In this video, Roxanne Emmerich exposes the real constraint behind underpricing: scarcity thinking inside your own institution. You can push incentives, tweak comp plans, and preach value all day—but until belief changes, behavior won’t.

Most banks unknowingly train their teams to think price is a zero-sum game. The result? Discounting, margin erosion, and a slow drift toward commoditization. Top-performing banks operate differently. They understand that affluent clients don’t buy on price—they buy on meaning, differentiation, and confidence.

Here’s what must shift:

• Belief precedes pricing power—confidence comes before execution

• Affluent buyers decide based on value, not rates

• Category-of-one positioning eliminates price pressure altogether

If this problem stays unresolved, it won’t remain contained. It will cost you margin, culture, and eventually your independence.

That’s exactly why Roxanne is teaching this framework live at the Breakthrough Banking Blueprint™ Bootcamp. This is where banks discover how to shift mindset, reposition value, and equip their teams to charge what they’re truly worth—without discounting.

Seats are limited. Register now. 

Watch now. 

My mentor of three decades taught me something about abundance consciousness. He is one of the wealthiest people in this country, and he came to this country with fifty dollars in his pocket. But he showed me a system one time, and when I immediately began to implement the system, it worked.

Some of my colleagues went to him and said, “How is Roxanne doing this? How is she getting all this business at premium pricing?”
And he said to them something I’ll never forget. He said, “She’s ignorant. She doesn’t know she can’t.” Which is one of the best compliments I’ve ever received.

In other words, I’m not going to buy into the story of playing small. I’m not going to buy into the idea that I have to match somebody else’s pricing. I’m not going to play small because the rest of the world is playing small.

And yet, I know as an executive, you’ve got people you’re kicking and pushing and yelling at—doing everything you can with incentive pay. You’re trying the carrot. You’re trying the stick. And you’re getting nowhere getting them to charge premium pricing, because there’s a deeper-level problem.

They don’t believe they can.

There’s scarcity thinking. They think if they receive this, they’re taking it away from that.

They don’t understand that we’re not competing for pieces of the pie—we’re growing the pie. By creating a situation where that bank customer is so much better taken care of that their business thrives, they will make millions as a result of the extra ten thousand dollars that we charge. When our people get that, the magic begins to happen.

You’re going to need to do some lobotomies to help them understand that just because they believe price is the primary decision-making item, the affluent do not.

Most affluent do not buy on price—but they will if you don’t give them alternative information that matters more.

Thus, the correct sales process, built upon a clear differentiator that makes you the one and only—once you become a category of one—you can charge whatever you want.

There are steps along this pathway: defining how you’re different, getting your people some early big wins so they believe they can do it, and once that flywheel is turning, the rest come along too.

So if you’re still living with this problem, you’re not alone. Thousands of bank executives have been where you are.

But you can’t continue to live with this problem. You need a new, fresh problem. This one must be eliminated—because it will cause you to lose the name on your front door. It will take away your legacy. This one must be fixed.

I’ll see you at the Breakthrough Banking Blueprint Bootcamp where I’m going to show you how to get this done—because I can’t stand watching you suffer anymore.

Make sure you check in with me when you get there. I want to get to know who you are and how I can help—because I am committed to every community bank in this country keeping its independence. But you’ve got to be there so I can show you how.

See you there.

The post Why Your Team Can’t Charge Premium Pricing—And How It’s Killing Your Legacy [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

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.

The post News Flash—Markets Don’t Dictate Premium Pricing [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

Most community banks are trapped in a pricing death spiral. Match the rate or lose the deal. Cut margin or lose relevance. Meanwhile, a small group of banks quietly charges premium pricing—and their customers gladly pay it.

This video dismantles the myth that higher NIM automatically means higher risk. The truth? Banks that stop competing on rate reduce risk, stabilize margin, and protect independence.

Here’s what top-performing banks do differently:

• They stop selling products and start selling differentiated value that customers can’t price-compare.

• They identify who will pay premium pricing—and stop wasting energy on rate shoppers.

• They reposition the conversation so customers decide the value is worth far more than the price.

Big banks will always win the rate game. Community banks win by becoming boutique banks—high-value, high-trust, and unapologetically priced for the outcomes they deliver.

