Many community banks seem to have forgotten that they are most valuable for their ability to identify customers' pain and put an end to it. But fierce competition from fintech startups like Lending Club and Kabbage offers a reminder that they cannot afford to disregard this reality.
Customers expect mobile banking services Â-- but they're not necessarily impressed by them. Bank marketers should instead emphasize their institutions' problem-solving capabilities and skilled professionals.
Frontline employees shape their own work environments as well as the experiences of their customers Â-- as demonstrated by a trip to the much-dreaded Department of Motor Vehicles.
Community banks that try to serve too broad an array of customers will wind up losing out to larger competitors. They would do better to focus on on one or two customer segments and familiarize themselves with those groups' specific habits and needs.
Banks looking to improve their sales should follow a simple rule of thumb: the more friendly, casual chats staffers have with current and potential customers, the more business they create.
Congress should avoid becoming so focused on the problems with big banks that they overlook the community lenders suffering from a lack of regulatory relief.
Millennials are individuals first and millennials second. Demographers and sociologists may like to group consumers, but when bankers market to the average instead of the individual, it's a losing strategy.
