim Bob: you’re out together. You’re Team One, and Susie and Julie, you’re Team Two.” 

Putting two people together is not team selling. Team selling is so much more sophisticated than that.

If you’re going to go out and land those deals with a 90% close rate while you command premium pricing and bring the entire relationship on board, your team selling system must be meticulously crafted and executed with a skill set that is unheard of right now. All people on that team must know how to work together, hold each other accountable, and keep each other tightly focused on the process to make sure that no step gets missed or done poorly or incorrectly. 

If you go back to any lost deal and do an autopsy, you will find exactly when, where and how you missed certain parts of the sales process. And that’s why you lost the deal. So team selling isn’t just about putting a couple of folks together and sending them out together. There’s so much more to it.

Team selling rocks compared to individual selling.

I should also mention that team selling is the secret behind many of your competitors that are rocking their numbers while you’re wondering what they’re doing that you’re not. How do I know? I have a session coming up in April at the BEST BANKS IN AMERICA™ SUPER CONFERENCE  where we’re going to spend an entire day just teaching the mechanics of what’s working today for those best banks in America. And those mechanics include team selling.

By the way, these are the banks that are commanding 4, 4 ½, even 5% net interest margins in very difficult times. Learning how to deal with these difficult times, commanding your pricing regardless of the times, and reaching your loan growth goals can be achieved once you master the team selling process. 

I can’t wait to meet you at the superconference in Naples on April 21st and 22nd, when we’ll go over it all. See you there.  

– Roxanne Emmerich

Please watch the video above and share it with your exec team and board.

Come to the BEST BANKS IN AMERICA™ 7TH ANNUAL SUPER CONFERENCE on 

April 21-22, 2022. It’s the ONLY Conference for top-performing banks—and those that aspire to join them! Register now! 

The post Mastering Team Selling at Your Bank appeared first on The Emmerich Group.