Most financial institutions feel urgency around capturing the small business market and have this as one of their top priorities. That may be because the latest U.S. census data shows that there are over 27 million small businesses operating in this country alone.

Small businesses provide profitable opportunities. If pursued in the right manner, savvy financial institutions can seize those opportunities and gain valuable and loyal customers. They can gain the trust and long-term commitment of small business customers by meeting all their business needs with targeted solutions and the highest quality service.

Following are four strategies to help institutions earn the loyalty and trust of small businesses:

1. Understand what small businesses owners need

It’s not enough for financial professionals to be knowledgeable only about their own line of business products and services. The small business owner wants to be reassured that their bank contact is a true professional who understands their challenges and the goals of their business. A more effective strategy, therefore, is to first establish and engage in a robust dialogue with the business owner. This is accomplished by taking the time to learn about the business and asking questions on the needs of the business, and not on products and bank statements. According to JD Powers, when financial professionals understand the customer’s business, satisfaction averages 139 points higher than just partially understanding it. Unfortunately, only 45 percent of customers report their bankers today take the time to truly understand their business.

2. Take an enterprise approach

This approach is demonstrated when all professionals at the financial institution work as partners across the lines of business allowing the business owner to see the institution as one entity. When the total team approach is used, small businesses owners view the institution as a single, united entity assisting them with all of their goals, both personal and business related. To do so, employees from all lines of business need to be equipped with the skills to communicate the value proposition of the organization so the business owner sees that the organization is thinking holistically.

3. Create product bundles and tier pricing

Small business owners prefer to have their personal accounts at the same institution as their business accounts. It is in the bank’s best interest to create more benefits for the small business owner by bundling the products and presenting the small business owner with a total solution of lower fees and better rates. While taking care of the owner’s initial need is the first step, the institution can add value by offering discounts based on the relationship. Doing so reinforces the message that the financial organization wants to work with the owner on both short- and long-term goals and personal and business needs.

4. Develop professionals to be long term financial partners

The goal is to be viewed as a trusted advisor to the small business. With that in mind, equip your employees with the best practices to include reaching out to the small business owner on an ongoing basis. This can be accomplished by reviewing the accounts and relationships and maintaining communication through ongoing, proactive contacts. Ignoring this step will hinder the effort to build trust and form true partnerships with business owners.

Following these strategies provides a win-win situation for all parties because many financial institutions have much in common with small businesses—both want to reach out to the community and build valuable relationships. Institutions that succeed in partnering with small companies will reap additional benefits because these customers are connected to the community’s consumers and therefore are some of the best referral sources. Likewise, small business owners benefit doubly from their relationship with the financial institution because it can help them achieve both personal and business goals.

Two trends I see in the financial services industry today include, on the retail side, a shift in servicing to online and other non-branch options, and on the commercial front, a focus on credit quality and the impact of each relationship on overall portfolio performance. Put these two observations together and we are having fewer quality encounters with our customers, and when we do, they are often not broad enough. The solution is to construct better planned conversations.

To make your planning more effective, first, be proactive. In a branch setting, hoping for an extra few minutes at the end of a product purchase to go a little further or push the bank’s “tag on” product of the day is both haphazard and disrespectful of the customer’s time. The same logic applies in an outside call situation. Instead, contact your customers proactively and set up a time to discuss their overall situation.

Second, bring the customer along. Let him or her know the purpose of your questions. A positioning statement like, “In order to get a better idea of how we can serve you, I would like to get your thoughts about your current financial situation and anticipated needs,” helps the other person know where you are going. The more your customers know, the more they will participate.

Third, be topical. Random questions create confusion and distrust. As you plan your conversations, think about a logical progression of questions. For example, in retail banking, a relationship review conversation could cover these areas:

• Current service satisfaction level
• Current money management, including day to day banking, savings, investments, and borrowing
• Anticipated life and lifestyle events, such as a need for a new car or the postponement of retirement
• Resulting financial needs, such as a car loan or restructuring of a 401k plan
• Role that the bank can play in these decisions

Similarly, in the commercial arena, you could cover these areas:

• Current success level of the business
• Challenges and opportunities over the next 6-18 months (both for the company and the industry)
• Resulting plans to meet these challenges and opportunities
• Financial implications of the company plans
• The role that the bank can play in implementing these specific plans

Many financial organizations tout the role of “trusted financial advisors.” To truly earn that title, we need to establish that trust through better planned, truly two-way conversations, and offer real advice versus merely selling what’s available today.

To learn more visit: http://www.omega-performance.com

Many organizations find themselves in a training dilemma. They realize the significant benefits of training but need to minimize the costs—both out of pocket and opportunity—associated with training. There is a need for risk management skills, sales skills, product knowledge, and services skills. So how can organizations provide the benefits of synchronous, skills-based learning without the expense of travel, lodging, and all of the costs that classroom training entails?

One successful solution that is gaining popularity is virtual instructor lead training, or VILT. In VILT, participants join these virtual classrooms right from their desktops or laptops through web- and audio-conferencing services. The “virtual” facilitator then guides participants through the session, pausing for breaks as appropriate and even breaking the larger group into smaller, separate work groups before bringing everyone back together again. If done correctly, these sessions can be as interactive and engaging as classroom sessions, enabling participants to talk, write, discuss and exchange ideas, and practice new skills.

