1. Don’t stop scheduling appointments. If you have clients and prospects who are too busy to meet before year end, get them on the calendar in January. It will be harder to fill your calendar if you wait until after New Year’s.
2. Be nice to your customers, particularly the 10% who probably represent 80% of your profit. Tell them how much you value their business. Schedule time to meet with them (see #1).
3. Show your (short) prospect lists to the VIPs in your network, starting with some of the satisfied clients referenced in #2.
4. If you haven’t done it recently, review your customers’ accounts receivable and accounts payable lists. They could be great additions to your prospect list (and remember to ask for nice introductions from your customers too!)
5. Ask customers about their capital expenditure plans for the coming year. You might actually find a loan opportunity you didn’t know about.
6. Update relationship plans for your High Potential clients—those could be your best opportunities in 2015. (Cross-selling starts with a plan, not a prayer.)
7. Know what your objectives are at each holiday networking event you attend—and it better include some combination of checking the pulse of current customers, planting seeds with COIs, and meeting new people (prospects, potential COIs, etc.)
8. Think about revising your personal marketing plan. Does your LinkedIn profile need a facelift? Do you need to get more testimonials from happy customers? How about joining a trade association or two to penetrate a niche that you’re targeting?
9. Figure out how to better leverage Senior Managers and product partners in the coming year. It could start with enlisting their support in crafting strategies for some of your key prospects.
10. Discuss with your boss what specific areas you need to focus on in 2015 to improve your selling skills and business acumen. Options could include: signing up for a course; reading business publications like INC. Magazine, Fortune and any others that help you better understand the day-to-day challenges of your customers and prospects; spending more time with product specialists in your bank (e.g. Wealth Management, Treasury Management, Capital Markets); and delving into one or more industries that hold particular promise.
Bonus tip: Remember the important personal stuff. Spend quality time with loved ones of all ages. Go to the gym, don’t talk about it. Reflect. Count your blessings.
Next Complimentary Webinar on November 24 at 11 AM Eastern: What Small Business Bankers Can Learn from Moneyball
Moneyball, the 2011 box-office hit, tells the story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane and how he built a winning baseball team on limited budget using data and analytics. For a baseball franchise, analytics play a vital role in developing strategy, tactics and techniques. In this webinar Ted Triplett, the Chief Marketing Officer of Insight Ecosystems, shows how banks are applying this same approach to small business banking to gain a competitive advantage, improve performance and drive growth and profitability. You need not know anything about baseball to discover how to hit home runs by turning data into insight and insight into results.
Go to http://mzbierlyconsulting.webex.com to register. If you have questions call Susan Lersch at 610-296-4771 or email her at susan.lersch@mzbierlyconsulting.com
Recently recorded complimentary webinars available in the recorded sessions area of our webinar archive:
Q&A on Prospecting
Is Cross-selling the Secret Sauce?
