Sherri May & Co.

This week, we’re focusing on what you can do to keep content fresh. One great way is to use upcoming holidays to leverage your products, company events and special offers. You see it all the time; companies like car dealerships or clothing stores will offer promotions like July 4th or Labor Day sales to grab their customers’ attention. So how can your company use this strategy?

You can offer holiday specials and notify customers through Email Marketing or Direct Mail Marketing. Or, if you would like a low-cost alternative, you can update your company’s website or social media sites in a festive way to grab your customers’ attention.

Check out how Graphic Designer, Katie Milburn, updates the SMCO’s Twitter background in an innovative way. Feel free to let us know which one is your favorite!

by Aleta Lynch, SMCO Graphic Designer

Recently I celebrated my first anniversary with SMCO, which offered me a unique opportunity to look back over the last year from an especially thankful perspective. What an incredible thing to work at a woman-owned and run creative small business! It’s a new experience for me to partner with so many amazing businesswomen on a daily basis. In hopes to share some of the inspiration I’ve gathered over the last year from this amazing work atmosphere, I’ll share with you a recent conversation I had with Sherri May, our fearless leader and the founder of SMCO …

1. How did you start Sherri May & Co.?
This falls under the “necessity is the mother of invention” category. During my long career with a large regional bank, I had finally found my stride. After stints as a teller and a banker, I found myself in sales communication as a writer and then into my beloved marketing. My time there was cut short when our bank was purchased and the marketing function centralized out of state. Being an “Arizona girl” through and through, I simply could not relocate. Add to that the fact that I had an entrepreneur mentality since second grade when I gave dance lessons to neighborhood friends on my front porch (it progressed to running a “spy school,” then selling homemade cinnamon rolls door to door and on and on), there wasn’t really a choice … it was time to start my own business. So I leveraged what I had learned over the last umpteen years, corralled my resources and my friends … and the rest is history.

2. If you were to take a snapshot of you on this day 10 years ago, what would you be doing?
Actually, 10 years ago I was doing the same thing I’m doing now … like I said, “bo-ring!” Now, if you rewind 30 years … I was a Personal Banker selling the brand new innovation called “Check Safekeeping” like there was no tomorrow. I actually won a trip to Acapulco for those sales results. 25 years ago, I was there when the very first “Loan By Phone” call came in … another brand new innovation. Geez, I feel ancient!

3. What does every woman-owned business need to know?
That sometimes you have to “play the game” (negative but realistic me again). For the first 10 years of my business, I resisted the “woman-owned business” certification. My philosophy was (and continues to be) to compete based on expertise, service and the value that we add because we’re simply very, very good at what we do. But sometimes you have to face the fact that many large companies have commitments to meet when it comes to the diversity of their suppliers. At the request of my largest client, we joined the “certified woman-owned club.” I had huge mixed feelings. On the one hand, was I selling out? On the other, it was essential to my company’s future. I chose the latter because it was what my client needed, and I realized that I was a valued partner long before the “certification.” The certification simply gave my client one more benefit to doing business with me. Rationalization? Maybe. But I’m reminded every day how lucky I am to live in a day and a location where a woman owning a business of her own is allowed, respected and encouraged.

4. What is one of your favorite memories at SMCO?
The day one of my team wanted to blog about me!

5. What is the mantra that keeps you going day after day while running SMCO?
“The worst day working in a small business is better than the best day working for a corporation.” Okay, that might not be very positive, but it’s painfully true (I have the corporate political wounds to prove it!). And my second mantra is simple but effective: “Keep Calm and Carry On!”

When it comes to Direct Mail Marketing, the success of your marketing campaign depends on your content, design and strategy. There are several key components that will get your campaign off the ground including strong copy, a clear call to action, a compelling offer, and a little something extra that puts you ahead of your competition. When these factors are combined, your Return on Investment (ROI) will skyrocket.

A recent article featured on B2C Marketing Insider describes the recent Direct Mail Marketing campaign of a Cleveland, Ohio based driving school (Behind the Wheel School of Driving) and their success with a postcard created by PostcardMania. Here’s a breakdown of their campaign and how they used the key components of an effective marketing campaign to raise their ROI by 831%:

The Main Components:

Killer Copy
Step one here is having persuasive copy. This postcard keeps the language simple but effective. The postcard explains how students will learn to drive in a “safe, easy-to-drive Mini Cooper!” This might seem simple, but this sentence makes the driving school appealing to both students and their parents. Students will like learning how to drive in a car made popular in the hit movie, Italian Job, and parents will breathe a sigh of relief knowing their new driver is safe. Killer copy? Check.

