Sales culture: instill--don't install; advice on starting and sustaining a program to make your bank more sales-oriented.

• Author: Meehan, Linda
• Position: Fundamentals

If your financial institution--particularly if it is a community bank--is typical, your management is struggling with two sales-culture issues. One is how to get a program off the ground; the other is, once it's started, how to keep it charged up and moving forward.

For more than a decade, you've been hearing how banks are losing wallet and market share, witnessing a decline in customer retention and watching core deposits go out the door. You've seen the revolution in financial services brought about by the encroachment of insurance companies, retailers, brokerage houses and dot-coms. And, you've heard the battle cry of the beleaguered banker: "Get me a sales culture, quick!" And therein lies the heart of the sales conundrum.

Too many management teams, under pressure to act, have treated sales culture as a commodity like office furniture or work cubicles. Go out and find the one that has the right look, the right size, and the right price tag, and you're in the sales business. Right? Wrong! Now don't misunderstand me. There are some excellent sales programs out there, and several have credible track records, gifted trainers, fine materials and excellent administrative support. They can, and do, help your financial institution in taking its first tentative steps on the path to sales success. But just installing the program alone isn't enough, Installing the program is only the beginning, and that's where many banks flounder, their employees dazed and indifferent to yet another new program. (If you don't think employees are placing bets at the water cooler on how long before this new fad goes the way of the dinosaur, you had better check those rose-colored glasses of yours.)

The key lesson about a sales culture is this: One cannot "install" it. Merely going out and purchasing a dynamic program with manuals and charts and trophies for weekly referral winners won't cut it. That's just a first step, and, while it is an important one for many banks, it is not the most critical move. One must instill a sales culture--nurture and shepherd it, guide it where you want it to go--training, measuring, testing, rewarding employees for their successes, and building them up from their failures. It is a daily, moment-by-moment journey with some great destinations along the way. And, it is modeled, led and mentored from the top. This last point is critical to success regardless of whether your company has purchased a sales program from a vendor or your...