In this video, Roxanne Emmerich dismantles one of the most dangerous myths in community banking: that competition and market conditions dictate rates. They don’t. Differentiation does.

Banks that win don’t price like commodities. They position themselves like boutiques.

In this video, you’ll discover:

• Why matching rates is a losing strategy that compresses margin and kills independence

• How premium-pricing banks escape commodity thinking—even in hyper-competitive markets

• The uncomfortable truth about which banks survive industry consolidation—and which don’t

This isn’t theory. It’s a wake-up call grounded in decades of working with banks that either transformed—or disappeared.

If your CFO or lending leadership believes pricing is out of your control, that belief is quietly setting your future.

The banks left standing won’t be the cheapest.
They’ll be the most differentiated.

And that shift doesn’t happen by accident.

Watch the full episode to discover how elite banks take control of pricing—and keep it.

Watch now. 

Every time I meet a new bank CEO, they say something very similar to what the three thousand-plus conversations I’ve had with bank CEOs sound like. And what they say to me is this:
“Roxanne, it’s different here.”

Here, we have to match rates.
Here, we have competition for pricing.
That’s just how it is here.

Now, I’ve got to tell you, I met two gentlemen years ago when they picked me up in their SUV. One was the CEO and one was the president of the bank, and we were about to do their kickoff.

And one of them said to me, “Roxanne, everybody complains that their deposit costs are high, but I can prove to you that we have the highest deposit cost in the nation.”

At which point, I stuck my fingers in my ears like a grown-up and said, “I’m not listening. I’m not listening. I’m not listening.”
And I had a smile on my face. I was nice about it.

They said, “Why are you doing that?”

And I said, “Because if your story becomes my story, I can’t help you.”

Markets do not dictate interest rates.

Let me say it again.
The market doesn’t dictate the interest rates that you charge.

You dictate those through your differentiation and your ability to sell that differentiation.

If that were not the case, then every restaurant that has something other than the golden arches in front of it would be charging the same price as a McDonald’s hamburger.

It just isn’t that way.

And yet, in banking, we believe we are the one great commodity that no one can break through.

Here’s the really sad part.
Every time I hear a CFO or a chief lending officer say that to me, I should have always shorted the stock—because I know that bank will lose its independence.

They’re right.

It is a commodity—until you make it not a commodity.

So yes, in fact, they’re right. And there’s a whole other mountain of evidence, and you better get on that other mountain. You better get there fast.

Because when we move from twenty thousand banks down to four thousand banks—and we know where this is going—the only banks left will be boutique banks that can command extreme premium pricing.

And it will be worth it.

That’s the only game in town.
And it’s a game you better master—and fast.

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Some people believe that in politics, there is one side or the other, and they’re unwilling to look at the alternative. Still others believe that the moon is made of cheese.

You may have a belief system that’s true. You may have a belief system that’s not true. And the question that we have to look at as an executive is, “what has to be true for us to challenge what we believe to be true?”

You see, there are many beliefs within our industry right now, such as, in order to have a higher net interest margin you must have more risk.

Who made up that stupid rule?

Why would we be unlike any other industry whereby they can achieve a higher premium pricing by taking themselves out of the commodity approach that they had been using. Of course, that is possible, but not if we don’t believe it’s true.

Many people believe that loans are hard, that deposits are hard to get, that it’s hard to get premium pricing, that it’s hard to get the executives to follow the strategic plan and get everybody aligned with it, it’s hard to get everybody knowing how they tie to profit.

And when we believe that to be true, it leads us to the question, “what do you have to do to challenge your beliefs and be open to a new set of beliefs?” Because that is what we, as executives, must do in order to stay on top of the pile.

– Roxanne Emmerich

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

The post Who Made Up That Rule? [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

That lender put themselves in the position of having to match the rate. So, yes, they are in this mess, and maybe they can sweet-talk their way into getting something like, “Well, you get me, and we have good people.” They might get 25 basis points more, but you can’t become a Top Five Percenter™ with just 25 basis points more on a loan deal, especially when desperate competitors are pricing these things at crazy rates, and deposit rate competitors are offering sky-high rates. 

Margins are shrinking for those who don’t get it. Don’t be that person. You need to understand that having a four or even five net interest margin is essential, and it’s doable. I can prove it, and you’ll meet these people when you attend the Best Banks in America Super Conference. Many banks command well over a four net interest margin while other bank CEOs claim it can’t be done. 

