PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Jack Hopkins Community Bank of Raymore “As a bank, we do not have tangible products to sell. We are trying to convince consumers and businesses to trust us with their money. We must also make them feel like they are getting a fair value.” Continued on page 4 Marketing and Business Development 2 | The Show-Me Banker Magazine Why focus on marketing and business development? New business is the lifeblood of every bank. We are always losing clients through life cycle events if for no other reason. Without replacing clients and expanding existing relationships, we would be out of business in no time. What do you mean: marketing and business development? My marketing professors at William Jewell College and Rockhurst College beat into me that all activities a business does to promote and sell products and services are marketing. Do you remember the four Ps? Product, price, place, and promotion. “Indeed” defines business development as the identification of long-termmethods to increase value through the development of relationships, markets, and customers. Marketing Banks As a bank, we do not have tangible products to sell. We are trying to convince consumers and businesses to trust us with their money. We must also make them feel like they are getting a fair value. So how do we set our bank apart? Traditional Community Banking Methods 1. Word of Mouth Word of mouth is still the best advertising. Recent surveys have shown that 81% of the respondents would trust a recommendation from a friend. How do you ensure your clients are referring your bank to potential clients? Do you ask them to refer people to you? Do you incent them in any way? Do you even know what your clients think of your bank? Avannis is an ICBA Preferred Service Provider that can help you survey your clients at a reasonable cost. We have used them for several years. You can use the feedback to reinforce associates who provide great service, and you can use it to improve areas where your clients feel improvement is needed. 2. Affinity Marketing Affinity marketing is a wonderful way to tie into a community. We can tie in with high school, college or professional teams through sponsorships, advertising, or other methods to help become a part of the group. 3. Referrals FromWithin the Bank Do you incent your associates to refer business to other areas of the bank? If not, is it because that is “just doing their job to do so?” Would it hurt to offer $10 cash incentives to refer clients to your financial services representative? Or $50 or $100 for helping get a loan application? We have used referral fees for years. In all honesty, while the money helps, the key benefit is the recognition that goes with giving the money away at our monthly staff meeting. It promotes competition, and the money is a visible way to help keep score. 4. Giveaways Many of you are too young to remember when we used to give away free toasters or dishes when you opened a new account. It became a running joke, but it worked. It gave us a way to set our banks apart in a tangible way. We continued to do periodic promotions offering gifts with new
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