In recent weeks, many articles as well as multiple conversations with bankers have centered on the difficulty of achieving revenue and profit growth. Yes, the economy is still slow and, yes, banks spend too much internal time and effort on compliance, regulatory, and other administrative issues. But, in fact, growth is there for the taking; the problem is that few banks are willing or able to take the actions and implementation steps necessary to assess and benefit from various growth opportunities.

For banks facing stagnant revenue, at least six growth opportunities are available and worth considering. (In fact, there are a lot more than six growth options.) Management needs to ask itself why it is not pursuing most, if not all, of these approaches:

* Reorganize to increase sales time. In a recent client meeting senior bankers estimated that their RMs spent 20% or less of their time actively selling. In fact they felt that much of the non-sales duties of the RM could be done by others, freeing up sales time. Simple math says that if you increase time for sales from 20% to 40%, you have the opportunity to double sales results. However, if the wrong people are in the market, the math does not work. As part of freeing up sales time, banks need to move to a team-oriented approach, one in which those with strong sales skills spend more time out in the market and those with credit and administration preferences take on more of the tasks required to support the externally focused RMs.

* Greater consistency in cross-sales requirements. At another bank some of its line units set and meet cross-sell goals while others do not. Why this disparity? Senior management has never insisted on more rigorous goals across the bank nor has it established a consistent sales management process. Contrast that with banks that use salesforce.com or other CRM tools to communicate and track cross-bank activities. Cross sell goals and focus eventually transitions to a cross-sell culture.

* Take advantage of Big Data. I have written previously about being a late convert to Big Data and the value it can provide. Benefits include uncovering specific wallet share opportunities, priority setting for cross sell opportunities, greater effectiveness in prospecting, and identifying “consumer” accounts that are in reality small businesses. Today, these capabilities that once were available only to the biggest banks are readily available to regional and community bank players. So, why not take advantage of this information advantage?

* Develop more specializations. The banks generating revenue growth operate with greater specialization than others. Specialization goes beyond industry to include types of products emphasized, life cycle of the target company, even the role of the RM. However, in most cases one or more industry specializations will pay off in greater revenue due to the knowledge, expertise, and contacts of specialized bankers and how this differentiates their bank from others. In effect, many banks already have specializations but they have not effectively organized or marketed them.

* Link up with alternative players. Banks need to spend more time understanding the impact of the many alternative players operating in and around their space and determine how to partner with them. They are not going away; they are getting bigger and more important. These providers focus both on non-lending and lending activities. For example, one processing company we know specializes in meeting the needs of payday lenders and merchants. They want to develop partnerships with banks to increase their processing capacity, providing substantial fee income to banks. On the lending side, alternative lending activities have increased significantly in light of a more restrictive bank lending appetite. Merchant advance companies (like CAN) and P2P lenders (such as Lending Club) both go direct to end customers but also have programs to work with the banks in various ways, potentially generating additional risk assets and/or fees. Banks need to reach out to these and other nontraditional players.

* Financing lenders. After a pullback during the downturn, more banks are now once again lending to other lenders. Those companies are often lending to subprime and/or secured borrowers that the banks will not lend to directly because of regulatory concerns. If a bank lent to one of these secured lender’s end customers, the loan would likely be classified immediately. However, lending to the secured lender for on-lending to this same end customer is acceptable. The bank achieves additional loan outstandings by relying on the risk management capabilities of its borrower.

Concluding comment: maybe not easy but achievable.

Now, of course, I may have overstated when I described these growth opportunities as easy. However, with management focus and prioritization one or more of these growth options can begin to contribute meaningfully to top and bottom line growth. No home runs and little, if any, “secret sauce.” What banks require simply involves some good internal decision-making, priority setting, and consistent execution… ok, maybe not so simple.