Most bank CEOs tell me, we have great people, and yet, sometimes they suffer not such great efficiency ratios, return on assets, return on equity.

And what they’re really saying is we have good people, but they’re not great because they don’t know how they tie to profitability. Well, I get it. When I first started in banking, people showed me what to do, I moved things from the left side of my desk to the right side of my desk, and I thought that was the job. And I just did the job of the person who had the job before me, because that was the training that I got.  

I didn’t know there was another way, it wasn’t my fault, let me assure you it is not their fault. They don’t know what a Top 5 Percenter™ does.

They don’t know that instead of going out and calling on a whole bunch of potential accounts, that if they knew how to identify a Top 100 most profitable next account, that could bring in an extra six, or seven, or 12, or $13,000, of bottom line impact every single month after you bring it in. If they don’t know how to do that, that’s a problem. If they don’t know how to pull that customer away from your competitor, and get premium pricing and the entire relationship, that’s a problem.   

So instead, what are they doing? They’re walking up and down the street, calling on people or seeing what walks in the door. And as a result of it, they’re not bringing in the quality credits, they’re not bringing the entire relationship, and God forbid, if we ever have to match rate, again, that becomes a problem. It’s not just in sales within banks. Every person must understand how they tie to profit on a daily, weekly, monthly quarterly basis. But here’s the warning.  When you hold people accountable for outcomes, before they are ready, before they are winning, before they have the education, before they have the confidence, you’re going to have a mass exodus.  

I have followed hundreds of sales training companies who totally mucked up cultures within banking organizations, because they brought in the sales training and they said these are the goals and people should be hitting them, and if they don’t hit them, out you go.  Well, here’s the reality, no one thinks they can hit those goals. And the sales training is all done incorrectly. Because it feels like sales. 

When you’re a community bank, it should never feel like sales, it should feel like helping someone along to make a better financial decision for them, and to bring great value that far exceeds anything within your product line.

It’s a whole new world of banking, and those who get out of commodity banking, those who get out of the same old same old selling of products and understand that now, we have to bring true trusted advisor skill sets, are the ones who will make it.

If you want to be a Top 5 Percenter, you have to figure out how to take your people and elevate them to the skill set of two trusted advisors.   

I had a CEO of a bank recently who was going through my Trusted Advisor Certification and he said these words, “I thought I was a hotshot. I’ve been helping bank customers for 30 years. And now I’m taking this trusted advisor certification, and I’m realizing that I didn’t know what I didn’t know, and I really wasn’t very valuable at all.”

I’m thinking if a bank CEO says that, just imagine what’s going on with your team members as they’re going out their shluggin’ product lines, as opposed to truly becoming the only banker they’ll ever need.  

If you want to be a Top Five Percent performer, you’ve got to teach your team members to be the only bank that customers will ever need. 

To your continued success, 

Roxanne Emmerich 

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