4 Best Practices for Building a Successful Sales Culture

by Mark Trinkle, CGO, Anthony Cole Training Group

There are four things that separate high-performing banks from their peers in terms of their sales and revenue growth. Banks who embrace these four things will almost always outperform their peers. These activities are validated by the Objective Management Group’s 30-year stats history of sales skills assessments across the country.

First, top-performing banks assess the skills sets of the existing lenders and relationship managers. They do this because it is really hard to change that which you cannot see. There are a set of specific 21 Core Sales Competencies that drive success in selling and CEOs across the country are accessing this information to understand and improve the skills of their current teams as well as hire new high-performing lenders and relationship managers. Only by understanding the specific consultative and relationship building skills of each team member can a bank leader coach, train and build a successful sales culture.

Secondly, top-performing banks don’t make the mistake of hiring new lenders without assessing them using a sales skills assessment that is both sales-specific and also predictively valid. There are plenty of assessments out there but the vast majority are personality-based and do not uncover if a salesperson can and will sell for your bank. When looking at sales skills assessments, make sure that they come with a proven history of working as well as a recommendation to hire or not hire. And remember, on average top producers drive 10x as much revenue as bottom producers so it pays to have the right tool in place to make certain that you are attracting and hiring the right bankers who will sell right from the first step in the hiring process. Hiring is key to upgrading and building a successful sale culture and team.

Third, top-performing banks build out a sales process that is both stage-based and milestone-centric. Then they hold their lenders and relationship managers accountable to following that process. On average, this step alone generates a 15% increase in loan production. The stages in the sales process allow a leader and sales coach to see where a lender may need help and targeted coaching. It is factual that “elite bankers”, those in the top 7% of all bankers, follow a consistent sales process. Almost all banks are using CRMs to track their pipeline and the stages of the sales process should be incorporated into the selling system. In today’s competitive environment, the banks that win more relationships are those who train their salespeople to be more consultative, asking questions far beyond what banking products a prospect may need. Having an established sales process helps in building a better sales culture.

Fourth and finally, top-performing banks make an investment in sales leader and sales management training before they even think about training their salesperson. They equip their leaders with skills in standards and accountability, coaching, and motivation. These are the top four skills that sales managers should be spending 85% of their time doing. Since most sales managers typically are promoted up through their specialty area in banking, the sales management skills assessment consistently shows that sales leaders do not have the skills needed to drive consistent sales growth with their teams. We also know that sales managers with a strong coaching bias and established skills have teams that drive 38% more revenue. The development of the sales leadership team is key to building a stronger, more successful sales culture at any bank.

How important is it that your bank establish, communicate and create a strong sales culture, a culture that is focused on the needs of your bank clients? As more retail bank customers struggle to pay their bills on time, many of them are looking to their banks for financial advice, according to a new survey by J.D. Power.

The firm said that 43% of retail bank customers are now “financially vulnerable,” up from 27% five years ago. At the same time, more than one-fourth (26%) of customers say they are “very interested” in receiving bank advice or guidance, up from just 19% in 2021. How is your bank responding to these challenges?

Free eBook on Achieving Sales Team Excellence