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.

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.

A: Its failures.

Virtually every business prepares a budget and calls it planning. Some actually develop strategic plans every couple of years to go through an exercise in search of new ideas and approaches. Very few, if any, reap or even appreciate the benefits of planning outside of the financial benefit they hope to realize. While the intentional outcome of these efforts is profit-based, the other powerful benefits are often overlooked. This includes building the necessary buy-in and trust within the organization to achieve the financial goals. For many organizations, this is the missing key that’s needed to support effective execution of the plan. It’s the lack of genuine buy-in that confines the plan to the top shelf of a bookcase somewhere.

Before we get into our own thoughts (or, what you might do to take advantage of the situation), we thought it would be helpful to include some other thoughts around the industry. The Financial Brand, if you have never landed on their site, is always a good first source. Their “3 Problems with the Wells Fargo Cross-Selling Scandal” by Ron Shevlin of Cornerstone Advisors, talks about the inequities created for the honest people in this story: 1) the employees who did not cheat and 2) the consumers who were harmed, neither of which stands to see compensation. But it’s Shevlin’s fourth problem (yes the title is 3, but he added a 4^th) that helped us decide to give our readers some suggestions.

An excerpt from the text:

There is a lot of buzz surrounding millennials and their unique psychographics and behaviors, especially with regard to buying habits. But it's not just millennials that are exhibiting fascinating (and at times, frustrating) preferences. As Jim Perry of Market Insights and #BANKSOCIAL discusses in his article, Modern Demographic Cohorts, Defined By Expectations, Want The Same Things From FIs, other generations, including baby boomers, are stepping outside of their perceived demographic[s] and assimilating with attitudes, beliefs and even behaviors of diverse age groups.

True or False

A budget is a once a year process for an institution.

True: A budget is a process typically done once a year to establish targets/goals of measure to be used as guidelines throughout the year.

We are pleased to announce Ireland Bank - Malad City, ID  as our fourth and final April 2016 Community Banking Month winner!