Plansmith Blog

Since the mid-1960s change has been a constant. The only real change is the rate of change. For years there have been predictions of shrinkage in the number of banks – the prediction is finally coming true. There has been a big change in the number of institutions (over 16,000 in 1972 to about 5,000 today). The environments they serve and the ways in which they serve has changed. Competition, consumer attitudes, market demographics, regulations, products, and technology have all had their impact.

The saddest thing I see with banks and credit unions is probably not what you'd think.

It's not a lack of passion for people, or even a disparate set of products that fail to match up with customer needs. In fact, banks and credit unions excel at both of these and they play a big role in creating a unique customer experience.

I could continue to list things, but you still wouldn't guess. Why? Because it's something we don't even think about it's so foreign to us.

Smart choice - that's a bold statement. But believe me, I wouldn't use those words if it weren't the truth.

The New Year is a great time to prep and review. That's why I've picked the top 3 Lunch 'n Learns you should review before diving into 2018.

We all like to start the new year with aspirations to renew, realign, and regain control of our world.

I don’t know about you, but those words just get me pumped.

Garry Kasparov. You might only know him as a former world chess champion; perhaps the greatest of all time.

Banks and credit unions have made leaps in the way of social media in the last year. But, there's still tremendous opportunity waiting to be seized.

The idea behind social media is that it's simply another method of communicating with your audience. If you'd like to read more about social media best practices, you can read about it here, but that's not the purpose of this article.

Why does strategic planning matter? Jim Fugitte, Director of Strategic Advisory Services, explains that banks with a strategy outperform their peers – when they execute the plan.

The October 2017 issue of ICBA Independent Banker features Dave Wicklund and his views on selecting a service provider for outsourcing your IRR analysis. You can find the article on page 57.

Our budgeting process gives us an idea of where we think we are headed in the next year. Many times, what we think will happen, is not what happens in reality. After all, if we all had a crystal ball at our disposal, you would not be reading this blog right now (I know I would not be writing it!).