During challenging times, the one thing you can count on is that desperate competitors and fly-by-night organizations are going to come in and try to take away your best customers.
Let’s face it, your top 100 customers, for any bank under $2-billion asset size, account for anywhere between 50 to 140% of your profits.
That’s a significant thing to understand. They are precious. They pay for all the bills, and you must, of course, keep all of them.
I don’t know about you, but I loved the movie The Founder, probably because I’ve been a systems thinker all of my life, and I truly believe there’s one way that’s the best way to do everything.
I believe that when you obsess over how to get the fastest way from A to B in everything that you do in your business, things begin to really shine quickly. (more…)
A dear friend asked me a question one time, “Oh really, can you afford not to?”
And I thought that was one of the most brilliant questions I’ve ever heard.
Let me pose it to you this way.
Can you afford not to figure out how to increase your net interest margin by 100 basis points while bringing down your cost of funds and bringing up the quality of the loans you’re making?
I am a nerd. I’ve always been a nerd.
When I was a little kid, I used to go to the library every other day and I would drag books all the way up to my chin back onto the bus and back off of the bus, then back to the library. I’d fill up with books about twice a week.
I’ve always had a passion for learning and discovering and finding out what other people know—rather than having to discover everything myself. I have some favorite books. One of them, I think, is really important during strategic planning season for your executive team to get their brain unlocked from where it has been,
What is your opportunity cost per inbound call?
In other words, how much profit is lost per mishandled call that doesn’t turn into a lead, then a customer, then a full relationship?
I’m going to show you some math that’s going to make you a little bit crazy as an executive of a bank. (more…)
When times get a little challenging, people can wig out and the team dynamics get a little interesting. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Culture can be managed and culture can remain great, but you’re going to have to pay more attention to your culture than ever before during challenging times.
Marketing isn’t what it used to be. For many banks, it’s changing how you should be investing your marketing dollars and the strategies that you should be using. (more…)
Challenging times can be overwhelming. They can also be times of great opportunity for those who stay awake.
First, we have to change our way of doing things and discover—or rediscover—the ability to systematically pull in the very best new customers at premium pricing.
I was speaking recently for a bank marketing association and what occurred to me was that I made a big discovery. I asked them how they move net interest margin. And I got that “huh?” look.
Does bank culture really matter?
Gallup tells us that if you have an average amount of disengagement, it will rob $3,400 from your bottom line for every $10,000 of payroll.
So YES, culture is a big deal.
