Bank Sales Corner

10 Reasons Why Branch Managers Shouldn't Call on Small Businesses

  

 delicious  

  

Have you ever heard any of these reasons why Branch Managers shouldn’t be making calls on small businesses?

1. You tried it before and it didn’t work.
2. Most of the Branch Managers would quit.
3. They’ll never become any good at it.
4. Your branches will fall apart.
5. With all the compliance issues you’re facing right now, this is a bad time to have them out of the branch.
6. You ask too much of them already; this will be the last straw.
7. They don’t understand commercial credit well enough to be anything but dangerous. You’d get lots of loan requests from businesses that you wouldn’t want to lend to.
8. Many of your Branch Managers did this when they worked at other banks and they think it’s all about pushing products.
9. Your branches are staffed thinly as is.
10. You’d have a hard time establishing fair goals given the differences in your markets.

If you’re still debating this issue—or if you’re struggling with getting your Branch Managers to a higher level of performance building relationships with small business owners—you’re not alone.  There are many sales managers in banks of all sizes who are wrestling with how to get more results out of their branch system.

Can Branch Managers make effective sales calls on small business owners and professionals? Our answer is an emphatic YES. But success depends to a large extent on what Sales Leaders do in three main areas: delivering consistent messaging, providing ongoing coaching and eliminating internal obstacles that can block performance.

Listen to Buck Bierly’s comments on what kinds of things to focus on with inexperienced branch calling officers by going to http://www.mzbierlyconsulting.com/small-business-strategy-coaching-branch-managers.

You might also be interested in checking out our upcoming webinar on January 31, 2011 entitled “Can Branch Managers Be Effective Calling on Small Businesses?” by going to http://www.eventspan.com/event/2011-01-31-can-branch-managers-make-effective-calls-on-small-businesses