If your margin strategy depends on squeezing an extra 20 basis points, you’re already behind. That model doesn’t survive the next cycle.

This is the moment to rethink how pricing really works—and how elite banks escape the rate trap entirely.

Watch the full video to discover how premium pricing actually protects your margin—and your independence.

Watch now. 

Net interest margin—three of my favorite words. Why? Because it is such an important component of what takes a bank to the top of its peers.

Listen, if you’re tired of being average and competing on rate, there is a way out of that mess. I would suggest that the banks that don’t figure their way out of having to match rates are probably not going to maintain their independence going forward.

Let’s face it—there is more competition than ever, and banks are undercutting each other on pricing. And yet, there are those who command premium pricing. What do they do? What do they know?

Why won’t they tell you their secrets? Well, you need to know their secrets—how they position themselves, how they identify those who are likely to pay premium pricing, and how they arrange the situation such that the customer is telling them that what the bank brings that’s different is worth millions to them.

So when they charge twenty thousand dollars extra, it becomes the bargain of the century—taking them out of direct competition. The only thing they’re competing against is not having that special uniqueness the bank offers.

You think it can’t be done?

Well, maybe you should hang out with the folks who are getting it done. Because if you cannot suspend disbelief and aren’t willing to say, “Maybe there’s something we don’t know,” I can guarantee you this—you will continue to match rate.

Banks can’t continue to do that anymore. Let’s face it, the big banks have a competitive advantage in pricing. We can’t compete in that space.

But there will always be room for the community bank that becomes the boutique bank—the one that adds tremendous value, knows it’s worth more, and doesn’t say lame things like, “We have good people,” or “We’ve been around for 120 years.”

That won’t command more than twenty basis points more—and you can’t survive on twenty basis points.

This is the time to bring in additional pricing. So discover how to do that.

I’m teaching a special class on exactly how to do this. I hope I see you there.

The post Higher Net Interest Margin With Less Risk – Fact or Fiction? [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

In this week’s video, Roxanne Emmerich delivers a blunt wake-up call: overregulation isn’t the problem—execution is. Every bank faces the same regulatory environment. Only a small percentage choose to operate above it.

Top five percent banks stop complaining and start playing offense. They price loans for value, not fear. They build funding strategies anchored in non-interest-bearing deposits. And they execute a repeatable performance system—regardless of who’s in office or where rates land.

Here’s what separates the winners from the whiners:

• Premium pricing beats volume chasing when your credit discipline and value proposition are aligned

• Low-cost and no-cost deposits are built intentionally, not accidentally

• Top performers operate from a franchise system, not hope, hustle, or heroics

The market always rewards banks willing to execute at a higher level. It punishes those waiting for conditions to improve.

If you’re ready to stop reacting and start running your bank like the top five percent already do, this video will challenge your thinking—and your excuses.

Discover how elite banks win inside the same constraints you face.

Watch now. 

Are we overly regulated as an industry? You better believe it. And yet, when I get my CEOs together on Fridays, many of them are the top five percent performers in this country.

One of them said it best. He said, “You know what? I don’t care who gets elected. I don’t care who does whatever, because at the end of the day, I still have to go out, make some loans, bring in deposits, and make a profit for my shareholders. So all I can do is just do what I do best in a world of crazy.”

That’s a really good attitude. I got a lesson that day.

Stop whining about the overregulation.
Stop whining about the interest rates.
Stop whining about how hard it is to get people.

Go get good people. Go understand that all of your competitors have the same overregulation you have—and get on with it.

At some point, we’ve got to pick it up, put on our big boy pants and big girl pants, and get out there and get it done.

The world is always creating space for those who make good quality loans at premium pricing and bring in non-interest-bearing deposits to fund them. Those are the ones whose names end up on the door.

If you keep complaining about overregulation—unless you’re going to get in there and fix it, which for many of us you can’t—here’s the thing:

Overregulation will continue. But all you’ve got to do is make premium-priced loans and bring in low-cost or no-cost deposits, and the world is your oyster.

Join me at the next Breakthrough Banking Blueprint™ Bootcamp, where I’ll show you the blueprint the other top five percenters use.

They weren’t top five percenters until they discovered it.

