It's kinda spooky....

Bruce and I just finished a 2 day marketing forum for bankers in Indiana and Ohio and what a great time we had! Lots of great questions and discussion was had by the group. We talked alot about how to develop a real, strategic marketing plan. We talked about getting customer insight -how to do it and how to use it. We talked about retention. We talked alot about social media and why it's hard as a community bank marketer to tackle this important new social phenomenon.

It's kinda spooky.... just when you know your job as the one person everyone counts on to do practically everything is absolutely all you can handle, someone says you need to add social media to your job description!! That can be very scary indeed. How do you add more hours to your day? How to you get up to speed on it all? How do you manage it on a 24/7 basis? Sounds impossible, doesn't it?

Yes.

The more we discussed this, the more it became clear. You can't. In fact, you shouldn't. A community bank mareketing director can't and shouldn't take this on alone. You need to manage the program and processes, but don't do it all yourself! Find someone else in your organization--preferably an under 30 type --who is passionate about social media. There is most likely someone there who would love to handle the day to day, 15 to 30 minute duty of following, checking, and updating your social media presence. That doesn't mean that you don't write the responses, or the blog, or whatever, but that someone else helps you with doing it.

OMG!

Its a concept that might work with some other areas of responsibility you have... that's worth thinking about for a few minutes, isn't it?

So enjoy your spooky Halloween and think about how, who, what, and all the details of what you want to do. But don't let tackling the new world of social media scare you...


TYVM.

Sharon

Are you ready for the holidays?

Thanksgiving and Christmas are rapidly approaching. But with the anticipation of getting together with family and friends, and lots of good food and drink comes the stress of preparing all the food, shopping for just the right gift, struggling with how much you can spend, etc.

It's difficult to keep everything in perspective but allow yourself the opportunity to enjoy the holidays. You have earned it! 2009 has been a difficult year for all of us in the financial services industry. The economy, consumer fears, unemployment, the stock market, etc. have all combined to challenge us as financial service marketers like we have never been challenged in the past.

Celebrate your 2009 successes! Learn from - but forget you failures! Look forward to 2010!

Although there is some disagreement, the majority of the "experts" believe that 2010 will be a much better year for the economy.

Continue to focus on the things that will make you and your financial institution successful in 2010.

Think BIG! Work HARD! Get PREPARED for a great 2010!

Mike

Lessons Learned From "The Godfather"

Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me … until that day, accept this blog as a gift…

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse”: Position and/or package your products in a way that makes switching institutions a no-brainer for the prospect. What “can’t refuse” product do you have now? Do you offer relationship pricing to make your customer “part of the family?”

You can also look at this internally … During your budgeting process for 2010, speak in terms of ROI. As opposed to simply reporting on how many new customers, deposits or loans you feel you can bring in next year – share your expected results in terms of ROI. If management has $1 to spend, show them you can give them $2.25 back. Where else in the bank or credit union will they see that kind of return? It truly is an “offer they can’t refuse.”

“This isn't personal, it’s business”: This year, budgets will be cut, if it’s yours don’t take it personal – do the best you can.

“Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer”: Know your competition better than they know themselves. What is their pricing? What target do they cater to? What do they do best? What do they do lousy? Exactly how do they treat customers in face-to-face and phone interactions?

“Mister Corleone never asks a second favor once he’s refused the first, understand?”: Once you say “no” to a customer, you’re dead to them. Are your approval guidelines reasonable based on the institution’s needs and competitive factors? When you say no, do you offer alternatives or let the customer know what they can do to get approved next time?

“Leave the gun … take the cannoli”: Make sure you make time to leave work behind and enjoy life’s delicacies.

I know y’all can help me make this list more complete. Add your favorite quote and lesson learned to the comment section.

Ciao,

Eric

Wealth of Opportunity for Banks

Greetings...

I know you are in the midst of planning. Take a break for just a second and listen...

In the past few months we have talked about the economy, the industry and the challenges.  We have also talked about "money in motion" and that NOW is the ideal time to capture your disproportionate share of new money available in the market.  I have another similar message!

Now is the ideal time to enter or expand your investment services offerings...community banks are poised for growth, have high trust right now, and the competition is shuttering lots of offices, products lines and staffs.

There is a "wealth of opportunity" for banks to focus your efforts on your investment services.  People are looking for confidence and opinion that will lead them to safety for their money.  Your bank can be that place!!

For the bank, it is an excellent source for non-interest income from investment sales and fees for services.  Plus it adds to your "full service" capability that puts you on the same playing field as EVERY major bank...and you have the benefit of being a community bank!

A great article was just shared with me...that I will share with you.  It talks straight to the point...  So, get back to planning and ADD or ENHANCE investment services to your plan. 

