Can Strategic Thinking Be Taught or Nurtured [VIDEO]
Banks don’t fail from a talent shortage—they fail from a thinking shortage. Discover how critical-thinking systems like the SIR Formula build your future executives now.
Welcome to the Top 5 Percenter™ Blog
Are Your Sales People Giving Away the Farm?
Unpaid consulting. What else can you call it? If your people are creating a plan for a prospect, running it past the credit committee and then not getting the deal, the expense has been hideously high and you feel a little… well… cheap. Don’t you?
Why? Because you’re doing unpaid consulting. That’s fine if you’re working for a planned non-profit. But if it’s profit you’re hoping for, it’s extremely expensive. And chasing your own tail doesn’t count as exercise.
So, how do you stop it? By following the profit-rich sales process by making sure your prospect is clearly following YOUR process… NOT their own. Your process requires that they commit to move ahead before you lift a finger.
Just because you haven’t done it doesn’t mean that you can’t. What’s the first step in the seven-step process? Getting the prospect to agree that they will follow your process. Then get ready to take them down the next six steps in sequence and keep the competitors from matching your price EVER again.
More From The Blog
A State of Gratitude [VIDEO]
A powerful Thanksgiving message on how gratitude shifts leadership presence, reframes pressure, and strengthens your bank’s performance culture.
How to Tie Everyone to Profit [VIDEO]
Most employees believe they’re top performers but can’t show how they drive profit. This episode shows how to tie every role to the bottom line, boost profit per FTE, and build a high‑performance culture in your community bank.
The Dangers of False-Attempt Sales Training [VIDEO]
Traditional sales training fails because it focuses on tactics, not transformation. Discover how to shift from sales training to sales culture and achieve lasting growth.
Master the Four Levels of USPs [VIDEO]
Escape commodity pricing. This episode shows how Level-4 USPs—proprietary, client-valued processes—let community banks command +150–200 bps and keep deposits loyal.
Stop Matching the Competition [VIDEO]
Rate matching drains margin. Install USPs that matter, differentiate, and promise explicit benefits—so buyers pay more without a price match.
Your Team Selling Checklist [VIDEO]
Tag-alongs aren’t team selling. Use this checklist to assign roles, split first vs. second call objectives, and run the pre-call prep that produces 85–90% close rates on top-100 prospects.
How Community Banks Deliver WOW Customer Service [VIDEO]
Most banks deliver “pretty good.” That’s not loyalty. This episode reveals a 3-step execution system—blended learning, measurement, coaching, and celebration—to engineer daily WOW service that sticks and grows deposits, margin, and community pride.
The Silent Profit Killer: How to Stop Rate Matching and Take Back Your Margin
Roxanne Emmerich exposes the hidden flaw in your strategy that’s quietly destroying net interest margin — and the proven path to take back your pricing power.
The AI Wild West
AI isn’t coming—it’s already here. Discover why most bank roles are now obsolete, and what your team must become to survive.