Presented at the 2009 Concepts '09 conference for the Payments Authority, I present the concept of a sales process for community banks and financial institutions to embrace when trying to instill a sales culture in their organization. We talk about the three main parts of having an objective, who the players are and what the tools will be to accomplish the goals of the organization.
8. The Sales Process WHAT are we trying to accomplish? WHO is going to be involved in the process? HOW are we going to accomplish them? Goals & Objectives Tools Players
30. Questions? Eric C. Cook (269) 841-5007 [email_address] www.PoweredByWSI.com/Concepts09
Hinweis der Redaktion
Both Need to figure out a way to grab attention when they come into the room. Consider playing music (iPod w/ small speakers?). Motivational music like the âheyâ song they play at sporting events. Have flipchart in the room with paper already on the walls. Need to determine if they are going to be at desks or tables. Put things on the table to keep them busy, maybe even candy. Alicia also thinks that Eric needs to do some of his impressions. Eric will be the funny one and Alicia will âget down to businessâ. Ideas : What about including a picture of us on our tandem or some other shot (maybe with the dogs)? Do some bickering back and forth like husband/wife. Alicia introduces Eric: Eric introduces Alicia:
Alicia CHANGES -COME BACK AND REVISIT THIS AFTER WE HAVE THE SLIDES DONE.
This section should take 15 minutes.
Alicia 2.5 min Goals & Objectives : What. Players : Who. Strategies : How. Measure, involve, utilize
This section should take 15 minutes.
Alicia 5 min
This section should take 15 minutes.
BE SURE TO MENTION THAT STATISTICS SHOW ITâS 9 TIMES LESS EXPENSIVE TO SELL AN EXISTING CUSTOMER A NEW PRODUCT THAN TO ACQUIRE A NEW ONE. Eric The second part of the sales process is the players. These are the people that are involved and include current customers, prospects and employees of the bank. Fist, letâs talk about current customers. Itâs important for you to know whoâs doing business with you, but bankers have typically been very poor at mining all the data we have on our systems. These typically are not tied together, so it makes it difficult to correlate the information and truly âknowâ who your customers are. What is their profile? Is that a profitable profile? If you could pick the âperfect customerâ what would they look like in product mix, age, service preference, etcâŠ? Weâll talk about some of the ways that you can mine this information a bit later in the course, but itâs important to know you really should have answers to these questions. Core Deposits : Core deposits are those which are not rate sensitive and are with you because of the service they receive. These will typically be longer-lasting relationships and include checking, savings and money market accounts. They will also use other services such as debit cards and online banking and are âlow costâ deposits, meaning they donât expect a high interest rate. While they may be more difficult to get, banks prefer to fund loan growth with core deposit because the margin is so much better. Finally, these types of accounts may also generate other forms of ânon-interestâ income (fee income) through NSF (non-sufficient funds) fees, debit card interchange income and other service charges. Non-Core Deposits : Certificate of deposits (and maybe premium rate money market accounts) make up your non-core deposits. Because these types of accounts are likely with you because of the rate (and not the service they receive), these types of deposits are often referred to as âhotâ money â meaning that at renewal if you donât continue to offer the same premium rate, they will go somewhere else. In todayâs quest for deposits, you need to be careful not to âover payâ for CD deposits, especially if your bank can go to the jumbo market or can borrow from an entity like the Federal Home Loan Bank at a lower rate. Loans : When customers come to your bank and get a loan they fill out an application that tells you (or at least it should) everything they have in their financial life. You have right before you a blueprint of what makes your customer tick and you know if they have all, most or very little of their financial needs being met at your bank. The loan application provides you with an excellent opportunity for offering new products and services but bankers have historically been timid about asking for âmoreâ business and often times are focused on the need at hand⊠that being taking care of their loan. Resist this urge whether you are working on the consumer, residential or commercial side. As a loan officer, the more you know about your other products and services (such as deposits, online banking, investments, trust, etcâŠ) the better prepared you will be to deepen the relationship (and your customer will appreciate it). Electronic Services : Itâs a good idea to know how your customer prefers to do their banking, especially if they are big electronic users. Customers that operate electronically may not ever come into the bank, and if they are your GOOD ones and you want to keep them around, youâll have to figure out a different way to interact with them since theyâre not coming in each week to cash their paycheck. These electronic customers are costing the bank less (in most cases) because they are mainly self-service either through your online banking service, using an ATM to get cash instead of a Teller or using debit cards and generating interchange fees in the process.
