Within Banks, the Service Culture is Killing the Sales Culture
Within banks, service repeatedly wins out over sales; however, it is a Pyrrhic victory. Ask a commercial banking RM how much time he/she spends selling and to this day the…
Most Training Is a Waste of Money
Many bank executives view relationship banker training as a sacrosanct area, one that will pay for itself with improved sales, service, and customer and client satisfaction. However, our long-time perspective…
Why the Renewed Competitive Focus on the Middle Market?
Our client work indicates that, at many banks, the core middle market segment (say $50 million+ in revenue) is suffering from slowed growth and lowered returns. Mid-sized companies now operate…
Stimulating Non-Credit Product Sales
Virtually all our bank clients, whether the project centers on retail, small business, middle market, or wealth management, are currently focusing on cross-sell — in particular, how to grow non-credit…
Small Business: Still Fighting for Respect
At a recent dinner, Tom Brown, the hedge fund manager and former banking analyst, commented that within most banks, the small business segment fails to receive the attention or priority…
Avoid the Low Road to Bank Profitability
This week, we are speaking at the Branch Banking Symposium sponsored by US Banker and American Banker. Our topic focuses on the emerging opportunity to link the retail branch system…
Why the Fleet Deal Worked for Bank of America
Bank of America’s acquisition of Fleet Bank was controversial; many analysts expressed skepticism of the price of the deal and the bank’s ability to wring value out of the combination….
Improving Cash Management Sales
Incredibly, cash management (CM) sales continue to be underexploited by many of the commercial bankers selling to small and mid-sized businesses (SMEs). We deliberately use the term “incredibly” for three…
The Basics: Leasing
With this newsletter, we continue our series presenting summary views on the areas in which we specialize. Over the past eight weeks, we have focused on small business, middle market…
The Basics – Wealth Management
With this newsletter, we continue our series presenting summary views on areas in which we specialize. (Our two previous newsletters focused on Small Business and Middle Market banking, respectively.) This…