Why wouldn’t you want the franchise system that has taken hundreds of banks to top five percent performance? If they can do it, you can do it.

Am I going to see you there? I hope so.

The post Life in the World of Over-Regulation [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

In this week’s video, Roxanne Emmerich cuts through the industry’s most dangerous habit: thinking expense‑cutting is a performance strategy. She exposes why efficiency ratios stay stuck, why cost‑cutting crushes culture at the exact moment you need discretionary effort, and why the top 5% of banks outperform—year after year—without layoffs or fear tactics.

You’ll discover how to:

• Shift from cost‑cutting to profit expansion by driving revenue and productivity per employee.

• Give every role a direct line‑of‑sight to profit with stage‑appropriate accountability that creates consistent wins.

• Build an extreme learning organization focused only on what ties directly to bottom‑line improvement.

If you want a team that drives profit instead of consuming it, this episode shows the system high‑performing banks use.

Watch now. 

Does your team know how they tie to profit? Really? Well, when a study was done of six thousand people, where they were asked, “Do you perform in the top ten percent?” over ninety percent of employees said that they performed in the top ten percent. So yes, we do have a problem. And yes, people do not understand how they tie to profit, but they think that they do.

And that’s a problem to be solved—and solved quickly. For so many banks, efficiency ratio is an important thing, and they—and we—always solve it with the wrong approaches. “Oh, let’s see if your pencil is short enough before you can have another pencil. Let’s cut every little expense.”

“Let’s cut payroll.” Well, what if we got more revenue out of every team member? What if we got people to be far more effective and productive at what they’re doing and had them really understand what profit looked like for their particular jobs? Yeah, it’s tricky to get people to understand something when they’ve had a lifetime of experiences where they believe that they’re tied to profit.

And yet, it is something that, as a leadership team, will be very important during challenging times because it’s really bad for your culture to cut people just when you need them to be engaged and alive and passionate and doing better work than they’ve ever done before. So now is a good time to figure out how your people tie to profit, how you build the systems, and how you get them accountable by stage-appropriate accountability—never measuring anything until they are winning—and always making sure they have the right education that works, where they immediately have a lift up in performance every time they learn something new.

That’s the new game of banking. If you look at the highest referring banks in America, they have something in common: their people know how they tie to profit, and they are extreme learning organizations, learning the right things that tie to profit.

The post How to Tie Everyone to Profit [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

In this week’s video, Roxanne Emmerich exposes why “false-attempt” sales training fails and reveals what truly transforms performance.

You’ll discover:

• Why your people’s reluctance to “sell” isn’t the real problem—it’s confidence.

• The three steps to transform sales culture from transactional to transformational.

• How to permanently boost low-cost deposits and cross-sales without losing authenticity.

If you’re tired of spinning your wheels with programs that never stick, this video shows you how to create a winning sales culture your team loves—and your bottom line will thank you for it.

Watch now. 

I believe that people don’t like hassles. Who does? Whether it’s at work, home, or out shopping, it’s a dangerous attitude among your people because it causes them not to put one hundred percent into their sales conversations.

In this session, I’m going to show you how your people—like many bankers before them who couldn’t but now do—can get six to seven cross-sales and all the deposits in a way that never feels salesy.

If you’re the kind of leader who has been preaching to the point of losing your voice about the need to get cross-sales of deposit accounts to make sure those accounts are both profitable and sticky, and you’re a bit fit to be tied at this point, you’re going to love this.

Or if you have some people who are getting the full deposit relationship but also have many who are simply transaction people because they’re taking orders and not owning the relationship, then this is a can’t-miss episode.

Then again, maybe you’re really feeling good about your team’s ability to get deposits, but you know there is so much more potential profit available if you can boost your low-cost deposits as a percentage of total deposits.

If you just change a few things, then you’ll enjoy this as well. As always, there is some work ahead and three challenges in particular that you need to look out for. Most banks have been doing internal or external sales training for years. Now, after all that money and time, when they’re really truthful, they’ve realized that it just isn’t working. When they see other banks that are now averaging six to seven cross-sales and mastering attracting low-cost deposits away from competitors, they know they just can’t give up—but they just can’t have another false attempt because the team is now doing the slow walk, thinking management will soon give up.