Eric Once you get a handle on what makes your customers âtickâ, itâs a good time to try to figure out if you can go after more of the same types of individuals that are not banking with you now (or if you have customers that could/should be doing more with you, but not doing so now). Niche : Donât try to be âall things to all peopleâ, as thatâs rarely a strategy all but the largest banks can pull off and do successfully. Instead, think about what your bank is known for and see if that ânicheâ is one that is truly being exploited in your market area. Maybe you are really good at residential lending or have a great line up of electronic banking services. Whatever your niche is, that should be something you focus on and promote in your market areas. Employers : One great way to get in front of a lot of prospective customers is to work with some of your major employers and hold a seminar or sponsor a âbanking dayâ to come in and provide product information about your bank. Think of a âhookâ that you can use to get in the door like donating a certain amount of money for every account opened to a charity of the employerâs choice. Or, you could provide a special discount on fees or products for a certain time if employees take advantage of your service. Anything you can offer to help make your bank stand out. Realtors and Brokers : When someone is about to make one of the biggest purchase decisions of their life, chances are they will rely on a Realtor or Broker to help with that process. While the obvious opportunity here is on the lending side, we feel there is a tremendous opportunity to work with them on providing a financial âpackageâ for the prospective home buyer, especially if itâs a new family moving to the area. They likely will need a checking account, may be starting a new job (and have a 401k rollover from their prior employer for an IRA or referral to your investment department if you have one) or be a good candidate to learn about how your electronic banking services can help make banking easier. Folks making a move into a new home will have a lot to think about, so coming to the rescue with a selection of great banking services will really help save the day and hopefully get you some great long-term customers. Referrals : Finally, do you have any happy customers? Of course you do, and I bet you can think of several if we gave you time. Well, consider taking these customers and turning them into a sales force and developing a program to reward them for bringing you business. Advertising is great, but if you can get your customers to say great things about you thatâs even better. You could even consider asking some âhigher profileâ customers to be in testimonial ads. Promote them in the paper, on your website or even in your lobby with flyers and stuffers. Regardless of which strategy you ultimately select, remember that your current customers can help bring people that are not banking with you now.
REVIEW AND DETERMINE WHAT CAN BE CHANGED. EMPHASIZE THE FACT THAT âADMINISTRATIONâ ROLES IN THE ORGANIZATION CAN ACTUALLY DO SALES. DISCUSS WHETHER OR NOT WE LEAVE IN ANY REFERENCE TO THE EXECUTIVE TEAM (C-LEVEL) EMPLOYEES. WE WILL DISCUSS THESE CATEGORIES IN MORE DETAIL WHEN WE GO OVER THE 90-DAY ACTION PLAN AT THE END OF THE CLASS⊠Eric Ok, youâve now got your target list and know who youâre going to go after. This is where itâs important to have your fellow employees on board to help with the sales effort. Executive Commitment : As stated earlier, itâs important for EVERYONE in the bank to be committed to the sales process⊠but it really needs to start at the very top and work its way down. In the banking industry, this can be a challenge, especially if there are employees that still remember the âgood âole daysâ. But in order for it to truly succeed everyone from the top all the way down to the bottom of the âfood chainâ needs to be on board. While we have created two âcategoriesâ on this slide for Sales and Support, itâs important to note that everyone needs to be a sales person. Maybe everyone isnât doing the sales process to the same extent, but EVERYONE needs to be actively aware of their surroundings and know the bank is expecting them to help spread the word and generate new business. Realize, however, that some areas of the bank will have more of a sales focus, while others may be better at the support