Employing VILT in your own organization can ensure that your employees:

• Receive training in a highly interactive way that translates back on the job
• Learn from their co-workers and peers
• Keep their skills honed while keeping costs down
• Improve both knowledge and skills because of a diversity of online functions

Participating in VILT is as close to attending a class as possible, without having to be there in person.

Learn more at: www.omega-performance.com

When effective coaching is applied to the process of analysis and decision making in a credit request, there is much to be gained by everyone involved. Consistent, planned coaching increases the skill level of new lenders much faster than experience alone. Consistent coaching fosters consistent processes—which, in turn, are essential for quality. This is obviously important to the success of your department as well as your organization.

Successful credit coaches follow six steps to success:

1. Guide the initial orientation. The framework and direction that you give in the beginning of a lender’s career creates a point of view and business orientation that will influence performance from then on.
2. Provide lenders with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful. Providing the right training at the right time motivates performance. However, when people are sent to training for skills they clearly possess, they feel unmotivated and discounted. This is where an assessment can be very helpful to identify training gaps and needs.
3. Understand that knowledge and skills gained in training don’t always transfer to the job. For training to transfer, it must have value in the workplace and contribute directly to “real work.” That’s why it is so important for managers to reinforce new knowledge and skills by helping the lender see how these apply to their work.
4. Hold lenders accountable for applying knowledge and skills appropriately for an assigned responsibility. Do this through a series of coaching sessions for 6-9 months in order to confirm the work a lender is doing matches the quality standards expected. At the end of this time, you should have a mature lender whom you can trust to consistently make sound credit decisions.
5. Involve the lender in the orientation of new lenders when proficiency, judgment, and maturity signal readiness.
6. Provide ongoing coaching to reinforce and recognize skills and contributions.

The first four steps of this sequence lay the foundation for a successful career. The final two steps—5 and 6—recognize and motivate competent lenders and encourage them to continue their professional development. Any step that’s skipped creates a potentially recurring problem that you will have to manage in the future.

Learn More at: http://www.omega-performance.com/solutions/leadership-coaching.asp

Lately, we’ve been hearing that employee product knowledge levels—or lack thereof—is a real concern with many banks. When asked to assess the current level of their employees’ product knowledge in the saving/investing money and borrowing money categories, executives tell us the average score is below 50 percent.

What’s the impact of scores this low? It means:

1. Bankers are not able to answer customers’ questions
2. Bankers are giving incorrect answers to customers’ questions
3. Bankers do not ask questions and are missing opportunities

Bottom line—this all contributes to a negative customer experience, adds little value for the customer, and fails to deepen the customer relationship.

The best bankers are able to assess accurately each customer’s financial situation and provide the appropriate products to match the needs. This is especially true today as organizations are trying to capture more share of wallet.

So how can organizations prepare bankers to be knowledge experts on products and services? Organizations should employ product mastery techniques (and there are several highly effective ones) to build skills and equip bankers so they have second-nature recall of products and services. Bankers who are able to speak with ease and confidence about the different products and services in a very effective manner can provide a memorable customer experience for their customers—and uncover additional sales opportunities.

Learn More at: www.omega-performance.com

The greatest demographic shift in U.S. history is now creating the greatest banking opportunity of the 21st century. With double-digit growth in the Hispanic population projected to occur over the next seven decades—and wealth accumulating twice as fast as in the general U.S. population—the chance to capture market share and increase deposits has never been more favorable.

So…how are financial organizations preparing to take advantage of this opportunity?

Most financial organizations simply don’t teach bankers how to effectively engage and sell to their Hispanic customers. As a result, many financial service professionals lack the experience and cultural perspective to confidently build relationships and close sales with their Hispanic prospects.

To maximize this market opportunity and increase full-service customer accounts, bankers have to adapt their selling practices to accommodate Hispanic cultural priorities and preferences. They must learn how to:

• Identify influences on Latino buying decisions—including acculturation, habits of heritage, centers of influence, and drivers
• Communicate the value of the organization’s products and services, and connect them to Hispanic cultural values
• Develop strategies for overcoming common cultural challenges
• Recognize buying habits and adapt to consumer tendencies
• Leverage life events and broad customer referral networks to uncover multiple selling opportunities

The Hispanic market in the U.S. is large and growing. If you want to increase your organization’s share of that market, your bankers must learn to be far more persuasive and effective when selling to Latino consumers.

Learn More at http://www.omega-performance.com/solutions/sales-service.asp

It’s Monday morning . . . how many of you will be successful this week? Do you have a written plan from a previous coaching session on what you need to do and by when to meet your goals this week? In other words, do you have an Action Plan that will guide your focus on efforts in certain initiatives?

Sometimes we take action planning lightly. However, we cannot emphasize enough how important action planning is as a key component to an individual’s development. The reason action plans are so useful is because they outline what is needed to achieve business objectives. Results occur when the link between the organization’s vision and the concrete action plan is made.

