Determined to increase sales and market share, banks continue to focus on external communications with the key publics. They develop marketing and corporate communications strategies around reaching target audiences to convert them to bank customers.

Undoubtedly, developing strong external communications programs to reach audiences and exceptional conversation skills to engage with them continue to be critical to bank revenue growth. However, recent events in the lending community that led to significant losses for many banks prove more focus on internal communications is crucial. In fact, banks are charged with creating a risk management framework to meet regulatory requirements. They have become focused on substantially reducing losses related to poor credit policies and as well as related employee friction which can lead to losses. Increasingly, banks have made their mission building credit-driven cultures where all staff is responsible for managing credit risks.

Internal Communications Plans Are Now Mission Critical

Senior management and the board of directors, as part of their risk governance obligations, have specific responsibilities related to internal communications. Naturally, they must establish goals, objectives, and strategies related to credit risk. But they also must make sure they’re successfully expressed as the bank’s mission across all business groups and to each staff level.

To effectively convey that mission throughout a bank, institutions must go beyond occasional memoranda about credit risks mitigation. Banks must create a formal, focused internal communications plan that routinely transmits this charge.

This strategic internal communications plan should become part of a bank’s risk governance framework. Moreover, credit risk training that facilitates consistency in your bank’s lending practices should drive the program’s strategy and tactics. The bank’s communications team should engage in that training so they gain a foundation in credit risk mitigation. That way, they can develop messaging incorporating the new credit risk language and understandings they gain.

What Successful Internal Communications Plans Do

Senior management should closely collaborate with their corporate communications executives to create this mission-driven internal communications plan. By doing so, they can contribute to creating a plan that emphasizes bank-wide involvement in ensuring financial safety for the bank.

Below are several ways your bank can use this plan can both reduce credit risk to banks and decrease employee friction related to miscommunication while increasing employee engagement. Some insights and strategies for implementing an effective internal communications plan that supports your credit risk culture-building initiatives also follow.

Enhance Employee Trust in Senior Management

An internal communications plan that includes regular direct messages from and opportunities to connect with senior management increases employee trust. Use your messaging campaign to promulgate the bank’s top down commitment to supporting employee involvement the institution’s credit risk reduction framework.

Participating with your personnel in ongoing advanced credit risk training customized to your bank’s unique organization structure aids in transmitting this pledge. Consider designating senior leaders as coaches who keep the bank’s workforce motivated to take their role in credit risk reduction seriously.

Because your corporate communications managers are experts at structuring messaging to achieve key objectives, senior management should take its cues from them. They will help you leverage their credit risk reduction focused internal communications plan to display your consistent, transparent leadership in this area.

Remember your communications team must execute this plan consistently and routinely with your complete support and involvement. That includes allocating necessary resources to make sure it succeeds.

Reduce Poor Lending Decisions

An internal communications program that includes educational components based on your credit risk and conversation skills training reduces poor lending decisions that lead to losses. Your institution should include an employee newsletter or blog, podcasts or videos, and an employee forum in the program. Employ and maximize social and mobile platforms specifically for enterprise communications and collaboration as well.

Consider the different needs of your employees based on their age and level of technological sophistication as well as security in choosing and using platforms. Train those who need it to use the platforms and implement specific policies for their application.

These tools allow the bank to provide new policies and procedures across the bank quickly as well as ongoing coaching and training on new and current credit risk mitigation practices. Enterprise technology also facilitates real conversations across the bank and gets employee feedback on bank loan programs. Leveraging this collaboration technology allows you to spot and resolve issues before they lead to adverse credit outcomes.

Promote enhanced communication between groups by designating managers in each unit as contacts for employees who need help with lending policies. Rapid information transmission is crucial. Make sure managers are readily available by chat, on social or using mobile tools to answer questions about a particular credit application rapidly. But also be certain there continue to be face-to-face meetings, activities, and training to resolve problems and reward successes.

Increase Employee Confidence

Robust internal communications programs are as much about raising employee confidence by increasing their understanding of credit policies as they are for conveying information. Do not only send missives; consistently encourage two-way conversations. Your employees are your internal customers. They need to feel confident in their ability to apply the right credit strategies. They also must be assured of their value in implementing your credit risk reduction framework.

A properly constructed internal communications plan will decrease the internal friction that results when this confidence is missing. That employee conflict triggers fear and distrust and precludes meaningful conversations that prevent credit losses caused by misunderstandings, mistakes, and fraud.

Thus, it is important to use your internal communications strategy as a way to maintain open and honest interactions between business units as well as your workforce and senior management. Building employee engagement this way increases both internal and external confidence and builds your bank’s reputation for both new hires and new customers. That leads to new revenue opportunities and reduced regulatory violations.

Improve Customer Experience and Trust

Customer experience has become the primary client retention strategy for banks. Your bank’s internal communications plan and related collaboration tools provide opportunities for enhanced communications with customers. You can use them to convey new conversation skills and strategies for winning customer trust and business.

Additionally, because you have routinely disseminated consistent credit policies across the bank, you’ll be able to answer customer inquiries quickly and accurately. Moreover, customers now expect banks to use technology efficiently to serve their needs. Having robust social and mobile internal communications tools allows for processing loans more rapidly while reducing chances of fraud and risk.

Through your internal communications program, you’ll have implemented and trained your workforce to use the right combination of technology, consistency, and efficiency to serve customers. Coupling that plan with credit risk and conversations skills training that helps you “know your customer” meaning you’ll improve their experience and build trust with them.

Investing the resources in a robust strategic internal communications plan, you can maintain consistent messaging about your credit risk reduction mission. Your bank will unify its workforce around your goals and objectives and reduce internal conflict and financial losses that poor internal communication causes.

