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By
Jack Hubbard
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2006 Business Banking Survey Results
Don
Peters and Martha Rogers, Ph.D.s “How long will it take us to start seeing a lift in sales?” What training consultant hasn’t heard that question from a CEO or senior executive? We do indeed live in a NOW world. We Mapquest everything to find the quickest route, we listen to Jim Kramer tell us how to make a quick return, and we can even see a two-minute replay of The Office in case we were out and didn’t want to take the time to TiVo it. Perhaps a better question than the one about lift is: “How can we sustain our effort for the long haul?” Part of the answer to that question may reside in the results of our unscientific Business Banking survey conducted in the August 2006 Conversation Signposts. Below are the results. 1. Our bank has an articulated Business Banking sales process:
2. As a sales producer, I follow the articulated sales process:
3. As a sales manager, I connect the sales process to my sales management routines:
4. The following tools are available for my use in our Business Banking Sales Culture:
5. The following tools are USED in our Business Banking Sales Culture:
6. In descending order, my Business Banking priorities for 2007 are:
These numbers mostly speak for themselves. There is clearly still an issue in business banking around building and sustaining a viable sales process. Part of that is the result of the “sound bite”, immediate gratification world we live in. There is a need to show good numbers quarter after quarter. If only people would realize that it is the sales process that can actually make that happen. As a comparison, “Understand What Your Sales Manager is Up Against” in the July Harvard Business Review, points out that 39% of authors Jim Dickie’s and Barry Trailer’s survey respondents say that their companies’ sales process are used less than 50% of the time. Their data goes on to point out that high performing companies that are engaged regularly in a sales process far outdo their competition in accurately targeting pre-clients, properly qualifying leads, selling on value, and effectively introducing new products. The fact is, having and using a sales process actually saves time versus takes time. Another issue that jumps out as one looks at these results, is the disparity between the tools available and the tools being used in the field. The biggest surprise of all was the lack of organized Onboarding tools in place and the even lower percentage of bankers that were using the process. So much has been written and said about the power of an integrated approach to welcoming new clients when they begin their relationships with the bank that it is shocking that more banks have not taken advantage of this approach. From a client experience standpoint and for cross-solving opportunities, Onboarding is a great place to start. Anything else jump out at you from these numbers? |
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That’s Your Marketing Strategy? That’s It? By
Jerry Hocutt, President Fall is in the air. Crisp autumn days. The smell of leaves burning in piles under the outreached skeleton arms of trees. Football, eggnog. Children laughing. Caroling. Once-a-year marketing. Once-a-year marketing? Sadly, it’s true. The holidays seem to be one time when every banker reaches out to clients for something other than a product push, while the competitors are given carte blanche to woo their assets (yes, your client is your greatest asset) the other 364 days. Mark Stevens in Your Marketing Sucks, says that companies “have collected key information about customers–names, addresses, and e-mail addresses–and then they do nothing with it, other than to send out the occasional brochure or circular. That’s dumb–and lazy.” Stevens adds, “cross-sell them with a simple postcard, letter, something…” Are You Cardworthy? Quickly, name every company that sent you a holiday card last year. Name three. Who knows? Who cares? Plus, many people you bought something from this past year have never connected with you since you walked out the door. You didn’t even make their holiday short list. How does that make you feel? How do your clients feel when you do the same to them? How many times did you go through your mailing list to make sure your best clients were included? As you went over the names, weren’t you asking yourself, “Now who deserves a card from us this year? Who is cardworthy?” If you swept up all the names from your culled list and turned them over to your competitors, what do you think they’d do with them? Their fingers aren’t walking to call your clients–they’re sprinting! Relationship Skills Are More Prized Than Selling Skills Having been a sales trainer since 1992 with our nationally acclaimed Cold Calling for Cowards® seminars, I’ve been asked how important is the relationship in selling? Cold calling is the scariest thing to do in sales. Selling is the easiest. Building relationships is the hardest. If you have a service that is not exactly best-in-breed, but the client or pre-client likes you and trusts you, you’ve got a good shot at getting the business. Jeffrey
