I’ve written before about the need for financial institutions to train their sales associates.
The reason is this: most banks and credit unions have never had to worry about selling anything. They opened a branch and people just walked in and opened an account.
But as we all know, those days are over.
Today, even people who have bank accounts are starting to use PayPal, Google Wallet, or Apple Pay to make their purchases and commercial accounts are finding alternate forms of financing.
I’m now getting letters every week from Chase and Bank of America offering me “promotional rate checks” to use anyway I want. I can buy anything and pay 0% interest for 12 months. The only cost is a 2% or 3% transaction fee.
That’s cheap money – and I don’t even have to leave my office to talk to a salesperson at a bank or credit union!
In order for banks and credit unions to grow, they will have to hire or develop a sales force. And they’ll have to train them because most financial salespeople have rarely had to make a cold call.
No matter how creative or innovative your marketing ideas are for your bank, you have to have the right salespeople in place to effectively carry out your strategy. But when hiring or managing your salespeople, how do you know who has what it takes? Here are a few ideas.
7 Disciplines You Should Expect from Your Sales Team
There are certain actions that, if your salespeople perform correctly, will bring you the business banking results you want.
#1: A good attitude. If your sales team doesn’t have a good attitude, you have problems from the very start. A good, positive, sincere attitude can be contagious. A bad attitude in the group won’t necessarily kill the group, but it’s like driving with a flat tire. You can get there, but it will take longer and it’s ugly.
#2: A desire to get better and learn. Sales reps, like other professionals, need the drive to become the best at their craft. With the web, eBooks, podcasts, email newsletters, etc., it is easy to find relevant, well-designed sales training – even as it applies to business banking. A lot of this training is free. You can do your part by providing an environment that is abundant with tools and by pointing them to the above resources. A regularly scheduled training session is also a must. You may get resistance at first, but the reps who really want to succeed will come to demand these sessions.
#3: A desire to be better than the competition. Make no mistake about it: the top-performing rep is the one who does not like to lose. This is great, as long as they don’t point those fangs internally. Everyone likes to win. You want reps that hate losing to the competition and don’t like taking second place. You must instill the concept that “there is no money for second place in sales.” Until they embrace this concept, they will never have that sense of urgency.
#4: A guaranteed number of QUALITY calls. Your reps need to be thinking about making quality calls rather than focusing on quantity. They should not want to leave the office until a certain number of quality calls are made – meaning new prospects or current prospects that are moving closer to a sale. If your reps practice, drill and rehearse – and then add quantity – the sky’s the limit.
#5: Documentation for every call. Sales reps come and go. You don’t want them to go with the knowledge of your customers in their heads, never to be seen by your company again. Whatever system you use for tracking customer interactions, make sure your reps use every bit of it. Every phone conversation, meeting, presentation, etc., needs to be documented in your CRM system. Additionally, it is a good idea is to send a follow-up email or letter after a personal visit or phone call. It should document who was present, what was discussed, and what the action items are for each party.
#6: The highest degree of integrity. You cannot be one kind of person and another kind of salesperson. You cannot tolerate (or afford) to have unethical salespeople in your bank or credit union. One thing that should get a sales associate fired on the spot is lying to or misleading a customer, member or prospect. How your sales associates act with your clients is a reflection on you and your entire bank. This rule should be posted and communicated to every salesperson (and employee) from their first day of employment.
#7: To be thinking about getting customers instead of deals. In business banking, your growth will come from repeat business or recurring revenue from your existing customer base. You can make promises to close one deal, but that’s not how you build a business. Your sales associates should be aware of how satisfied your customer will be one month or one year after the first sale. Make sure your associates aren’t making promises your bank can’t keep. It starts with you letting them know your bank can’t realistically do some things just to get the deal – and they need to know you are okay with that. It may mean shorter term gains, but it translates into happier, longer-term customers and profits.
Please share your comments or other good ideas that you use at your bank or credit union.
Here’s another great article about marketing, training and social media.
