I’ve got a question for you: are your people really selling?
You see in a snow storm, all the plows are busy. The snow plowing companies answer their phones, they take jobs that competitors can’t do because they’re too busy, and everybody thinks they are selling, but they’re not really selling—there happens to be a snow storm.
Right now there’s a bit of a snow storm in banking. Times are relatively good, so people are calling you and asking you to do business. There’s a danger in that and the danger is your people are not doing what they need to be doing. What they need to be doing is calling on your next best customers, as opposed to being reactive, dealing with the ones in front of them, that are coming to them just looking to see if perhaps you would do business with them. Those walk-ins end up wanting to negotiate rate, they tend to have other banks that they’re looking at at the exact same time, and oftentimes they are not the key prospects and the only sales job ever really done is when it’s taken to credit committee to say, “Can we do this deal, only if we meet these parameters?”
That’s not what selling is. Selling is not quoting, selling is not matching price, selling is not negotiating price, selling is not order-taking. It’s a proven process that creates loan growth with premium pricing, and brings in all the business. All designed for A+ quality credits to be brought in the door. That’s what selling really is. It’s a complete integration of a sales system. If you’re still managing sales people, as opposed to a sales system designed to make sure that the conversations they’re having are with the right people in the right order, covering the right things that create extreme differentiation for you to bring in all their business…unless that is being managed, the chance of you having really good sales results are slim to none. Pay attention to make sure that you are not just being responsive to what’s walking in the door, because the second it stops walking in the door, all bets are off.
Think of it this way—ask your lenders this: “In the morning when you wake up, are you busy?”
They’ll say yes. Then ask them, “Well, what did you skip this morning? Did you skip brushing your teeth or did you skip putting on your deodorant?”
They say, “No, I always do both.”
Well, great, we need to do two things at once here. Handle the current customers walking in, also handling up the clean-up that we have, and handling the right activities to bring in our next best customers. Unless we have disciplines to do those right things, nothing significantly good will happen over time.
Jim Rohn always said, “There are two pains in life: the pain of discipline and the pain of regret.”
The good news is you get to choose. Choose well to make sure that your sales system is designed to give points for calling on the right people in the right order, and get the premium pricing, and no points for taking orders.
Most board meetings are packed with data—but starved of strategic clarity. Discover how the top 5% of banks engineer boardrooms that drive performance, challenge respectfully, and align with breakthrough plans. This week’s episode reveals what high-performing CEOs do differently—and how you can bring that same power to your board.
Top banks play to win. Discover what they do differently—and why it starts with culture and strategy.
Most banks track performance after it’s too late. In this week’s video, Roxanne reveals the exact metrics Top Gun CEOs use to fix results before they lag.
Midyear banking strategy not working? Elite banks accelerate, not apologize. Here’s how to finish strong—with accountability, margin, and momentum.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
