It’s sad in the banking industry when we’ve come to the point of having survey questions that want to know if people are “not unhappy” with their bank. In a recent Harris Poll it was found that 41% say their bank offers an “adequate” service for their financial needs. In other words, they’re not unhappy. Does that mean 59% don’t even think their bank is “adequate”? I wonder what percentage would say their bank is more than adequate or better yet, remarkable. Actually, we think it’s getting difficult to find any type of business that is much better than adequate.
Many organizations have set the bar so low that they end up trying to be the best of the “adequate“? And believe it or not, many organizations don’t even aspire to that level! Conventional wisdom of the “adequate” says that being adequate is the easy way, that being adequate is good enough and customers are fine with it. We know for a fact this is nothing more than stinking thinking, as Zig Ziglar would say. Being remarkable makes you and your team 1,000% more efficient and effective. It’s the reason we’ll see a bank branch with 6 employees and $80 million in deposits tell us how much fun they are having and how great their customers are and we’ll then see a branch in the same town and market with 6 employees and $10 million in deposits complain about how busy they are and that their customers have everything they need.
Sustained growth doesn’t happen by accident or luck. There is a process that drives it, regardless of the industry, and it starts with getting out of the mindset of being The Best of the Adequate.
