Halfway Is No Excuse
Midyear banking strategy not working? Elite banks accelerate, not apologize. Here’s how to finish strong—with accountability, margin, and momentum.
Welcome to the Top 5 Percenter™ Blog
The Counter-Intuitive Secret to Attracting Better Customers
Fortune cookies and horoscopes are miracles of marketing. They predict something that happens to almost everyone every day (“You will meet someone new”) and somehow make you feel like it was written just for you.
Well, sometimes. That worked a lot better when I was ten. Nowadays I’m not likely to be impressed unless every Sagittarius on Earth is run over by a guy named Keith on the same Tuesday afternoon.
On the personal level, I’d like to see a fortune cookie that starts off, “Hey Roxanne! Gorgeous jacket.” I’d look down (“How did it know?!”) and then keep reading. How could I not?
Modern marketing works the same way. Gone are the days when vague “fortune cookie” messages pitched to the common denominator have any real chance of success. Yet most financial institutions are still using the global marketing, getting a predictably low ROI, then doing it again. And again.
If you insist on spending your resources marketing to everybody, go ahead—but know that 80 percent of them will TAKE money from your bottom line instead of adding to it.
You’ll get a far better return by taking the time to identify the other 20 percent—those who will put money INTO your pocket. Do it by identifying three or four very specific markets you’d like to pursue—possibly based on past successes—then tightly tailoring tactics and messages for each of them.
A given commercial lender might decide to target fast-growth manufacturers, service businesses with fewer than 50 employees, and family-owned and operated businesses. A given community bank might have identified two-income families with kids as one of its best targets and seniors in deluxe senior housing as another. It could be just about anything, but it must be a specific group with shared and identifiable needs and concerns.
Once you’ve identifying the markets, don’t go off half-cocked. Slapping a person’s name on the top of a global message does not a tailored message make. The content itself must be tailored, not just the form. Do the legwork to learn their concerns, their habits, and their preferred means of contact—THEN hit them with a focused, personalized message that will wow them like no horoscope ever could.
If you don’t take my advice…I foresee grave difficulties in your future. Possibly involving a one-armed man, but that part’s fuzzy.
More From The Blog
Top Bank Doubled Revenue with 1/3 Fewer Staff—Here’s How
Toxic conflict is quietly draining your profits.
Most banks reach for generic culture fixes and miss the root cause—low emotional intelligence and zero accountability. Discover how the best banks use healthy dissension to crush drama, boost performance, and lead the industry in profitability.
Bank Drama is Draining Your Profits—Here’s the Proven Fix
Toxic conflict is quietly draining your profits.
Most banks reach for generic culture fixes and miss the root cause—low emotional intelligence and zero accountability. Discover how the best banks use healthy dissension to crush drama, boost performance, and lead the industry in profitability.
Are You Paying Millions for Loyalty to Underperformers?
Too many banks protect tenure over performance—and bleed millions in the process. In this video, discover how elite CEOs fix their net interest margin by rapidly developing young talent into trusted advisors.
Your Bank’s Culture Is Quietly Costing You Millions—Here’s How to Fix It.
Most banks try to fix productivity issues by hiring more staff—but that only inflates expenses. This eye-opening video reveals why your culture may be quietly draining millions from your bottom line and how one Top Gun CEO doubled his bank’s size with fewer employees by engineering a culture of clarity, accountability, and high performance.
How to Build an Accountability Culture in Banking | The Banky Award Difference
Most banks don’t have a performance problem—they have a pretending problem. When people pretend not to see standards or hear deadlines, accountability culture in banks...
Your Marketing Isn’t Broken. Your Positioning Is.
Most banks never see it coming—the hidden sales leak that quietly kills momentum and stalls growth. Discover how top-performing banks fix it fast, triple cross-sales, and build teams that drive results without pushing harder.
How to Triple Cross-Sales, Light a Fire Under Your Team, and Finally Hit the Numbers You Know Are Possible
Most banks never see it coming—the hidden sales leak that quietly kills momentum and stalls growth. Discover how top-performing banks fix it fast, triple cross-sales, and build teams that drive results without pushing harder.
What the Top 1% of Banks Do That the Other 99% Still Don’t Get
In this video, I discuss how the top 1% of community banks are not working harder than their competitors—they’re working smarter. By leveraging a high-performance...
How Top 5% Banks Drive NIM Through the Roof—Without Raising Rates [VIDEO]
Net interest margin is under pressure—and if your bank is still waiting on rate changes to save your profitability, you’re already behind. In this sharp, no-fluff...