Still others are finding that most sales training is, well… salesy. That’s why so many people flock from the big banks to community banks. They felt the bank was inauthentic and felt violated. With that belief system in the way, their heels are dug in, and they don’t want to sell—period. That is leaving you between a rock and a hard place because you still need to fix this to stay competitive in the future against those who are getting it. Also, many bankers lack the skill to be a trusted advisor. They do have the product knowledge, but they don’t know how to really bring the type of extreme value that is necessary to be that person’s trusted advisor.

Most importantly, they lack skills and confidence—but it’s not their fault. There just hasn’t been good advice and a good system that helps them win.

Every bank is facing at least one of these. Join the club. Now let’s work together to knock the issues down one at a time. I’m now going to give you three steps to create an effective sales culture system program and, if necessary, change the culture at your bank.

Incidentally, I don’t believe sales training works. Sales training teaches people what to do. Sales education teaches them how to be. You simply can’t expect a transformation with sales training. So let’s get going on this so you can get some sales breakthroughs in a few short weeks.

Step One:
In in-and-out sales training, a training cycle lasts a few months, and then—if there was any increase—you can count on it going away within a few short months.
To generate sustained positive results in sales, you need a cultural transformation to get people winning and loving it. To do that, it needs extreme integration with a well-thought-out, long-term, intentional, congruent system. You’ve heard the sad story from thousands of bank execs who attempted sales training only to find it didn’t work—unless you define working as the carnage of losing a third of their team. It’s not their fault. Sales training companies keep selling as if it could work.

One sales training company actually put a client’s logo on their website after two years of losses in their sales training attempts. After just a few years of their process, they are now performing in the S&L top 100 performers. Sadly, unsuspecting bankers see the logo and think they can actually create good results with their sales training. Have you ever heard a bank executive tell you that sales training’s impact was doubling or tripling cross-sales while getting dramatic growth with premium pricing on better-quality customers? As they say—said no banker ever.

Step Two:
Unlike so many false-attempt sales training programs, you have to get your people to come from their heart space—a place of extreme caring for the customer. With that as a base, they can then learn to ask questions in the order of how people like to buy what they need. Until they get the impact of what they are really doing—saving marriages from divorce due to fighting over money, helping people retire with ease, and guiding businesses to good fiscal management—they are always feeling as if it’s salesy, and the client will feel it too.

Step Three:
Create an ever-increasing accountability and visibility system. Most sales programs end up causing at least a third of the team members to run for the hills. That’s completely unnecessary and very unproductive. The problem is that sales training must be integrated with a true understanding of cultural transformation at a deep level where people are learning how to be, holding each other accountable, celebrating successes, and learning to live their word by understanding that their promises and their commitments are how they reveal their character.

The key is that every day and every week, as the blended learning of online/offline coaching and practicing happens—integrated with a management system and stage-appropriate accountability—a predictable weekly improvement is imminent. Remember, you don’t have a sales training issue; you have a confidence issue.

Again, three steps to a solid foundation of community bank sales culture transformation:

Step One: Ongoing cultural transformation with extreme integration
Step Two: Get team members at cause to bring extreme value—from transactional to transformational
Step Three: Develop a progressive accountability and visibility system that builds confidence

By doing this, you can sleep at night knowing your well-educated team can connect with prospects and customers effectively, attract all the deposits that you need consistently, and unhook from the dependence on results based on the economy or rate environment. Instead, you can have a system that makes you feel like you know you can consistently win—and you’ll have the pride of making all of that happen quickly and sustainably.

The post The Dangers of False-Attempt Sales Training [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

In this video, Roxanne Emmerich dismantles the “rate-match or lose” myth and replaces it with a hard-edged framework for extreme differentiation that commands premium pricing on both sides of the balance sheet. She breaks down the four levels of USPs—from weak “we give great service” claims (Level 1) and easily copied features (Level 2), to elite expertise (Level 3) and, ultimately, proprietary, client-valued processes (Level 4) that buyers say are worth 10× your fee increase.

You’ll discover:

• NIM lift without apology: How Level-4 USPs enable +150–200 bps over competitors while holding deposit costs in check.

• De-commoditize on contact: A sales motion that monetizes your USPs and shuts down “Can you match the rate?” before it’s asked.