Gitomer (The Little Black Book of Connections) says that There are two reasons people in business fail to stay connected: A) they don’t have a plan and B) they’re lazy (see Your Marketing Sucks above). Strengthening relationships to keep clients is money in the bank. A Bain & Company study published in the Harvard Business Review shows that every U.S. company will lose 50% of their clients every five years. At the same time, a 2% client retention rate is equivalent to cutting sales costs by 10%. Gitomer says the reason you can’t steal your competitors’ clients is because they have a better relationship with them than you do. Conversely, the reason you lose your clients is because your competitors have come in and done what you should have been doing. So What’s the Plan? What’s your strategy to stay connected? What’s your plan to create a program that will: A) deepen relationships, B) turn pre-clients into clients, and C) get your clients to advocate for you? In 1989, b.i.e. (before Internet and e-mail), I went to my local printer and had my Just a Thought…™ postcards made that I could send to every client and every pre-client every month. Not one of those mundane, mind-numbing postcards with a picture of my product, my building, or myself. People hate that. It’s boring and articulates no value. My postcards had to meet three objectives. They had to be read, saved, and shown to others. That meant they had to be fun, short, and entertaining. Being a photographer, each card had a picture I took with a funny, thoughtful, or entertaining quote to support the picture. I wanted people to look forward to receiving my cards each month. Something they’d pass around the office. You can do the same thing and create your own cards. The postcards are dynamite. After signing up the largest restaurant chain in Seattle, I asked Dave, the comptroller, “Why did I get your business?” “Because,” he said, “you kept sending me, our president, our sales manager, and our executive chef your darn Just a Thought…™ postcards. They’re a lot of fun. We’ve had more contact with you these last six months than we’ve had with our current vendor.” Postcards keep you connected. Since the postcards were fun, a North Seattle school district made copies of them on their copier and sent them to all 38 schools in their district every month. The postcards were posted on the bulletin boards (because they were entertaining) in the teachers’ lounges and remained there as the schools made collections of them. Thousands of pairs of eyes saw my postcards every month. I made hundreds of sales–from one postcard a month. The postcards graduated me from keeping connected to my clients to creating viral marketing. Viral Marketing is the Future In 1999, a.i.e. (after the Internet and e-mail), we started making our D-I-Y Sales & Marketing E-mail Postcards™ available to our seminar attendees. (You can see over 500 of them at our site www.YouveGotContacts.com.) Because the e-mail postcards get forwarded to co-workers, department heads, company branches, friends, and family, they’re a true viral marketing program. Viral marketing is defined as “any strategy that encourages individuals to pass on a marketing message to others, creating the potential for exponential growth in the message’s exposure and influence.” Simply put: people tell their friends about you for pennies per contact. Which is best: e-mail postcards or newsletters? I know St. Meyer & Hubbard has an integrated prospecting class that uses both. Here are the advantages of e-mail postcards:
Do e-mail postcards work? Do they build relationships? Do they keep you connected? The $111,000 Sale A year ago Scott Emmett (Commercial/Fleet Sales, Ray Skillman GMC/Ford, Indianapolis) said that in one month he sent 135 e-mail postcards, got 11 responses, and 3 sales. Last week Scott sent me an update. “Thought you might want to know,” he said, “I added a prospect to my file 10 months ago and yesterday he called and gave me an $111,000 order. He told me he remembered me from my D-I-Y Sales & Marketing E-mail Postcards™. Thanks.” Scott kept in touch every month with the e-mail postcards. Once-a-year holiday marketing wouldn’t have cut it. It took ten months to close the deal. It took persistence. Staying connected every month. Getting his message seen, read, and saved. Getting Remembered! Scott built a better relationship than his competitors did. Every client, every pre-client is cardworthy to Scott–every month. You never know who’s sitting on an enormous order. Staying connected is the key. Charlotte’s Web Another case study comes from Chuck Panoff of the Panoff Organization in Charlotte. Chuck knows that selling is about building a web of relationships. Selling takes time and if you’re in sales for the quick buck and fast turnaround, you won’t be in sales long. “I’ve been using the e-mail postcards for 30 months. Within