It is human nature to take the path of least resistance and look for the easiest solution. Staples, the national office products retail chain, in its recent national advertising and branding campaign emphasizing the Easy Button, emphasizes this point. Making customers think it is really that easy is an excellent way to manage the mindsets of current and potential customers, however, it can be a recipe for “do nothing” to a management team with an outdated mindset.
Having worked with hundreds of financial services professionals over the past 15+ years, I am convinced that there is a severe case of “Magicbulletitis”. I use this term to define the tendency to look for one quick easy solution, which may not always exist. Folks – there is usually no one thing you can do, no one item on a "to do" list that will magically transform your business. But, Change your Mindset is a great place to start. Therefore, our final Change your Mindset blog post for June will address this topic.
Instead of thinking quick and easy, Think Long Term
Pick one or two strategic issues which you would prefer to solve quickly and easily. This could be something like being viewed as relevant in the eyes of a 25 year old and actually having them want to bank with you. A blog post is a great start, but it is not the magic bullet to instantly make you appear hip and cool with an audience you have all but ignored their entire lives. However, I suggest you draw up a plan in which you would have a set of initiatives over the next 36 months to engage with this segment and address all of the ways they will interact with you. Blog posts, an ever improving web presence, text messaging, putting a 3 person committee of employees at the bank who are under age 30 in charge of these initiatives is a great start. My main point here is for you to make a long term commitment to any group you choose to target.
There is a reason why retailers such as Starbucks, Whole Foods and Trader Joes are so successful. Yes, their “products” tend to be a bit more expensive than other providers in some cases, but they are not simply targeting a higher income customer. They are targeting the way people think: about the food they eat, about how they feel about their experience when they buy a cup of coffee, etc. Certainly demographics are involved, but the key driver to success with these retailers is that they know their customers intimately. These businesses have taken the time to understand their customers, they have continually modified and adjusted everything they do to create a unique customer experience and they made a long term commitment to getting it right.
In conclusion, I invite you to eliminate that tendency to look for the one and only thing you must do to change the situation you are in. I also invite you to read through all of the blog posts we have shared with you during the month of June. Our purpose in doing this during June was to give you suggestions and insights relative to how to shift your mindset. We hope it has indeed allowed you to see things differently.
Again, we are not suggesting that these daily blog posts are your magic bullets, but they are ideas we hope you will incorporate into your overall strategy for growth.
Thank you for your willingness to change your mindset!
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