Word of Mouth
The offer in this piece is a call out that reads “Bring a Friend & Get $10 Off, Must bring friend during first class.” With each student that registers, the driving school receives $300, with this offer they can double that profit at only a $10 cost, which drastically increased the ROI.

Call to Action
“Space is Limited. Call Today to Reserve Your Spot!” The call to action is also simple here. It gives the reader a sense of urgency to “act now,” then clearly states two different ways to get in touch to make the reservation.

Icing on the Cake
Here, the Mini Cooper is the icing on the cake. As previously mentioned, this specific type of car is more appealing to students and gives Behind the Wheel School of Driving the advantage. It’s important to stay competitive and offer something your competition isn’t—whether it’s a Mini Cooper, or a recent advancement in technology—know your company’s strength and sell it.

After all was said and done, Behind the Wheel School of Driving spent $3,221.32 on 12,000 postcards, and received $30,000 which was a 831% ROI. Their Direct Mail piece included all the effective components of a strong campaign, and the proof was in the results.

Simple steps to boost profitability (part 2)

An effective, low cost way to reconnect the dots for branch teams between sales and service is to form an employee Sales & Service Committee. Here are some specific actions the Sales & Service Committee can implement to get the ball rolling:

1. Profile. Profile. Profile. If you already use a customer profile, make sure it’s as good as it can be. If you don’t use a customer profile, it’s time to start. An effective profile must be brief, focused and conversational. Focus on key information about the customer’s financial life, where else they bank, balances, payments, home ownership, equity and future goals. Gather enough information to enable bankers to calculate key ratios like Net Worth, Loan to Value on property and Debt to Income. Remember, the customer profile is the best way to gather the information that most positively influences sales through expert consultation. And expert consultation is our highest calling … now that’s service!

2. Think big, think strategy. There’s a difference between “selling accounts” and serving customers by helping them create and achieve financial strategies. It’s the difference between “Let’s open that savings account for you today,” and “Let’s definitely take a look at that savings account, but I’d like to hear about your financial goals so I can recommend the right combination of financial strategies to help meet your long-term objectives.” It’s about creating broader cross-selling opportunities with customers based on the details of their financial lives. A best practice is to craft scripting to help bankers talk with customers from the standpoint of increasing the value of their relationships with the bank.

3. Practice makes … well, you know. Role-plays are universally distasteful. But eliminating them because of their distaste is a key contributor to losing the ability to connect the dots between sales and service. In a “back to basics” move, role-plays should be reinstated with gusto! Customer contact staff need to know how to script, and they must practice. Think of your favorite championship sports team. Do you think they stopped practicing just because they won the Super Bowl or the World Series or came out on top of the Final Four? Of course not! Scripting and practicing through role-plays must be incorporated into your weekly routine.

4. How much by when? Bankers must make weekly commitments for sales activities and results. Ask for commitments at the beginning of the week, in front of the whole branch team, write individual commitments on a big flip chart and post in a non-customer contact area. Then, with the whole team, debrief results at the end of the week. Schedule sales meetings every Monday and Friday, cascading results upward each week. This process of accountability and reporting must be “carved in stone.” In other words … a bank-wide non-negotiable!

5. Show me the money. Recognition should be a regular activity and can be non-monetary. But results, whether achieved through direct sales efforts or service excellence, should be compensated. The concern of sales eclipsing service often makes community bankers think twice about implementing sales incentives. But incentives are necessary for peak performance. So, include a service element in your incentive design through a secret shopping program. Include team awards, by branch, internal teams (Tellers with Bankers), partner teams (commercial, mortgage, investments, etc.). No doubt that implementing a robust incentive program is hard work, but it will drive results.

I can’t conclude this discussion without sharing an experience I’ve seen time and time again. The scene is a branch sales meeting. The manager is reinforcing some basic sales skills and helping employees craft scripts for the situation of the day. He or she then invites participants to role-play. Cut to a close-up of a staff member who makes no effort to mask a distinct scowl. He or she proclaims that years of tenure make this exercise completely unnecessary, “I’ve been around long enough to know how to talk to customers. I don’t know why we’re wasting our time.” I can assure you that the very souls who feel they don’t need practice are the ones who need it the most. A branch manager friend of mine who consistently achieves top tier performance is a master when it comes to handling these situations. She recognizes resistance (which is futile) immediately and, under her expert wing, enlists the resistor to co-lead discussions. Under the manager’s close supervision, the transformation is often stunning. “I know this sounds negative,” she explains “but it’s similar to a familiar adage, keep your high-performers close but your resistors closer.”