Publications & Resources

March/April 2008
Focus: Building Franchise Value

Ten No-Fail Strategies to Create Profit-Rich Growth

By Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC

1. Overhaul your strategy

Southwest Airlines has been the top performing stock for the last 30 years. Southwest’s outstanding performance, despite huge losses by most other airlines, is proof that it doesn’t matter how badly things are going in the industry if you have a winning strategy that separates you from the competition. Almost every bank has no strategy in its strategic plan. You are at risk if you don’t move immediately from a tactical marketing position to a super strategic marketing mindset.

2. Package your products for “no-brainer” cross-sales

Bundle products and services to encourage buyers to start with six or seven of them at once. Make it a “no-brainer.” Give product bundles titles that tout their overt benefits. For example, a “HomeAtLast” package could come free with each mortgage and include a free order of checks, an insurance review and quotes, a debit card and six months of free bill pay – you get the idea. Make the package so irresistible the customer can’t say no.

3. Make hay when the sun shines

Did you know that 73 percent of cross-sales happen in the first three months after a customer opens the initial account? It is absurd not to invest heavily in educating your people to cross-sell five to seven additional accounts and services when the first account is opened. Or, have a heavily scheduled follow-up plan for the first two months of that relationship.

4. Get out of the “rate quoting” business

If you’re spending money on marketing and your people respond to rate inquiries by quoting rates, take the day off to contemplate your sanity. Pledge to educate your staff to answer the rate inquiry question with a “break-preoccupation-with-rate” response like, “Are you looking for the best rate or the best value, because they’re usually not the same.” Teach your people to stop the shopping – it’s a game you can’t win.

5. Get more for less

Dramatically reduce turnover by 67 percent. How? Never hire without doing a psychological profile. DISC, Myers Briggs and Profiles International PERSONALITY profiles are great tools for understanding people, but hiring requires a more powerful tool that doesn’t look only at personality. Emotional intelligence testing has benchmarked a proven 67 percent decrease in turnover while dramatically increasing the results from those who are hired.

6. Free the vigilantes

Ray Kroc used to say that until every bathroom in every McDonalds was clean, they would not add to the menu. You must be that dedicated to getting your people committed to extraordinary customer service. Spending money on a “sales culture” when your customer service isn’t consistently scoring over 90 percent is like building a mansion on quicksand. Identify your standards for extraordinary customer service and be sure everyone understands that from this point forward there will be no exceptions to those standards.

7. Stay out of jail

Reduce your corporate governance risk by adequately training your people. A recent ASTD State of the Industry report shows that average organizations spent 2.2 percent of payroll on training, while high-performing organizations spent 4.1 percent. It’s also been proven that training provides a higher return than investments in technology or capital investments.

8. Go fishing

Since every fisherman knows the best place to fish is in the fishing hole, why fish all over the lake? Spending valuable marketing dollars on broad-stroke campaigns is like deciding to fish in every part of the lake even when you know the fish are only in the favorite hole. Dramatically reduce your investment in radio, television, and print advertising, and redirect those dollars to market to your most profitable customers and people just like them.

9. Clean house

Jack Welch has said, “If you have employees who don’t share your values, even if they’re top performers, they must go.” Free up the futures of employees who are not committed to making a difference for your customers.

10. Seize the whole enchilada

It’s urgent that you capture all your clients’ business in 2008. Companies like Charles Schwab competing in the banking space is proof that if your clients have even one account outside your financial institution, you’re at risk of having your competitors capture all of your clients’ business. Remember, if your clients trust you, they won’t want to go elsewhere – even for a better rate.

Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC, is author of Profit-Growth Banking: How to Master 7 Breakthrough Strategies of Top-Performing Banks and Thank God it’s Monday. She will speak on this topic during the WIB Annual Conference in Hawaii . Emmerich can be reached at Info@EmmerichGroup.com or 800-236-5885.