Bank Sales Corner

The Power of Messaging: Tips for Bank Sales Managers

  

  

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As a high school basketball player I heard my coaches repeat certain messages day in and day out. On offense we were encouraged to “hit the open man.” On defense our coaches told us to “see the man; see the ball.”

As a consultant I have observed how sales coaches effectively deliver messages to their teams. Recently one senior commercial banker remarked to his boss, the bank president, that he was impressed by how Chris frequently reminded them of the importance of the sales process that the bank had embraced. Chris repeated the three word summary that they had heard in all the training sessions: “Identify, plan, execute.”  He felt that the repetition was valuable.

What makes for an effective message? In my experience the best messages are clear, concise, and consistent. Wells Fargo, which has long highlighted the importance of cross selling as a driver of profitability, uses the phrase “Eight is great.”  Bankers throughout the company know by heart that this is one of the keys to the bank's success. It is short like “hit the open man,” it is easy to remember, and my guess is that it does keep people on track.

The messages that your sales team needs to hear from you should be equally pithy and memorable. In this environment, many bankers are reluctant to prospect; some come up with a litany of reasons why prospecting is difficult. “I'm too busy.”  “We’d just turn them down.” “There's no demand for loans.” “They're happy with their current bank.”

Setting aside for a minute the possibility that some or all of these are true, you still need to let people know that prospecting is a critical sales behavior. How can you deliver that message?

 Certainly, you can take advantage of your weekly meetings. If you want to drive home the importance of acquiring new clients, some portion of your meeting should include a discussion of prospecting. In addition, your weekly sales reports should also differentiate between calls on customers and prospects. Discussions of pipeline opportunities should do the same.

The power of your messages regarding prospecting can be amplified by other members of your organization. For example, if the bank CEO or the head of commercial banking uses the same terms and phrases in conversations with all team members, your message is likely to stick.

So my advice is to spend some time brainstorming with other sales managers what specific messages your team needs to hear today. Boil them down to three or four that you want to use over the course of the next 3 to 6 months. Like the banker who recognized the power of repetition in the phrase “Identify, plan, execute,” you may begin to see changes in people's thinking and behavior.

But remember that you may have to repeat yourself a lot. That's what basketball coaches do to make sure that their teams remember what they need to at crunch time.

Interested in more on coaching? Check out our archived webinars at http://mzbierlyconsulting.webex.com or visit our blog for more articles at http://www.mzbierlyconsulting.com/bank-sales-corner-blog/