They have a mountain of evidence. Everyone comes to them saying they must match the pricing or lose the deal, and it’s true. But there’s another mountain of evidence about how to engage in those relationships correctly from the start, so it doesn’t become about rate. All you need to do is watch the hard trendlines. Dan Burr, a dear friend and futurist, says that being a futurist isn’t that difficult. He says to watch the hard trendlines, and they’ll tell you where things are going. When I started this business, there were 18,000 banks. Now there are 4,500. Where is this going? We’re heading toward 2,000. Many banks are not nearly paranoid enough about losing the name on their door. They look at the fact that they had a good year last year, which means nothing for this year because every year brings new challenges. Unless you become a top 5% performer, you are always in a state of vulnerability. 

There will always be 2,000 great boutique banks that can command premium pricing and compete against all the desperate non-bank competitors. If you’re not on the path to becoming a Top Five Percenter, one who can command four and five NIMs, you’ll face challenges keeping your name on the door. The hard trendlines show where this is going and denying it won’t stop it from happening. So please wake up to this possibility. Your team members will love you when you start commanding premium pricing because they’ll no longer feel like vendors. They’ll feel like partners and will love coming to work every day because guess what? It is fun to win. 

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post How Do You Stop “Matching Price” and Set Yourself Apart as a Category of One appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

This is exactly what we need to do with low-cost deposits. Let’s face it, there is no end in sight to the competition for low-cost deposits. Even when your bank is flush with deposits, you should be actively increasing your non-interest-bearing deposits as a percentage of total deposits. It’s like Christmas every day—each month you wake up and know that each dollar used for loans is pure profit. This is good. Yet most banks lack a process and the skilled people to consistently bring in low-cost deposits. 

Instead, they put up billboards, run advertisements, open CD accounts, and offer ridiculous interest rates. They don’t understand that many customers aren’t that 
rate sensitive. What these customers want is someone who can make a meaningful difference in their lives and their businesses. This value far outweighs what they would gain from an interest-bearing account. But does your team have the skill set to deliver this? 

Does your team have confidence? One thing I know for sure, from decades of working with many Top Five Percenters™, is that those who achieve and maintain top 5% performance are masters at bringing in low- or no-cost deposits. It is a system and a skill set. It’s hard, but once people know how to do it, they can bring in one account after another. 

I recently called a bank CEO because I heard one of our recent graduates from the Accredited Banking Professional Program brought in a $14 million checking account from a local business. For a bank with less than $100 million in assets, this was significant. Not only did they bring in that account, but they also brought in the entire relationship, with 14 cross-sells. I called to congratulate the CEO, who said, “That’s nothing; my people bring in a $2-3 million checking account every week.” 

Don’t tell me it can’t be done because there are people doing it. They aren’t doing it by pushing brochures or using outdated sales tactics. Those methods won’t get you invited back to the table. To be a Top Five Percenter, your team must elevate their skill sets so that your bank can become a top 5% performer. Competing for deposits won’t get easier, but you can get a lot better quickly. You must act because your competitors are coming after your depositors swiftly.   

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post  Why Is It So Important to Hold On to Low-Cost Deposits appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

In other words, they lacked critical thinking skills and strategic thinking. They could follow instructions, but they didn’t know when or how to change course, assimilate incoming information, and make good decisions on the fly. Developing our people’s thinking style has never been more important. 

Yes, AI can handle many tasks, but it cannot perform strategic thinking. In the future, many jobs that existed in the past will simply disappear. However, those who possess critical thinking skills, can anticipate problems, and create proactive plans will be the executives of the future. And here’s the issue: 

We can’t spend 30 years developing these skills. We need to start teaching people as they join our organizations how to apply critical thinking to their decisions. I created a formula called the SIR formula that requires them to bring solutions whenever they encounter a problem. This approach forces them to use critical thinking skills from the start. In a top-performing organization, there is no room for those who only complain about problems. 

We have plenty of room for those who bring a SIR with an actionable plan to immediately address issues. The real benefit of the SIR process is that it teaches them to apply critical thinking skills quickly. These individuals are your future executives because they demonstrate the ability to foresee challenges, consider all possibilities, and make sound decisions. This is crucial for advancing your team members in the world of AI. 

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post Can Strategic Thinking Be Taught or Nurtured? [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

What if you could get your team excited about having your clients acquire all the products and services that would help them. A cross sales ratio is just a measure of trust. If a client trusts you and sees value, they bring everything to you and continue to add more as they need it. It’s not sales. It’s a measure that they see you as a trusted adviser.