• Cycle-proof stickiness: Evidence, certification, and process that keep top customers loyal in any environment.

If you’re done subsidizing competitors with your value, this is your blueprint to escape margin compression and become the bank that top customers chase.

Watch now. 

What if you could use extreme differentiation to get 150 basis points or more on the loan side and improve your deposit pricing at the same time? If you’re the kind of leader who feels strongly that you can follow the herd that believes net interest margin compression is inevitable, you’re going to love this. Or if you have some lenders who get premium pricing but are frustrated that others still fall back to rate matching, you’ll want to watch this. Or maybe you’ve given up on getting premium pricing because you believed the conventional wisdom that banking is a commodity that you’ve heard at the industry conferences—and if so, this is for you.

Here’s why: When you get it, you’ll have a blueprint for catapulting yourself past the three biggest problems in banking right now. One: customers that love you and leave you for better rates. Two: customers believe you’re a commodity, and you might not be giving them a reason to think differently. And three: your people mean well and offer great service, but they don’t know how to sidestep the whole rate-conversation trap. Every bank is facing these three.

Today you will learn about four levels of USPs—and why you need dozens of these. But to get extreme premium pricing, you need to create level-four USPs. Level-one USPs offer basic differentiation. If you’ve ever believed that “great customer service” was your key differentiator, then you’re working with a level-one USP. Level-two USPs are gadgets and products. Your super-duper free checking, your nifty online banking site, your instant-approval mortgage are all level-two USPs. You need them, but they’re too easy to copy.

Level-three USPs are where it gets juicy. They are the special education and certifications that matter to discerning customers and put you in a league of elite bankers all your own. And level-four USPs are the pinnacle. They are the proprietary processes that clients tell you are worth at least ten times more than the additional amount that you charge. These take you way out of the commodity world.

Flex your level-four USPs with a sales process designed to monetize it, and you’ll pull away your competitors’ best customers at 150 basis points or more. Some of our banks regularly average at least 200 basis points more than what their competitors get, so don’t tell me it can’t be done. Also, you’ll have the peace of mind that you are profitable and safe during good times and bad.

What if you could use your USPs in your sales process to make sure you never hear those ugly words, “Can you match the rate?”—so you and your people can feel the confidence of knowing that you are an elite, prestigious organization worth more. Get your USPs right and stop worrying about what the economy or desperate competitors do to your profits. That’s for those other banks.

The post Master the Four Levels of USPs [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

If “our people just need to do more” actually worked, you’d already be at 8.0 cross-sales per customer—and popping champagne every month.
But you’re not.
Because knowing doesn’t drive results. Systems do. Culture does. Accountability does.

In this video, we expose the lie holding banks back—and reveal how the Top 5% of performers are engineering consistent sales growth with one non-negotiable:
They treat cross-sales like oxygen.

You’ll discover:

• Why your bank’s efficiency ratio is quietly begging for a cross-sales system.
• The daily habits top banks use to triple results in under 12 months.
• How one CEO (Keith Knudsen) took a “good” bank and made it award-winning, without adding staff.

If you’re tired of stagnant sales, culture-by-memo, and lukewarm results…this is your blueprint.

Let’s talk about the lie that keeps banks stuck:

“Our people know what to do—they just need to do more of it.”

If that worked, you’d already be at 8.0 cross-sales per customer and celebrating like it’s your birthday every month.

But you’re likely not.
Because knowing doesn’t change performance.
Systems do. Culture does. Measurement does.

If your team isn’t living cross-sales every single week…
If cross-sales are stuck in neutral or limping along at 2.2 which is average
It’s not your people.
It’s the system (or lack of one).

Here’s the truth:
Cross-sales are the single most underleveraged profit driver in most banks today.

• They boost deposit quality
• They create stickier relationships
• They let you justify premium pricing
• They protect your base when competitors knock
• And to transform your efficiency ratio as a lovely surprise

But for most banks, cross-sales are a hope and a memo.

“Let’s do better.”
“Remember to ask the extra question.”
“Don’t forget to go for the add-on.”

Meanwhile, nobody tracks.
Nobody celebrates.
Nobody owns the number.

So nothing moves.

