They are out there. They share the same firmographics and psychographics as those in your current portfolio with those balances, which makes them easy to identify. The problem is, most bankers don’t even know where to start looking. And because they don’t know, they’re not looking.

Easier said than done, I know. But it won’t happen at all if your team doesn’t know where those deposits are, how to get them, and how to get ALL of the cross sales that come with them to make sure those core deposits stay sticky. If those core deposits do not have the cross sales, they also vulnerable to walk at any time. Unfortunately, most people in retail departments have no idea how much more valuable a checking account is than a CD and they also don’t know how to find those accounts unless they stumble on the sidewalk and end up falling into the bank.

That has to change. The bank of the future is proactive instead of reactive in finding checking accounts, and it masters the fine art of poaching them from the competition.

Most people think it’s a given that all customers are rate sensitive. In fact, the more affluent the customer, the more they value services that save time and protect them from risks. If a customer values their time at $1000 per hour, as many who have large checking accounts do, do you really think that they are going to care much about pricing when they have a team of crackerjack bankers who can minimize risks to their business of cyber security, make sure they are locked down on employee embezzlement practices, and offer other valuable structures?

If you can save that person 8 hours a year in time and protect from the potential of a $250,000 loss—even if that potential of a loss is fairly remote—a really sharp business person doesn’t even want to be bothered with talking about the pricing.

The bank of the future will have specialists who can call on business accounts and regularly pop one million-dollar checking account after another. Another type of specialist will be masterful at cross sales and understanding financial planning, taxes, and asset protection. They will focus on wealthy mom-and-pops to add value in protecting their wealth and serve as private bankers to your top 100/1000 most profitable retail accounts.

And then there will be the beginning personal bankers who will have the bar raised high as they move from “service” folks to proactive financial consultants.

In the world of mobile banking where any bank that isn’t already achieving 6 to 7 cross sales on new accounts, bankers should be shaking in their boots about the lack of preparedness that they are facing.