With that said, the action planning process should be an integral part of coaching sessions and not an add-on. Without action plans, coaching sessions become nice chats. Keep in mind that we are not referring to performance improvement plans. You should use coaching with actions plans as an ongoing best practice with all of your employees. Remember that setting goals with employees is not the main achievement—it’s deciding how to achieve your goal by developing an action plan for every employee and then executing it.

In order to make action plans effective and integral to the process, outline activities and skills. This allows employees to focus on objectives and move forward. Then allow employees to self-discover in order to foster a collaborative session. Following these steps will take a plan from the nebulous to the concrete. It will also make employees accountable, which in turn improves performance.

Once coaching with effective action planning regularly occurs at every level, you can expect to see the following results:

• Focus on the right objectives
• Progress tracked
• Increase in the probability of employee success

And, most importantly, satisfied and motivated employees.

Visit http://www.omega-performance.com/solutions/leadership.asp to learn more!

For most banks and credit unions, the cross-sell ratio still hovers at 2.4%. Combined with the fact that organizations have their best chance to cross-sell additional products and services within the first 90 days of acquiring a new customer, you can see how important onboarding is.

Onboarding is a way to reach out to new customers and members during the initial 90 days of their association with an organization. To be maximally effective in the onboarding process and to increase the cross-sell ratio, organizations must first implement onboarding as one of their key activities across ALL lines of business, Second, they must ensure that employees have the skills to make effective follow-up calls after the first meeting.

Employees must know how to follow up with customers or members. They must be able to transition from a service interaction by identifying additional needs for cross-sell opportunities. Then, they must demonstrate that they heard their customers or members by stating a purpose for the follow up and by focusing on those needs previously expressed. Based on that dialogue, customers or members can understand the benefits of a follow up meeting.

A well executed expansion and retention plan includes onboarding and cross-selling. The better the employee becomes with onboarding and cross-selling to customers and members, the more memorable the experience will be for the customers and the firmer the organization’s grasp will be on customer loyalty.

Learn More by Visiting: http://www.omega-performance.com/solutions/sales-service.asp

Most small banks and many mid-sized banks today have the good fortune of not being constrained by the effects of imprudent risk-taking that has tainted the top echelon of national banks. And the majority of small banks say they’re ready to take customers from the big, national lenders.

But the fact is, most small businesses are not looking for loans. The companies that are looking for credit tend to be financially weaker. The implication for business lenders is clear: the universe of prospective qualified small business borrowers is shrinking and competition for these customers is intense. And big institutions will not be vulnerable forever. They retain many advantages over small banks and some are already beginning to re-energize their marketing for small business customers, especially for non-credit services.

So what’s a smart banker to do? Here are three actions that are currently being taken by enlightened leaders of financial institutions of all sizes:

1. Enhance prospecting activities. Some best practices include developing consistent value statements, and using tools to expand and prioritize small business prospects and networks.
2. Develop more effective service and selling skills. The top performers enforce consistent sales behaviors and activities, including call planning and conducting face-to-face calls, to build new small business relationships – for both credit and non-credit products.
3. Sharpen credit skills and knowledge. Effective small business bankers are taking credit knowledge beyond just the underwriting group, ensuring that any personnel who have direct contact with small business customers are able to conduct confident discussions about credit needs and risks.

Whether yours is a large or small financial institution, the competitive front for small business banking is just opening up. Given these dynamics, it’s possible that we’ll see a significant displacement of small business relationships over the coming months and years. All of the evidence suggests a great urgency to take action – now.

Visit www.omega-performance.com to learn more.

Blended learning has a lot to offer. It has tools to assist in the critical areas of communicating the business’s culture, values and approach, systems and procedures training, product knowledge, embedding sales and service models, and assessing and remediating critical skills gaps. Take, for example:

• Podcasts—These can be used by key executives to communicate a business’s culture and values. They grab people’s attention and increase emotional engagement. They can be accessed from mobile devised on the way to work, or downloaded to the PC at the job.
• Text Messages—These can be pushed through “dashboards” at spaced intervals. These messages are critical reinforcers of a new organizational culture or direction.

These tools can be leveraged for organizational challenges, including:

• Simulation-based Systems and Process Training—Online templates enable a “show me / let me try / give me different levels of feedback.” Then “test me to confirm I can do it” types of templates make creation of this type of training fast and transferable to the job.
• Product Knowledge—When mergers occur, product knowledge is a particular challenge because of the different products, new sales models, and different levels of knowledge and skills within the two organizations. Online product mastery modules that teach product features and benefits, build fluency to enable effective customer communication, and then are reinforced with one-the-job coaching are another example of how blended learning can help organizations meet the hefty performance challenges.
• Assessing and Remediating Knowledge and Skill Gaps—Online advantages include the ability to link directly to applicable modules of instruction if a gap is surfaced; flexible access to the testing modules; immediate organizational intelligence about progress and scores; targeted, individualized training programs based on specific job competency requirements; and an ability to overcome geographical and language barriers.

Which one to choose depends on a number of factors, but all can be effective if well designed. Blended learning can be a key tool in helping organizations accomplish their business objectives in these challenging times.