Now if you’re the kind of leader who begs pleads and bribes your team with incentive pay to increase their cross sales, maybe for decades to no avail, and you just can’t seem to move that needle, even though the average person has at least 16 pricing services at various financial institutions, you’ll greatly benefit from this video where you will learn how to finally get out of this endless loop of effort without a breakthrough.

Or if you’re the leader who has people who already have cross-sales of six or seven on average, but you know, that’s nowhere near the 16 products and services that customers actually have. In other words, you’re still not their banker. This is the place for you.  

Or maybe you have employees who ran from the big banks and their pushy, manipulative sales systems, and ended up convincing the rest of your team to believe that sales is bad. So now nobody is helping your customers buy what they need.  

In whatever case, you’re going to love finding out how to take back your ability to get your people to believe that sales is simply helping people buy what they need. It is one of the most honorable things that they can be doing.

Order taking has been an industry dilemma for over 30 years, and it seems that cross sales needles haven’t moved one bit in three decades, despite millions of dollars wasted on bank sales training. Perhaps that’s not so surprising considering the challenges that you must overcome to make it happen.

For example, many people perceive sales as slick—presentations and pushy. We have a special approach, and they don’t want anything to do with it. Even though they won’t always say it, it does show in their results, doesn’t it?  

Or perhaps you struggle like most banks that have sales attempt battle fatigue. Millions of dollars have been spent on attempts and improving sales cultures in banks, and less than a few 100 really accomplish the desired results.

Still, others do what they’ve been doing for so long that they’re insulted that you suggest it’s not enough. They think and act as if they care about the customers. But it isn’t obvious as their clients still run around town to competitors to meet their banking needs.  

Let’s cover three steps that will help you move the cross sales needle in just a few weeks.   

Step one, you have to forget what you believe regarding cross sales, or what folks are telling you is true. With zero evidence it seems like every bank CEO does the same thing when they want cross sales. There are three components, hire a sales training company, set goals, and create an incentive program. If that ever worked, it would be worth a try. But I have a mountain of evidence that a doesn’t.

Hundreds of if not thousands of CEOs have told me that they have tried that before coming to me, surprised and disheartened that it didn’t work. Before you sign that contract with the sales trainer, ask them to show you what percentage of their clients last year doubled their cross sales on new accounts within four to five months. How many of them picked up at least 40 basis points of NIM minimum over the year of their training? How many of them are increasing net interest-bearing deposits as a percentage of total deposits?

In God We Trust, for all others, show me the data, right? If it’s not over 70 to 90% know that you risk losing good employees and customers. Once the inevitable failure of the sales frame networking happens, you also risk losing credibility to fix the problem going forward. Which you of course, still need to fix.

Step two, in contrast to what sales training firms tell you to do, which sells their program but doesn’t deliver the results you need, you will be best served by starting your sales culture transformation with something outside of sales. Do you know why we Mystery Shop, every bank that attends our events prior to them attending? Those who tell us that they have great service that doesn’t need to be improved, get a thorough report of their mystery shops, and their teams mostly average in the 3.2 to 4.2 range.  

Step number one of a breakthrough or performance is dealing with the facts. Almost without exception, the banks that say we have great people, and we have great service score in that range. Start by moving that needle up to over nine and do it fast. It needs to happen in six weeks, and you can’t miss getting it right the first time or the second attempt is at least three times more difficult.  

When and only when your people are feeling confident that they’re being of extreme service to customers will they be open and ready for sales.  Because now they’ve realized that sales is really just the next level of taking care of people. It is what good service entails. And it sure shouldn’t feel like sales.

After we do our proprietary kick butt kickoff process, we show bank executives the few things they need to do. In 30 years, we haven’t had one bank that hasn’t doubled their mystery shopping scores, and over 90% have tripled. In fact, all of them move to well above eight; an epic improvement from the 3.2 average start. Without a foundation of knowing that every point person can do the basics and the phones as they help people buy, sales training would be an expensive train wreck for you, combined with disgruntled employees and customers who feel sold to. In other words, you need sales readiness to be mastered before you start sales training.

