With new regulations and decreased consumer demand cutting into branch profitability, banks are focusing on small business to recoup lost revenue and support branch expenses.

But  branch-based small business sales has been a perennial challenge that few banks have solved. Many business bank leaders are skeptical that even top branch managers – much less tellers – can become valuable small business sales people. 

Why?  Branch staff don’t know their banks’ small business products well enough.

A bank we’ve pseudonymed Abasto found a way to use tellers to boost small business sales.  After years of trying to get branch staff to sell the full suite of small business cash management products, Abasto realized that their extensive 40-product offer overwhelmed branch staff and hindered sales. Instead, Abasto narrowed the list of small business banking products offered through its branches, carefully pinpointing 14 products to sell through the branch.  This “less is more” approach increased the number of small business deposit product referrals originating from the branch by 30%.

Board members, get the details on how Abasto drove significant gains at the branch on our website, and share your thoughts about branch-based small business sales to help our guide our ongoing branch research.

Does your bank underestimate platform staff as a source of sales? What other solutions have you considered to boost small business sales through existing branch resources?

Branch staff aren’t always our best friends when it comes to driving business-banking revenue growth.  Let’s face it.  Branch staff are overwhelmed by other tasks and attrite frequently; those dollars you invest in training them to sell to and serve small business customers are unlikely to yield meaningful returns.

So how are business banks supposed to grow small business revenue through the branch when the primary branch sales channel isn’t dependable?

We profiled a bank that developed a unique support center that helps branch staff respond quickly and confidently to small business requests. Read More »

Members frequently ask how they can spot high potential RMs when recruiting new talent. A less common but equally important question is, “How can business banks retain and motivate the top performing RMs that they already have?”

During our upcoming webinar on December 15^th (or Friday, December 16^th if you are in the Asia-Pacific region), we will compare the profiles of the best versus average performing relationship managers. This webinar is designed to help you identify high potential RMs and tailor support and engagement efforts based on what motivates RMs at different performance levels.

Our analysis is still in progress, but a couple findings have caught our attention thus far: 

1. A one-size-fits-all engagement strategy does not work. We have discussed how the best behaviors for RMs differ between small business and middle market segments. It makes sense, then, that small business and middle market RMs also differ based on what they want and how to retain them. Regardless of performance level, small business RMs want more support on credit, whereas middle market RMs say they need much more support on needs identification.
2. Top performers want more upward mobility and variable pay potential; core performers focus on base salary and credit authority. When we asked middle market RMs what they looked for when evaluating other job opportunities, the top producers say they focus on variable pay and the possibility for upward mobility or input in strategic decisions. Average performers look more at salary and credit authority. These findings suggest that top RMs are well-aware of their capabilities and are ready to advance to the next level. Average RMs, on the other hand, are less confident that they could benefit from a boost in variable pay and tend to focus more on what could make them a better RM (such as more credit authority) rather than a promotion.

Members can register for the webinar at our website. We hope that you will join us for this presentation, and we invite you to please share your perspectives on how to engage and retain different types of relationship managers. 

Faced with limited demand opportunities, it is imperative that RMs execute flawlessly during critical moments in the customer relationship. However, we’ve found that 85% of middle market RMs and 70% of small business RMs gravitate to actions that are actually detrimental to goal achievement.

For example: 

Middle market RMs focus too much of their cross-sale conversations on uncovering new customer needs instead of discussing the credit process and evaluation needed for the customer to acquire the solution. 

When convincing a prospect to move their most critical financial product to the bank, small business RMs overinvest in explaining how the bank works with other customers instead of explaining the operational benefits of the purchase to the customer’s business.

To help RMs succeed now, business bank executives must provide coaching and support through these critical moments in the customer relationship.

Join us for our November 16^th webinar Bringing Precision to the Relationship Manager Job  where we’ll outline seven ways you can help your RMs, including:

• How sales managers can coach RMs to identify actions that help or hurt their performance.
• How banks can provide support, infrastructure, and processes that will enable RMs to perform the best behaviors.

Our analysis of the optimal role of the RM shows RM performance during critical moments is often the difference between meeting or missing their goal.  For small business RMs, responding to service requests is one of these critical customer moments.  But we find success or failure depends on how effectively RMs put these service requests into the hands of others in their organization.

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RMs most likely to hit goal hand off service requests to appropriate bank staff, exerting minimal personal involvement in resolving requests, while RMs least likely to hit their goals are reluctant to hand off requests and often follow up with bank staff to ensure service requests are resolved.  More than 70% of small business RMs fit this profile.

 Why?

It’s a matter of trust (or a lack thereof). Read More »

Regular BBBEdge readers might remember a post from a few weeks ago in which we shared the best behaviors for small business and middle market RMs. The key to RM performance, it turns out, is not whether RMs achieve a grand, overarching role such as the Trusted Advisor but the extent to which they exhibit very specific (and sometimes surprisingly simple) behaviors during the moments that matter most.

Since then, many members have embraced these findings as a great way to prioritize coaching efforts and help struggling RMs understand what they need to differently. But when thinking about embedding these findings in the broader sales process, many members say they face an up-hill battle to define and enforce the expected behaviors for all RMs.

