For Community Bankers Who Want More Sales

So, congratulations! You now have mobile banking. That’s good news…and it’s also horrible news.

You probably haven’t thought about the fact that now that we have half of the lobby traffic already removed from our banks, we’re about to drive away the rest of it.

So, something is going to have to change…and what that is, is that your people will need to be getting out and having conversations.

And they can’t have just any conversations—they have to have meaningful, powerful conversations with your most successful customers who are affluent and who don’t want their time wasted.

Now, how the heck is that going to work when we still haven’t been able to get 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 cross-sales on average on a new customer who came in to buy? How are you ever going to get your people prepared to have the conversations on a quarterly basis—at a minimum—to make sure they keep that relationship sticky and they own all the business?

Well, it’s going to take some changes. And it has to start with confidence.

So what’s step number one?

Step number one is that you have to figure out how to get cross-sales up in the next 3 to 4 months. You don’t have more time to wait.

We’ve been talking about this for the 30 years that I’ve been attending bank CEO conferences. But now is the time it has to happen.

Why? If you don’t have people who can get 6 or 7 cross-sales on average, how will they ever be able to influence and bring enough value to ever be invited back for another meeting with a top prospect? And if they can’t make that happen with a current top customer and really wow them by adding extreme value, how will they ever get the chance to talk to them again?

And, even worse yet—here’s the dilemma. If we can’t get them proficient at being able to go out and call on your next best customers, and on your current best customers, as well as all your other customers—and be able to bring in all of their business—those customers are at risk.

And somebody, somewhere is going to figure this out. Whether it’s an insurance company, a big bank or a brokerage firm, someone is going to figure out how to have those conversations.

So you don’t have time to waste.

Where do you start? By moving the needle quickly on cross-sales, and by making sure that people know how to have conversations that differentiate you and add extreme value to help them make sure that they’re on track with their financial goals.

So gone are the days of transactional banking—now we’re in the world of transformational banking. What an opportunity for those banks who get it!