Click here for the article...

Email me if you need any help....we have some great partners that can be your expert!

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

Who is the hardest working player in professional football?

I will give you a hint! His team is 5 - 0 and he has 5 consecutive games passing over 300 yards per game. If you are a football fan, you know it is Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts.

Believe it or not, there is a lesson to be learned here for all of us in the financial services industry.

Peyton is such a dedicated student of the game and such a hard worker that his team hasn't missed a step even as veteran players on offense have gotten hurt and had to be replaced with rookies. His after hours practice sessions with these young kids has them playing like veterans even though the are only five games into their career. He communicates clear expectations to each of them (you might say "stretch goals") but he provides them the tools they need to be successful. Because of this, the Colts appear to be in position for a Super Bowl run despite the adversity they have had to overcome.

The financial services industry has a lot of adversity to overcome. High unemployment, scared consumers, loan delinquencies, bad publicity about executive compensation, etc. would all appear to be "road blocks" to our success.

If we learn from Peyton's example, our institution's too can be successful!

We need to set and communicate clear expectations for all of our employees. We need to provide them the sales training, customer focused products, marketing support, etc. they need to be successful. We need to monitor their sales activities, celebrate their successes, make strategy changes (when necessary) and reward them appropriately.

If we too "stay on top of our game" like Peyton Manning, our institutions can overcome adversity and enjoy tremendous success!


Have a great fall season!

Mike

PS - Even though I moved to San Antonio from Indianapolis, I will always be a Colts fan.

Money in Motion

"A Federal Reserve Board survey earlier this year showed banks continued to tighten standards and terms on all major types of loans to businesses and consumers. A total of 30 percent of banks tightened standards on commercial and industrial loans to large companies, while 35 percent tightened standards on loans to small businesses."

This is from a recent Dayton Business Journal article about what local credit unions are doing to capitalize on an opportunity.

What are YOU doing to make sure you attract the most commercial and retail business in this environment of Money in Motion?

Click here for the rest of the story.

Thinking...

OK...I am in Minneapolis for a big meeting tomorrow and I am thinking.  Lots of times that is dangerous....give me too much time and I am thinking up new presentations, articles, projects....all really cool stuff!

So tonight I am thinking about 2010.  What will we do that leads us ahead?  What new projects will we undertake?  What exciting new clients will we have the benefit to work with?  What will we reflect back on next December that makes us smile?

The good news is that the answers to each of these are ahead of us...and we can make each of them happen and shape them as we like...with a little forethought and planning.

So that is my post tonight...spend time thinking about the possibilities and the potential and then put a plan in place to make them happen.  Think big!!

I have a favorite saying that I will share with you...."Expect the stars and accept the moon."  The morale of the saying-- think bigger and accept big.  You CAN make it happen!

Here's to charting your 2010...and having success and fun along the way!

Cheers!

Bruce

Goal Quotes

"The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them."

~Denis Watley

And then there's Yogi

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going, because you might not get there."

~Yogi Berra

Is the stock market rally real?

Recently, market analysts have talked about the amount of money parked in financial institutions that will move back into the stock market once investors are convinced that the current stock market rally is for real. A threshold that analysts feel is significant in determining if the rally is real is when the market goes back over 10,000. That could happen any day now! Now is the time to develop marketing strategies aimed at retaining a significant percentage of those new deposits that your institution acquired as investors got out of the market.

Cardiac Cats...

Good morning...

What a weekend of sports!  My Buckeyes won (moved to 7th in the polls), my son won his football in convincing style and that brings me to the Bengals.  FINALLY, it is paying off being a Bengals fan!  1st place during the season...something we have not had in a long while!  Not only did we win and beat a division rival but the game helped with my blog post.

My thoughts today surround the team effort and never-say-the-end-is-here attitude.  The Bengals have overcome adversity (read heartbreaking loss to the Broncos and a death of a coaches wife) and tough opponents to maintain a 1st place lead.

YOU have overcome adversity; the economic climate, the state of the industry, probably budget cuts, and more.  Our CUSTOMERS have overcome adversity; potential job losses, stock market losses, economic woes, and more.

Hopefully our customers have hung in there with us...and we with them, too!  Now is the time to circle the wagons as a team and focus on our customers.  Just like the Bengals circles the team wagon after the devastating and unexpected loss of the defensive coordinator's wife.  They focused on the matter at hand, focused on their roles, and gained momentum at each potential turn.  The result? A win!

You need to be the emotional leader of your bank/CU and be the advocate for the customer voice.  How?  Difficult but easy...