function⊠helping to ensure the âhard-coreâ sales people have the resources, tools and support they need to be successful. But, simply because you are in accounting or IT doesnât âautomaticallyâ exclude you from the sales process. Sales : Those that have direct contact with customers have an obvious reason to use the sales process. They have the most opportunity to interact with customers and prospects in the community just because of their role with the bank. On the front line Tellers, CSRs and New Accounts personnel have to become comfortable looking for opportunities to do more for the customer. The check drawn off another bank for their loan payment needs to be told about YOUR great checking account program. The customer opening a checking account needs to walk out with a debit card (or at least an application taken) and signed up for online banking and bill payment. The loan officer needs to ensure their loan customer opens a checking account and sets up an automatic transfer for their payment, which gets the bank a deposit account and makes the customerâs life easier. Enhance the relationship and recognize that doing whatâs being asked of us may no longer be enough. You should always be on the lookout for opportunities to do âmoreâ for the customer and increase that wallet share! Support : While the âsupportâ functions in a bank may not have as much face-to-face contact with customers as front line employees do, there still are opportunities. Everyone has a life outside of the bank, so also keep these opportunities in mind (like school, little league, church, the chamber, etcâŠ). Weâll cover this a little bit later when we talk about networking. But there will be times when you will speak with customers and you need to be prepared for a selling opportunity. So regardless of your role in the bank, itâs important that everyone UNDERSTAND the sales process and why itâs important.
This section should take 15 minutes.
Alicia (Eric to provide examples ad-hoc)
Alicia (Eric to provide examples ad-hoc) âMeetingâ is being used here as a generic term and does not necessarily mean that you are going to be meeting with your customer in the board room or at their office. It could be as simple as preparing for them coming to the office on the next payday to cash their paycheck or knowing that you will be seeing them at a Chamber function or even Church on Sunday morning.
Alicia (Eric to provide examples ad-hoc)
THIS SLIDE STAYS AND MAY NEED TO BE TWEAKED. MAY WANT TO CONSIDER THE IMPACT OF A WEBSITE AS OUTREACH AND AWARENESS. CONSIDER HAVING ERIC TAKE OVER THIS SLIDE AND PRESENT IT. Alicia (Eric to provide examples ad-hoc)
THIS IS A SUPPORT SLIDE TO OUTREACH AND AWARENESS SLIDE. Alicia (Eric to provide examples ad-hoc)
THIS IS A SUPPORT SLIDE TO OUTREACH AND AWARENESS SLIDE. UPDATE WITH NEW PROFILE IMAGE. Alicia (Eric to provide examples ad-hoc)
ALICIA TO TALK ABOUT THIS SLIDE.
UPDATE THIS PAGE BASED ON NEW INFORMATIAON. Eric 2.5 min (Alicia to provide examples ad-hoc) Now that you all have a better appreciation for the networking function, letâs review some of the ways you can work this into your business. Three Functions : We already touched on networking earlier when we spoke about targeting current customers and prospects. What I would like to point out here is how important it is in the sales process. Many of you may already been involved in these types of events but are you really taking advantage of the contact opportunity or simply âgoing through the motionsâ? People will do business with those they know and like, and if you are involved in other activities outside of the office, that gives you the an opportunity your competition may not be taking advantage of. Have an Objective : Regardless of whether youâll be interacting with customers or prospects, itâs important to have an objective. Maybe your bank just launched a new cash management service with a great pricing plan. Keep this top of mind when you are chatting with others and they ask you âhowâs businessâ (which they most likely will do at some point in the conversation), be prepared to give a mini-commercial promoting your new service â Alicia will chat about this in just a bit. Each situation will be different, but if you are spending your valuable time at networking functions you deserve to get some business out of it (otherwise, youâre just wasting your time).