the last 18 months, 7 recipients have contacted me to purchase life insurance because of the e-mail postcards. Within the last 12 months I’ve never had a recipient refuse a phone call. They all know my name and welcome my call. Without the repetitive nature of the cards I know this would not be the case.” Chuck sent me a later follow-up. A client he sold 24 months earlier was on his monthly e-mail list. This client had an employer. Chuck’s client passed his cards on to his employer who is a “HUGE charity and because of the postcards…they will become my largest customer…There is no way that he would have remembered me or thought to contact me for this business without the D-I-Y Sales & Marketing E-mail Postcards™. No way (Chuck’s emphasis).” That’s viral marketing. I said there are two reasons people in business don’t stay connected: A) they don’t have a plan and B) they’re lazy. I’ve given you A. What are you going to do about B? Editors Note: We use Jerry’s e-postcards and they do work. It is certainly not the only way to stay in touch but the process is easy to do and inexpensive. Many of our readers get cards from Linda Benjamin, Executive Vice President at SM&H. Linda is a fanatic about using the SNIPPETS postcards. If you want to learn more about how she does it and why she likes this approach, give Linda a call at 847-215-6091. She’ll be happy to talk with you about it. |
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It’s that time of year when the marketing department, or someone else at the bank, is pulled off a vital, revenue-centric project to take on the “important” task of getting the Christmas cards out the door and selecting this year’s holiday gifts. Maybe it’s easier now, but “back in the day” it took untold hours, weeks even, to scrub the list, add new names to the roster, and, in general, be certain we didn’t miss anyone important. We always missed someone important. What card to select? We bought from the Girl Scouts last year so we have to give equal funding to the Boy Scouts this time. Then we had to get the right cards to the right group of senior managers to sign and “personalize” the message (oh sure they did) and find someone good at calligraphy to address the envelopes. Add to that the hassle and expense of working with the U.S. Postal Service… You live this each and every holiday season. There is a solution to this madness and it is no farther away than your laptop. Go to www.hallmark.com or www.americangreetings.com and send a Thanksgiving Card this year–EVERY year. Last year more than 200 personalized e-cards were sent from SM&H to clients, friends, and associates. It’s easy, fun, and differentiates us in the marketplace. Better yet, the process can be done from home in the evening and on the weekends so as not to take away time from clients and prospects during the sales week. Best of all, you know when cards are read. When the recipient clicks on the card, an e-mail is generated back to you to let you know they have seen it. “It would be great if I had the time to do this but you don’t know how busy I am around this time of year.” “My bank won’t allow me access to the internet at home.” “What if my customer doesn’t have e-mail?” “You SM&H people travel 47 weeks a year and you all have time to do this in hotel rooms. I need a work-life balance.” How would you deal with these issues if you were a banker-treneur and your clients and pre-clients made the difference between eating or not, paying your bills or not, having a balance in your checkbook? And what about those holiday gifts? We are advising our clients to bag the fruit baskets and candy and give something that keeps on giving: a sales book. How would you feel if your banker brought you a copy of Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi or one of Jeffrey Gitomer’s sales tomes or Small Giants by Bo Burlingham? Talk about your differentiation. |
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Register for Conversation Signposts Starting to think about 2007? We are too and the ideas in Conversation Signposts create your 2007 mojo. Bankers tell us the tips they find in Conversation Signposts have contributed to some significant wins on behalf of their clients and pre-clients. If someone else at your bank could benefit from Conversation Signposts, forward this edition and have them click on the hyperlink below to register: it’s FREE and you’ll not find anything about our products and services here. Why aren’t all newsletters like that? http://www.stmeyerandhubbard.com/signup.html Allowing us to be an Approved Sender In today’s security-conscious environment, many times our newsletter ends up in the wrong e-mail bucket. To make sure you receive every issue, why not put us on your “approved sender” list? StMeyerandHubbard@lb.bcentral.com
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| Jack Hubbard Chairman 847-717-4328 jhubbard@stmeyerandhubbard.com |
Bob St.
Meyer President 847-717-4322 bstmeyer@stmeyerandhubbard.com |
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