• Focus the front-line staff on the "little things" of customer service (smile, quick service, thank you, and simply engaging the customer)
• Focus your marketing on a message of hope and opportunity
• Focus your internal message on teamwork, coordination and communication
• Focus your external delivery on being three-dimensional on your target

With these steps in place...and a little faith in the process, you can not only overcome adversity, you, too can enjoy 1st place!

Marketing is the voice of the customer and emotional leaders....assert you place and deliver your role.  Everyone is counting on you!

Cheers!

Bruce

Consumer Loan Demand Exceeds Supply

At the recent ABA Marketing Conference in San Antonio, an economist from Trans Union stated that the demand for consumer loans exceeds the supply. That presents a tremendous opportunity for community banks to grow their balance sheet. Let MarketMatch show you how implementing risk based pricing for consumer loans allows your bank to grow your loan portfolio but at an acceptable level of risk.

Have a great Weekend!

Mike Witsken, SVP Client Management, MarketMatch

Can Bank Marketers use The Law of Attraction?

I am a big fan of the law of attraction... that we attract into our lives what we think about or focus on. If you haven't seen the movie "The Secret", check it out at www.thesecretmovie.com. According to Rhonda Byrne, who wrote The Secret, when we focus on the negative things that happen to us, we only attract more negative events into our lives. Is this really true?
Well, it seems somewhat intuitive that if we are emitting negative emotions that we will attract back more negative emotions to us. For example, if we criticize someone for something they have done, how are they going to feel about us at that moment? Negatively! Conversely, if someone really appreciates us for something we've done, doesn't that make us want to do more?

I think as bank marketers, we are normally a pretty sunny group. Wouldn't you agree? But it can be difficult to muster all the support we need. It's easy to get caught up in the budget dollars we didn't get, the things that other employees/coworkers didn't do to help us or our event, campaign, etc. If we let those attitudes pour over onto our co-workers and colloeagues, we are dooming ourselves by attracting only more negative feelings about what we are trying to do!

This fall, try being really grateful for everything you have been given (budgets, support, etc.) and for everything you have accomplished, together with all that support. Spread that word everywhere! You will feel better, others will respond more positively to you, and who knows, maybe you'll get even more support now and next year!

Helping you stay sunny on a rainy day---
Sharon

6 Steps To A Successful Strategic Plan

1. Perform your own SWOT analysis: What did you do right last year? What did you do wrong? What are your institution's values ... be honest.

2. Be reflective: What do you think, as an institution, that really holds you back? How can you create your own self-fulfilling prophesy?

3. Be focused: Where do you need to focus to be successful next year? Now pick the ONE thing you want to really put all of your resources into.

4. Step up: With your measurable goals - assign specific responsibilities to team members. Spread the accountability across the entire team so that no one person has an unattainable mountain of work.

5. Share: Communicate to all employees the strategic goals. Let them know how your institution is doing on a regular basis to keep them motivated.

6. Do the hardest work: Too often, strategic plans look great, make sense and fall flat. Measure your efforts against the goals - monthly. Meet as a Strategic Team to discuss the progress of each responsibility and results against the goals. Hold everyone accountable all year.

Note: Sometimes it helps to bring in an industry expert as facilitator to ask the tough questions and state the sometimes sensitive facts.

Take care,

Eric

Early nights...and Halloween

Greetings...

I was reminded yesterday that fall is falling!  If you happen to live in the midwest, you know what I mean.  Crsip nights, changing of the leaves...and of course, the time change looms.

When you live in Ohio, the time change means that very soon it will be dark in the morning when you wake up and dark again at 5:15 pm.  Early nights and short days.  The good news?  Halloween is around the corner and early nights and short days make for a GREAT Halloween!  The darker and spookier the better for getting candy and having fun.

This natural cycle just means that summer is close to coming around again!

So what is the point...

Its the cycle!  For a marketer the short days and early nights usually happen in the 3rd and 4th quarter as our budgets begin to be tapered down.  We need to remember that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that is budget planning, which will start soon (if it has not already started for your bank/CU!)  So, what is your "Halloween?"  The mid-fall event that raises hope, generates fun and brings lots of candy/sugar!!

I encourage you to gather your troops at your Bank/CU and make something happen.  Did you know that THIS WEEK is National Customer Service Week (October 2-6)?  Use this as an opportunity to highlight your service, resurrect your service, or make service an integral part of your 2010 plans.

I know...I know....EVERYONE has great service.  However, we ALL know that we need to INSPECT what we EXPECT (thanks Marty Cohen!) to ensure we get what we want!

Implement a service measurement process...start today!  Make it...

• Measureable
• Consistent
• Customer focused
• Widely communicated

And use the results to coach and mentor staff until you reach a service culture that you can believe in and know that it is consistent across all branches and parts of the day!

And just think...summer is a short winter away!

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp