SELF IMPROVEMENT

Business via Bank Branches Clarity Advantage, a consulting and bank sales training firm, offers six strategies to reduce fear and increase effectiveness in building profitable business relationships:

1. Pick One – pick one type or very few types of businesses to learn well and sell to. “While you may sell to companies or buyers other than the chosen ‘One,’ develop your business based on that ‘One,’” says Nick Miller, bank small business sales specialist and president of Clarity Advantage. “Once you have mastered the ‘One’ and developed a good business based on that ‘One,’ pick another one that is somehow related so that now you have ‘One plus One’ that go together rather than ‘two alone.’”

2. Go Deep – become an expert on those businesses. Understand clients’ and prospects’ challenges and concerns first. Then offer ideas that will help them.

3. Develop the Offering – understand the bank’s products and how businesses use those products best to address their challenges. “There’s no substitute for this,” says Miller. “Like business owners know their stuff, bankers have to know theirs. From memory, bankers have to know the products the bank offers, what they were designed to do for a company, and how companies would typically measure or notice the benefit of using the products.”

4. Accentuate Personal Value – translate knowledge and personal experience into potential benefits those types of businesses will welcome. Miller recommends thinking about it as a features/advantages/benefits presentation—“I have certain features, which help you do certain things, which produce certain benefits for you.”

5. Own the Conversation – guide the conversation process with engaging, challenging questions. Use the perspective of present, past, and future to learn about the business. Some examples: How is your business going at this point? (present); How has your business changed over the last couple of years? (past); How do you see it evolving into the future? What sorts of challenges do you think you’ll face? (future). Avoid predictable, generic questions like “Tell me about your business.”

6. Size ‘Em Up – know whether or not the business owner meets the bank’s credit criteria. According to Miller: “You can save yourself, your bank’s underwriters, and your applicant’s time if you are courageous enough to ask three tough questions upfront. Has the business been profitable during the last several years? Has the company or any of its owners filed for bankruptcy at any point? Do any of the company’s owners have any issues on their personal credit reports?”