Taking Ambitious Community Banks to a 
Let’s think through profitability for a second. Profitability has different meanings to different people because profitability by itself doesn’t mean much. When I first wrote the Profit-Growth Banking book before the last recession, I talked about how I’m not impressed by banks that grow fast. I’m not impressed by banks that are profitable.
What Is Your Conversion Rate From Inquiry to Customer? [VIDEO]
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…)
How to Create a Rockin Culture During Difficult Times [VIDEO]
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.
Your Team-Selling Checklist [VIDEO]
Team selling is the new “it.” But most banks get it all wrong, sadly. They think team selling is “I send Joe out with Susie, and Pat goes out with Jane … and everything is good.”
That is not team selling. Harvard Business Review had an instructive research-based article making the case that team selling is clobbering the traditional Maverick model.
But, hey, to get better results, you’ve got to do the team-selling process correctly, right?
The Great Money Migration: How Much Money Will Leave You [VIDEO]
We all got away in 2020 with not having to be out there calling on people all the time because we’ve been waiting for things to go back to normal.
For customers to walk into our lobbies again…to go back to the way it was.
But it doesn’t seem to be going back very quickly and certainly is never going to go back to the way it has been.
You’ve Seen This All Before [VIDEO]
In every recession, the same things happen. Deposits get difficult. Everyone’s fighting over those same dollars. They all need deposits. Regulators are coming in. They’re cranky, and they’re writing up banks. There are liquidity issues. Everybody gets desperate and tries to find deposits, just when they’re hardest to find. That doesn’t seem like a good strategy to me. (more…)
Where to Find Large Low-Cost Deposits Now [VIDEO]
Low-cost deposits are “it.” Having large, sticky, low-cost deposits with a large amount of cross-sales solves a plethora of problems.
When you increase your core deposits as a percentage of total deposits and have that metric continue to move up consistently and stay up, well…in the banking world, we call that the meaning of life.
As rates go back up and as the world gets a little bit crazier, it’s important to make sure that your bank has all the deposits it needs, and that you’re not paying through the nose or having to match rates as they’re going up.
High Performance Accountability Secret [VIDEO]
I just did a seminar today where I asked people, “What’s your biggest challenge?” “Accountability” always seems to be number one whenever that question is asked. No matter the bank—it seems to be universal. (more…)
Volatile Economy Exposes Mistakes [VIDEO]
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.
The Great Money Migration of 2021 [VIDEO]
Which side of the great money migration of 2021 will you be on?
There was a day when customers used to walk in your lobby—those were good days.
They loved you. They loved your people; your people would know how to greet them by name. They would be in relationships, sometimes they even hugged. Life was good.
Now they’re not walking into your lobby, and they haven’t been for pretty close to a year. After a year of only being connected by having an email sending out a statement, you’re pretty disconnected from a lot of your customers.