A bank we profiled a couple of years ago under the pseudonym Poseidon Bank implemented a detailed sales process that told RMs explicitly what they needed to do and when. A few of the takeaways that Poseidon executives shared about why the practice was a success are:

• Get Buy-In from Current and Future High Performers: Poseidon leaders evaluate current high performer behaviors to help define the sales process and standards for what all other RMs should do. But the bank goes a step further and solicits feedback on the draft behaviors from high potential RMs. When these RMs agree to these behaviors, say they make sense, and can be achieved, Poseidon leaders know that they can have a truly effective sales process that all RMs can support.
• Specify Rules for the Entire Sales Process (and All Sales Roles): Poseidon sets clear rules for each step of the sales process – from prospecting to post sales follow-up – and for each sales role – including assistant RMs, sales managers, and even up to regional managers. The level of detail helps staff understand exactly what to do, when, and how often. Furthermore, because each role has specific rules, everyone’s accountable to the sales process. 

Developing and implementing a new, uniform sales process requires time, but Poseidon’s experience shows that it can be done. Within 3 years, nearly 80% of the bank’s entire sales force adhered to the defined sales process. 

Board members, read more about Poseidon’s work and review the top do’s and don’ts for small business and middle market RMs on our website.  

The role of the RMs has become ever more complex in the post crisis environment. RMs are tasked with prospecting and securing limited demand opportunities, underwriting more complex and risky credit, and providing exceptional service to existing customers. Business banking executives are realizing that RMs cannot do it all and this enormous workload is impeding their ability to drive sales. Learn how one bank pioneered this effort by instituting a service support role to enable the RM to focus less on service and more on revenue-generating activities.

Challenge: The service responsibilities of the RM at McLaren Bank (pseudonym) were becoming an increasingly overwhelming function of the RMs’ job. As a result, RMs were spending considerably less time prospecting and generating new sales for the bank. Although McLaren executives had established additional service channels to support their RMs, they estimated that 70 percent of the service requests entering the bank still needed offloaded from the RM to enable them to focus on sales.

Solution: After a careful evaluation of the weaknesses in their service channels, McLaren executives were able to provide RMs with effective service support by instituting the role of the customer service professional. As a peer to the RM, the customer service professional complements the RMs’ sales role by assuming responsibility for all of the non-revenue generating activities in the customer relationship. To effectively address customers service-related needs, the customer service professional maintains customer contacts and interacts with them routinely. Developing the role of the customer service professional enabled RMs at McLaren Bank to double the amount of customer facing time spent on revenue generating activities.’

Board members, learn more about McLaren’s customer service professional at our website.

We on the Board’s research team rely heavily on our members’ feedback to direct and guide our research agenda, and we poll our membership regularly to understand the top-of-mind challenges and how we can help. For example, our latest poll revealed that over 60% of members from around the world were focused on coaching and sales management effectiveness but not confident in their ability to perform well in this area. To help, we have worked hard to identify best practices on how to coach RMs and help them target high potential customers.

We invite you to again share your top priorities and provide your feedback on how the Board can support you. Today’s business bank executives face high goals and are tasked with sifting through many investment opportunities and deciding on the best investment and path to success for the upcoming year. The Board is here to help with another installment of our Survey of Business Bank Executive Priorities. Please participate, tell us how we can best support you and your team as you prepare for 2012, and see how other bank leaders are investing for the upcoming year.

Today’s uncertain economic environment means that RMs need to make the most of every sales visit, every interaction. Precision matters more. Getting the small things right can make the difference between making goals and not.

For example: 

• Contact can win (or lose) you customers. It’s no surprise. Frequent contact with an RM drives purchasing.  RMs who maintain contact with existing customers generate cross-sales, and those who persist in following-up with prospects win new business.
• Problem resolution attracts buyers. How customers perceive a bank’s ability to resolve problems has a huge effect not only retention but also future purchases. On its own, an RM’s ability to ensure a seamless and transparent problem resolution experience generates better outcomes than an RM focused on providing exceptional advice and solutions.

On Friday, September 30^th, the Board will be hosting a webinar for members and sales managers during which we will present the key findings on what drives business owner loyalty and sales, and what RMs can do to influence these outcomes. We intend this webinar to be a quick-hitting overview of what matters, what works (and what doesn’t) to help your RMs compete more effectively in today’s difficult market. Please join us.

When implementing bank wide marketing strategies, many banks often struggle with developing individual, cross-functional, and organizational support. Inability to address these challenges can hinder initiatives that can increase cross sales. See how one bank overcame these operation difficulties when implementing a bank wide needs identification protocol for small business customers.

Challenge: Sperry Bank’s (pseudonym) implementation of a centralized customer insight protocol for small business customers was tempered by operational challenges affecting the initiative’s success. These challenges included bank staff that did not fully understand their responsibilities, silos that acted in isolation of each other, the organization’s inability modify the marketing campaigns as needed, and the lack of performance measures to demonstrate success.

Solution: In order to implement a centralized customer insight protocol, Sperry Bank institutionalizes the marketing initiative by developing broad organizational support and cooperation. Creating this organization support and cooperation required:

• Establishing clear staff roles and instituting expert needs identification specialists to complement the RM sales function.
• Creating a marketing council of staff and marketing experts to prioritize opportunities and ensure an organizational consensus around programs.
• Tracking the results of each program to allow for adjustment or termination.
• Developing performance metrics to scientifically measure success of various strategies.

As a result of institutionalizing customer insight generation, Sperry Bank was able to develop needs identification profiles and effectively target customers; increasing the number of loan approvals from 45% to 80%.

Board members, learn more about Sperry Bank’s institutionalized customer insight protocols here.