The banks in the Top 5% of performance, or Top 5 Percenters as I like to call them, have one big difference:
They treat cross-sales like oxygen.

👉It’s part of every daily huddle
👉 Every team member knows their number
👉 There’s accountability AND celebration
👉 And the culture is trained to build value first—then earn the sale

Most banks tripled cross-sales in less than 12 months…
Not because they had better people.
But because they had better systems, better rhythms, and a culture that refused to coast.

Now—incidentally…

One of the best examples of this transformation? Keith Knudsen.

His bank wasn’t broken. It was good. But good wasn’t the goal. Greatness was.

And within one year:
💥 Cross-sales tripled
📈 Sales consistency became cultural
🚀 The team locked in above 8—and never looked back

“We created a performance culture so strong,” Keith told us, “that the results were the by-product—not the goal.”

And the story doesn’t end there.

Keith is going to break it all down—step by step—in our next episode of the Top Gun CEO Interview Series on May 20.

If you’ve ever:

• Struggled to move cross-sales
• Felt alone in trying to drive culture
• Wondered, “Is there actually a system that works?”

Then block the time. Because what Keith shares will make your next leadership meeting feel like halftime at a comeback Super Bowl.

Yes, we’ve had execs tell us they’re literally watching these Top Gun interviews with their execs with popcorn—because they finally have hope and the how-to’s.

Now… it’s no surprise Keith’s bank was also named one of the Extraordinary Bank of The Year—the highest level of Banky Award.

That’s not a PR stunt.
It’s what happens when performance meets purpose—and someone has the guts to install the systems and demand the execution.

The Banky Award isn’t about ego.
It’s about positioning.
It gives your team a flag to rally around… and your prospects a reason to choose you at full price.

So if you’re delivering results like this—or you’re ready to—
Don’t sit back and clap for the winners. Be one.

Click here to join us May 20 for the Top Gun Interview with Keith Knudsen.

Apply for the Banky Award and position your bank where it belongs.

Results aren’t random. They’re engineered.
And on May 20, you’ll see exactly how one of the best in the business did it—step by profitable step.

Show up. Take notes. Bring popcorn.
Let’s make banking legendary again.

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post How to Triple Cross-Sales, Light a Fire Under Your Team, and Finally Hit the Numbers You Know Are Possible appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

This is not about vague best practices for community banks or watered-down customer service claims. It’s about installing systems, creating a performance culture in banks, and aligning every role to profitability.

We’ll dive into how top-performing banks build culture as a core product, use the right metrics, and leverage awards like the Banky Award to position themselves as elite in their market. Watch the video below to discover how your bank can elevate its performance.

There’s nothing noble about working harder than your competitors unless it actually works. But for most banks, it doesn’t. The top one percent of banks, they’re not working harder. They’re working smarter with systems, culture, and leadership alignment that pull results like a magnet. Let me show you what they’re doing and how you can do that too. Now let’s be honest.

Best practices in banking have been watered down to meaning, well, nothing. Every bank claims great customer service. Every team says they’re relationship-based. Every CEO says our people are our biggest asset. So if everyone’s saying the same thing, why are only a few actually crushing it? Because the top performers don’t talk practices. They install them systematically, relentlessly, measurably.

One of our clients was buried in margin pressure. They couldn’t move pricing. Cross sales were dead in the water. They trained their people twice and still got no lift.

But then we installed the breakthrough banking blueprint performance system. Cross sales up three hundred percent. Net interest margin up a hundred and twenty basis points. Team alignment locked in.

And today, they’re one of the best banks in America.

Incidentally, you might have seen them on stage receiving the Banky Award from the Institute for Extraordinary Banking. But here’s the part most banks miss. They didn’t win the Banky to feel good. They won it because it was smart business.

The Banky isn’t a trophy. It’s a tool. It separates you from the B2 banks. It gives your team a reason to step it up.

It gives your prospects proof that you are elite in your market. And let’s face it, it’s a lot easier to close deals and command premium pricing when you can say, “we’ve been recognized as one of the best banks in America.”

So what do the top banks actually do differently? They build culture like it’s a core product. They tie every role to profitability. They own the pricing conversation. They use metrics that matter.