Step three, once they move that mystery shopping needle fast, really fast, they build confidence. In our seminars, we show you how to pop that needle past nine almost without exception within six weeks. Now and only now when the birdies mouth is opened as a mother bird brings the first worm by getting extraordinary results through being open to helping people buy, as demonstrated by a good mystery shopping process, one that shows that they care about customers, you can now embark on the sales process. One with the right type of blended learning and progressive stage appropriate accountability, visibility, follow up, and motivational components weaved in at the right times, and must be a proven system woven together or you’re setting yourself up for another disaster.

Again, these three steps:

One, do a lobotomy for your executive team on everything they have heard and believed to be true about the sales training, incentive pay, and goals plan that has never worked.
Two, move the client experience needle fast, really fast so that clients are amazed at the experience, and your people are loving the experience of what real service looks like.
Three, then start the transformation and interweave blended learning as you increase your accountability process.

It’s not easy, but you will get a predictable result if you follow a predictable process.

Watch the next video to discover how to choose the right people for your sales slots.

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post Getting Excited About Why Cross-Sales Matter [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

With AI we now have the tools to find your next best customers, but if you don’t bring wisdom to the tools, you have more junk.   

There’s a world of difference between information and communication.   

There’s a world of difference of being able to use AI to find customers and being able to use AI to find customers with the right parameters in the right way.   

There’s an old saying garbage in garbage out. That’s not true, it’s garbage in garbage stays. If we choose the wrong people to go after, and your people are working on them and it’s not working, you can be masters at your process of bringing them in. But if we choose incorrectly and we don’t have the right people, that can be a problem.

In the future, we’re going to have AI as it’s going nowhere. It will be one of the tools that we’ll be able to use in marketing (and by the way, everybody in banking is a marketer, when they really understand what marketing is).  When we use the tools correctly, and then we find the processes to get in front of them, that’s when the magic happens.   

Now more than ever critical thinking skills, expertise, and mastery need to drive AI because, again, garbage in garbage stays.

Can we afford, when we’re on our path to being a Top Five Percenter, to not have properly identified our next best customers and the best tools to communicate with them to break the relationship with their current financial institution so they can come to you with the entire relationship and make a quick decision? And make sure that you’re giving premium pricing on top of all that? That is what mastery looks like.

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post How Technology Can Help Scale Personal Relationships with Customers [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

But the real question is how do we find another 100 just like these?

Well, they have the same psychographics, and firmographics, and so we must study very carefully the psychographics and demographics of our current customers, and then find people who have things in common with them and know how to quickly disqualify.

By putting them in the right top 100 list and creating a warming situation so we build reputational equity with them, they start to fall in love with us and it’s then and only then that they’ll be open to taking the call from you to set up an appointment, once reputational equity has been created.

But you better know what you’re doing because you’ve got one chance when you’re working with the affluent. If you don’t add massive value, they will kick you to the curb and they’re not letting anybody from your organization back in again, for another 10 or 15 years. Why? Because they just saw somebody waste their time. And yet, we have organizations who have officer call programs, and they have people who don’t know how to add value, who have briefcases, who go up and down the street calling on businesses, kind of like they are out of control. Every time they walk in, you may as well put a sign across their forehead that says “vendor”, because they haven’t selected the right person. And they don’t know how to embark on that conversation. And here’s the thing, it’s not their fault.    

When I first started as a lender, I was an agricultural lender and then a commercial one. That’s what I did. Why? Because that’s what all the guys did before me. I was the first female to do what I was doing, so I did what the guys did.  They had a briefcase, I got a briefcase. They got in the car and drove out to the businesses, I got in the car and drove out to the businesses.  I had the same conversations that always brought it back to rate. Having those conversations that bring it back to rate is kind of like putting your face in front of their foot and saying don’t kick me. Of course, they’re going to bring up rate, why because I’m a vendor, and I came in here in a position of weakness.   

So we have to identify the right people, but then we have to position ourselves as bringing so much value that they’re pushing the button to their assistant saying, “Cancel my afternoon, I need to have this conversation because it’s time to switch our banking relationship.”

Do your people know how to have them at hello? That’s the game. And so first of all, we need to identify them. And then we need to build a process that has them at hello. That’s the game of those who perform in the top 5%. And those who are committed to getting there need to get in the right game, because it’s hard to be a top 5% performer when you’re not playing by the right playbook.

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post Finding Top 100 Customers [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

What if you could help your lenders win more and better deals.

If you’re the kind of leader whose team already brings in nice deals, and you’re fairly happy, you’ll love this, because I’ll show you that there’s a lot more where that came from. They can, with that base, bring in so much more and at better pricing, and they’re leaving hundreds of 1000’s of deposits on the table that you’ll be able to pull in.