NEEDS TO BE CHANGED. WE NEED THIS SLIDE, BUT NEED TO DEFINE WHAT âSUPPORT AND RESULTSâ REALLY MEANS. Eric 2.5 min (Alicia to provide examples ad-hoc) The sales process is one that will take time and it will evolve over the years. So itâs important that you take time to support the process and track your results. On Board : This is important, so weâll say it again. EVERYONE needs to be on board and support of the sales process. This needs to start at the top and work its way down through the entire organization. Realize that change will not happen over night, but if everyone has their own goals and is following the process it will work. Weekly Meetings : Because this is a process, you should try to get together with fellow coworkers and share success stories of whatâs working (and also what challenges you are facing). If you are just starting the sales process a lot of what you are doing may seem unnatural and you will need the encouragement and support of your coworkers. Itâs important for others in your organization to know what you are doing and to help keep an eye out for opportunities. Donât be afraid to educate on what products or services you are focused on. The better educated your staff is, the better they will be able to support you in your efforts (and hopefully provide you with leads and referrals for new business). Marketing : Even if your bank doesnât have its own âdedicatedâ marketing department or person, someone needs to take ownership of this function to provide the support materials that you will need when contacting current and new customers. Work to ensure that material has a consistent appearance/theme to help build your brand and start to create familiarity for your bank. Consider creating a Marketing Committee if youâre not big enough to have a dedicated âmarketing functionâ to brainstorm on ideas that you can use to help with this process. Many printing companies will provide assistance with the design process for free if they know they are getting the printing business. Compare Results : And finally, you need to go back on a regular basis and see how your results are comparing to your goals. Just like a budget, there will be variances that will need your attention to get back on track.
THIS NEEDS TO BE TWEAKED. ENSURE THAT YOU REALIZE THAT YOU CANNOT BE AN EXPERT AT EVERYTHING. FIND YOUR NICHE ON WHAT YOU ARE GOOD AT BUT ALSO REALIZE THAT YOU HAVE OTHERS IN YOUR ORGANIZATION THAT KNOW THE OTHER AREAS. FOCUS ON GETTING A GOOD OVERALL (GENERAL) UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT YOU HAVE TO OFFER BUT DONâT FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BE AN EXPERT IN ALL AREAS (THEREâS TOO MUCH TO MAKE THAT POSSIBLE). Eric 2.5 min (Alicia to provide examples ad-hoc) Another very important part of the sales process is staying educated, because as you all know things change all the time⊠Products : Itâs important that you are familiar with all the products and services your bank has to offer. Notice I didnât say that you had to be an EXPERT. Tellers shouldnât be able to explain the pricing options for a HELOC, but they should know what âHELOCâ stands for and who might be a good fit for this type of product. Loan officers should know about deposit products so they can cross-sell their customers and deepen the relationship with the bank (again, this is called âwallet shareâ). People will ask questions so the better prepared you are with your bankâs product knowledge the better your chances are to enhance that relationship. Itâs also good to have an understanding of what your competition is offering so you can talk intelligently and help with the comparison process. Sales Process : Once you have a good grasp on your products and services, you need to be aware of the tools necessary to effectively convey your message to customers and prospects. This is the sales process and why you are all sitting here this afternoon listening to my wife and me talk. The information we are providing should NOT go on the shelf when you get back to your office, it needs to be referred to every day. We will provide you with some resources to rely upon because this will involve change in both you personally and your bank and will take effort and hard work. But if you donât give up and follow the process we are providing you will be surprised at the success you will achieve. Education : Beyond the content of this class, just do a Google search for âsales tipsâ or âsales strategiesâ and youâll be amazed at all the free information that is out there just waiting to be consumed. We have put together a helpful Resource Page at the back of your information that also provides some great information to help jump-start your education process. Keep in mind, even some of your vendors (like the check printer Deluxe) offer products and services to help with the sales process. Smart vendors will recognize that banks are starting to embrace the sales culture/efforts and by being a helpful resource they stand to increase their business with you (just look at Chicago Title, for example)!
This section should take 15 minutes.
Alicia 2 min Make sure the class is aware of the Resource Page and they should plan on going back to it when they get back to their bank.
Alicia 2 min Make sure the class is aware of the Resource Page and they should plan on going back to it when they get back to their bank.