Here’s a little hint. How many new accounts that you’ve brought in is not one of those metrics? They compete on value, not rate, and, yes, they leverage positioning through the Banky Award to build prestige and close the deal.

Apply for the Banky Award: Position Your Bank at the Top

If you’re already doing the work and if your bank is walking the talk on performance and leadership and if you’re ready to let the world know that you’re in a different class, apply for the Banky Award now. Position your bank where it belongs, at the top. Because these days, being great isn’t good enough. Being seen as great is everything. Don’t let the almost-best banks grab the spotlight that you’ve earned. Go to BankyAwards.com and make sure that you nominate your bank. And we’ll see you in September at the Best Banks in America Super Conference.

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post What the Top 1% of Banks Do That the Other 99% Still Don’t Get appeared first on The Emmerich Group.

In this sharp, no-fluff video, Roxanne Emmerich lays out exactly how the top 5% of banks are outpacing the competition with bank margin growth strategies that don’t depend on rate specials or CD gimmicks.

You’ll get a sneak peek of what’s coming in her next Top Gun CEO Interview featuring Charlie Holland—a CEO whose team is pulling in low-cost deposits weekly, and driving serious net interest margin growth without touching rate sheets.

Roxanne shares how elite banks are rewriting the rules using a high-performance ALCO strategy for banks that makes margin a system, not a stat.

If you’re serious about increasing bank profitability, engineering low-cost deposit acquisition, and getting your team out of “hope and cope” banking mode… this preview is your warning shot—and your invitation.

Watch the Preview: How Top 5% Banks Engineer Margin Growth

Roxanne Emmerich on the ALCO shifts, deposit strategies, and system changes driving the top banks forward.

Net interest margin is tighter than your aunt’s perm in a rainstorm… and if your bank’s waiting on the Fed to bail you out—congrats, you’re officially in ‘hope and cope’ banking.

But the Top 5%? They’re pulling in dream deposits, executing powerful bank margin growth strategies, and printing net interest margin like it’s 2019.

And in our next Top Gun CEO Interview, you’re going to see exactly how.

I’m Roxanne Emmerich, CEO of The Emmerich Group, founder of the Best Banks in America™️ Super Conference and chair of the Institute for Extraordinary Banking™️.

We’ve helped most banks increase bank profitability and improve net interest margin by over 150 basis points—without raising rates—and we do it by showing them what the elite already know:

👉 You don’t win by hoping. You win by engineering.
👉 And margin? It’s a strategy, not a stat.

Let me hit a nerve here.
If your ALCO strategy for banks is still asking:
“What can we do about margin?”
…instead of:
“What systems do we have in place that make our cost of funds a competitive weapon?”
You’re already losing.

One CEO told me recently:
“We used to match rates. Now we set them—and still win the business.”
THAT’S the game.

And one of the best players in that game?
Charlie Holland.

Charlie doesn’t just attract deposits.
He generates low-cost deposit acquisition WEEKLY in numbers most banks would call a banner quarter.

He’s not guessing.
He’s not hoping.
He’s doing it by design—and he’s spilling it all in our next Top Gun CEO Interview.

👉 The systems
👉 The team shifts
👉 The culture alignment
👉 The secret sauce that brings in deposits AND expands NIM

He’s walking into the room with a cigar and a smile…
…and other CEOs are scribbling notes like college freshmen during finals week.

There’s a reason Charlie’s team doesn’t lose business to “the guy down the street with a 10-basis-point CD bump.”

They’re not in the same league.

One competitor told me, “I don’t know what Charlie’s feeding his team, but they’re machines.”
(For the record: it’s not caffeine. It’s a system tied to profitability and margin growth.)

Meanwhile, some banks are still out here “training their people” like that alone is going to improve net interest margin.

(That’s like changing the tires on a car with no engine.)

If you’re serious about driving NIM, building a culture that attracts low-cost deposits, and operating like a Top 5% bank,
Then join me for the next Top Gun CEO Interview—where Charlie Holland gives you the play-by-play of how he actually does it.

✅ No fluff
✅ No theory
✅ Just results

👉 Click the link. Register now.

Because while others are watching the weather, you’ll be building the storm.

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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

The post How Top 5% Banks Drive NIM Through the Roof—Without Raising Rates [VIDEO] appeared first on The Emmerich Group.