Or if you are a leader who is frustrated that you have a few lenders who do all the deals and others who don’t seem to catch on and replicate those results, you’ll love this because you can find a way to get your average performers playing in the bigger league.

Alternatively, if you find yourself in situations that just aren’t working at all, watch this because I’m going to show you a system, used in hundreds of banks, to crack the concrete barrier of mediocre or sub optimal performance to create epic results fast.  

When you embark on a sales breakthrough in lending there are usually three ugly challenges that show up.  

Unlike so many sales training attempts, where everyone pretends they’re interested, and that they’ll do the work, you need immediate behavioral changes. Let’s face it, heads are nodding, no one’s disagreeing, but you don’t see immediate results, which should happen if they actually do the behaviors to create those results. Perhaps this passive aggressive behavior is getting normalized as a part of your culture.

Second, a few of your lenders catch on and start to get traction. But because so many others don’t, there’s not a shift in culture, so you end up with a few outliers and nothing substantial or profound happens.

Third, your senior lender tries to keep the party going, but she meets so much resistance-game playing people forgetting to get their sales funnel right, and people who get too busy to do their calls, that eventually she gets schooled about how things are going to be and loses enthusiasm to be great. Not her fault. It’s a system problem.

Every bank hits one or all three of these barriers. Don’t you think it’s time to help your team start to win attractive deals at premium pricing and all the deposits quickly so you can feel the joy of profound success? Here are your steps:

Step one – Unlike so many sales approaches where it is a numbers game, lenders need to know exactly who to call on. Those are the targeted few who have exactly the right firmographics and psychographics, so you hit homeruns with the right people who fall in love with you and bring in all their business.

Step two – In contrast to typical sales training, it’s not time to cold call. Your prospect has not yet seen evidence of anyone obsessing about their success for some time. Without a buildup of reputational equity to lead with, your lenders get treated like vendors – rejected at worst or treated like a commodity at best. Your chance of doing a deal is still low and there is no way that your lender can get 100 basis points or more than competitors. If they get the deal, they’ll get 25 to 50 basis points tops.

Step three – Unlike so many “shoot from the hip” approaches, create an exacting plan of how to warm up your prospects. Your level four USP, that differentiating value that makes you work the switch and at premium pricing, must be used skillfully for you to work right. Of course, you need a sample system that all your lenders follow. One that is proven to get A+ quality credits at significant premium pricing.

Here are three steps to normalize big wins for your lenders. This will help you take your bank to lead performance:

One – target using the process we covered in earlier videos, where we help you show how to find the prospects and bring the level four USP to them to bring the extreme value.
Two – create a system that gets the prospect winking back showing you that they’re appreciating the value you’re adding, even though you’ve not done business yet.
Three – Make sure every lender, without exception, follows the same proven sales system that is designed specifically to get premium pricing on the very best credits and attracts all their business. Every deviation costs you premium pricing and if enough of them happen, you’ll lose the deal.

By doing these things your lenders will get booked and how fun it is to win and win and win. Knocking down every one of your top most desirable prospects at premium pricing is so much more fun than just dealing with the inquiries that come in on the phone. Once your lenders and deposit specialists know what it feels like to win, they’re hooked, and you’ll be hooked with them. 

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post Loan Growth Multiplier Strategies [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

Some people believe that in politics, there is one side or the other, and they’re unwilling to look at the alternative. Still others believe that the moon is made of cheese.

You may have a belief system that’s true. You may have a belief system that’s not true. And the question that we have to look at as an executive is, “what has to be true for us to challenge what we believe to be true?”

You see, there are many beliefs within our industry right now, such as, in order to have a higher net interest margin you must have more risk.

Who made up that stupid rule?

Why would we be unlike any other industry whereby they can achieve a higher premium pricing by taking themselves out of the commodity approach that they had been using. Of course, that is possible, but not if we don’t believe it’s true.

Many people believe that loans are hard, that deposits are hard to get, that it’s hard to get premium pricing, that it’s hard to get the executives to follow the strategic plan and get everybody aligned with it, it’s hard to get everybody knowing how they tie to profit.

And when we believe that to be true, it leads us to the question, “what do you have to do to challenge your beliefs and be open to a new set of beliefs?” Because that is what we, as executives, must do in order to stay on top of the pile.

– Roxanne Emmerich

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

The post Who Made Up THAT Rule? [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.