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Purposeful Pain

 

Having just returned from a major national banking convention, we find it heartbreaking to reflect on the degree of "pain" within the financial services industry.  In numerous sessions and at nightly receptions, financial service executives expressed concern over declining interest rates and net interest margins, credit problems within mortgage portfolios, and fear that ever- increasing regulation was just around the bend.   One noted conference speaker predicted that the industry would need to shrink by another 1,500 institutions just to keep profitability at its current level.  Even the Federal Reserve Chairman intimated that large, regional bank failures were likely to occur in 2008.

 

History has a cruel way of reminding us that lessons learned should never be forgotten and good times really do come and go.  Yet, history within the financial services sector is filled with shining examples that demonstrate pain has a purpose...it produces tremendous opportunity.

 

Whether it was the savings and loan crisis in Texas and California or the collapse of the international market, history teaches that opportunity is maximized when pain is at its worst point.  Long-term thinkers realize that trends cycle up and down.  Today's trough can just as easily lead to tomorrow's peak.  The high school track coach always emphasizes the need to focus on the finish line and not the next hurdle.  Why?  The mind will naturally calibrate the body's coordination to where the eye is focused.  The reality is if you look only at the next hurdle and not the finish line, you will crash and fall, bruised, on the track.  One bank executive summarized this valuable concept when talking about his organization, "We spent the last five years growing loan transactions in a hot real estate market, and completely forgot one thing...to grow customers."

 

Through more than two decades of work in the financial services industry, we have learned that in the darkest of days, institutions that can see the future always emerge as industry leaders when the cycle turns!  Human nature wants to retreat, like a turtle into a shell, when things get tough.  True leaders have the courage to see the future, confidence to create a winning vision, willingness to invest in their people, and foresight to continually reinvent performance in order to produce effective results in good times and bad times.

 

At FSS, we have seen more than one economic cycle!  We coach our clients to see through the pain of today and look toward the opportunity of tomorrow.  This we know...

 

Investing in people,

 

Prepares people for extraordinary performance,

 

In turn, creates a superior customer experience,

 

Which leads to profitable, fully-banked, delighted, lifetime customers.

 

Profitable, lifetime customer relationships are the lifeblood of long-term success.  Let us help you see the future and prepare you for a role as an industry leader when this current cycle ends.  Contact us at 800-332-0937 or info@financialsellingsystems.com for a free consultation.

 

I SPY a Taxing Opportunity

April 15th usually strikes fear and trepidation in the hearts of most Americans.  But did you know that IRS Form 1040 contains information on over 120 potential financial products?  There are plenty of cross-sell opportunities hidden on those sacred pages.  Let's see what we can find by playing a favorite childhood game...I SPY.  It's my turn first...I SPY...

• Interest from another bank
• Investment products we never sold
• Apartment loans not from us
• Health savings account, why not ours?
• Deferred compensation accounts, did our Investment Department not follow-up?
• An IRA contribution we didn't receive
• Student loans?  We offer those...
• HELOC interest paid to another bank
• A home mortgage refinance we didn't process

When borrowers submit tax returns this year, don't just quietly slip them into a dusty credit file as required.  Take a few minutes and see what opportunities you can find.  Let's have some fun - try your hand at identifying opportunities on Form 1040.  Email your I SPY observations (including the tax return line number and financial product opportunity) to info@financialsellingsystems.com by April 15, 2008.   The participant with the most product cross-sell opportunities identified will win a $100 gift card!  Okay, now it's your turn...start by saying "I SPY"... 

 

Mini-Moo

 

Imagine for a moment the following scenario and customer care response...

In mid-December, one of your valued borrowers responds to your suggestion to use electronic mortgage payments and follows online instructions to enroll.  This client, desiring a 2007 tax deduction for his January 2008 payment, schedules a December 31, 2007 electronic payment date.  On the 4th of January, the client discovers the payment was neither transferred from his checking account nor applied to the mortgage loan.  What is your response?

Well, unfortunately this actually occurred, and the institution was a major national mortgage lender.  Let's see how they acted in the MOO (moment of opportunity).

     
The borrower placed a call to the customer care center.  A representative explained that she could see the online enrollment, but was unable to see a validated payment request for December 31, 2007.  The borrower then asked if a payment could be processed and backdated four days into 2007, and was told, "No, I am sorry sir, we are not authorized to do that." The response, shall we say, left much to be desired.

 

At FSS, we believe that these simple Moments of Opportunity define an organization and reflect outwardly its overall customer experience.   Through positive interactions, customers are drawn to your organization and become passionate advocates.  Negative interactions produce the opposite reaction.  

 

As luck would have it, a feedback questionnaire was requested on this customer care experience.  The following feedback was provided: "This was tragically a lost opportunity for your organization.  When the customer care representative saw the online enrollment, she could have first expressed empathy for the missed payment and then offered to walk me through the process for scheduling online payments in the future to ensure that it was understood.  To be dazzling, she could have suggested that, with my permission, she would immediately process a payment and backdate the posting to December 31, 2007.  Lastly, she could have confirmed if these steps would accomplish my objectives."  

 

Can you believe that no one ever responded to the feedback that was provided?  This was, after all, a large organization and a classic example of why community-based financial service providers exist.  Next time you have a negative customer experience, challenge yourself to think about how you should respond differently.  It is a great exercise to keep your skills sharp and customer awareness high.  Until the next Mini-Moo, go out and make somebody's day!

 

Client Corner

 

We love a good story, don't you?

 
At our October 2007 Client Conference, Building the Future Perfect Financial Organization, Kim Boyd, SVP of Peoples Bank in Newton, North Carolina, shared the following success story:

 
In 2006, Peoples Bank implemented FSS' Small Business Strategy by condensing its four phases into two years.   When they began the process, they had $800 million in assets and 19 business centers.  Core deposits growth was flat in 2004 and 2005.  The Bank needed help with their strategic focus on creating a process involving people, developing competency, coaching performance, and creating a cultural environment designed to ensure an exceptional customer experience. 

 

In February 2006, Peoples Bank and FSS started the process by analyzing their previous programs, planning their course of action, and implementing their four employee development and four sales management workshops.  From that time through December 2007, they experienced an outstanding $72 million in core deposit growth, and their research indicates business customers rate them extremely well!

 

Congratulations to Peoples Bank in Newton, North Carolina, for its success in implementing the Small Business Strategy and achieving results beyond their expectations!

 

FSS Calendar

 

FSS Chairman and Founder, M. Marshall Weems, will be a keynote speaker at the Southern Financial Exchange's 18th Annual Conference & Expo scheduled for April 21st - 23rd, 2008 in Tunica, MS.  Please see http://www.sfe.org/ or call FSS at 800-332-0937 for additional details.