Your bank also will be on its way to stronger employee engagement which leads to improved customer experience and healthier market share. To find out more about how your bank can gain the most benefits from being a credit driven organization, download our latest white paper.

The post How to Reduce Credit Risk and Employee Friction at Banks appeared first on Omega Performance.

Senior executives in the banking industry are retiring, and banks are hard-pressed to replace them. Intensifying the problem is the fact that during the Great Recession, financial institutions hired fewer bankers in their mid-30s and 40s. Moreover, technology has eliminated some banking tasks in recent years, causing bank hiring managers to believe that they could hire fewer professionals.

The talent gap is exacerbated by career choices made by those who are graduating from college or MBA programs with finance degrees today. Increasingly, they are choosing other job opportunities, especially those in fintech startups. The 2016 Bank Director Compensation Survey revealed that millennial professionals identify the “opportunity to learn new things” as a key motivator for working in the banking industry. Other studies show this to be true with Generation X banking sector professionals, too. Consequently, 40 percent of survey respondents cited recruiting commercial lenders as a top challenge.

These factors have led some banking industry leaders to believe that the sector is experiencing a critical talent gap, particularly for commercial lenders. The demise of training and career development programs is also a significant contributor to this impending crisis. In the past, when qualified lenders retired or left, bank training programs ensured that a skilled analyst or other experienced professional filled the role. Lending remains a significant source of revenue for banks. A lack of qualified lenders means decreased profits for many.

In this blog post, we want to discuss how a robust training program can help your financial institution attract and retain  talent. This is especially true as it relates to lending due to the fact that credit risk management remains central to bank financial health.

Credit Risk Training is Key to Career Development

Generation X and millennial professionals say they need to feel fulfilled at work in order to remain employed  with an organization. This means that they must be provided with opportunities to learn at work. These new hires need to feel that they will be key contributors to a bank’s success. They also need to believe that the organization is willing to invest in their career development. To accomplish these goals, bank employers should not only provide excellent compensation, but also robust training in order to find good employees.

Credit risk training can help banks meet these requirements by offering new banking professionals the opportunity to work in a learning environment. Not only is credit risk training imperative to prevent lending losses, it is also key to career development within banks. Commercial banks that reduced training programs in response to past economic pressures must restore these career development opportunities if they want to attract younger talent.

Having employees engaged in financial loss prevention strategies provides a sense of involvement for many. Employees want to play an active role in ensuring institutional financial safety. It is imperative that banks train employees to be competent in enhancing bank financial security and addressing regulatory challenges. Moreover, banks should entrust those who demonstrate the most promise with additional responsibilities.

Reduce Recruiting Costs with Credit Risk Training

There are numerous benefits for banks that extend credit risk training across all business units and employees. Once an institution has invested in enterprise-wide credit training, management can identify top performers who excel in applying their newly acquired skills. These employees can be groomed for management roles and other career development opportunities. The implementation of a credit training program also decreases financial losses due to lending errors by spreading credit risk responsibility among more staff.

Training programs also increase employee engagement. Well-trained personnel feel more respected and valued by employers that are actively investing in their career development. Employees are more committed to helping grow the institution as they grow in their careers. They understand that increased revenues, coupled with diminished credit risks, yield benefits for the bank and themselves. Their training enables them to perform to ensure those outcomes.

This kind of credit risk training program gives the bank an internal recruiting pool that further helps build strong teams in the future. Current team members possess organizational knowledge while new hires have a learning curve that at times can take longer than expected. Promoting from within demonstrates opportunity and incentive for employees, enhancing the overall performance of your workforce. The strategy of talent development attracts top talent without the need for aggressive and costly recruiting efforts. Reputation, along with word-of-mouth both online and in-person, contributes to your bank’s position when recruiting. The discussions and recommendations of employees can help your bank win the talent war.

Credit Risk Training Can Decrease Employee Turnover

Initial and ongoing credit training, along with internal promotions, bolster employment longevity and lower employee turnover.

If your bank lacks professional advancement opportunities, employees are likely to pursue opportunities with organizations that provide them. This is particularly the case with the most highly educated candidates. Employees with solid educational backgrounds are regularly pursued by recruiters, making it all the more important for an employer to try to break through the noise. Young professionals are looking at organizations that fill a void and provide them with an environment to learn and apply their skills on the job.

The objective of young banking professionals is to work for institutions that will train them for well-paying risk management careers. This means that they won’t hesitate to accept jobs offering that training. Thus, commercial banks must provide ongoing credit risk training if they don’t want to lose employees to financial institutions that will provide that education. Instituting training programs can prevent the departure of professionals who are difficult to replace. It also diminishes the likelihood of financial losses if employees across the board have credit risk experience and education.

Management Support for Credit Risk Training is Vital

Not only should the bank’s C-suite allocate resources to credit risk training, they should also demonstrate that leadership supports such career development. This is possible through the actions of management and through the bank’s ongoing internal message. Senior leadership’s demonstrated commitment to a risk management culture will be the driving force behind employee willingness to trust their commitment to a bank culture. This has the ability to enhance employee productivity and loyalty to their institution.

Bank management should collaborate to create credit training programs and increasingly move toward advanced courses. One way to make certain that these programs meet the needs of all employees is to solicit feedback regarding training successes and failures. Financial institutions also must develop middle managers to become trained coaches and mentors. As the bridge between senior executives and staff, these key professionals have the most direct contact with employees. They must lead by example, showing credit risk policies in action, and being competent and available to mentor their workers in applying credit risk training.

Offer Credit Risk Training as a Competitive Advantage

Addressing this talent shortage of risk management professionals in the banking industry is critical. Financial institutions that invest in credit risk training are likely to remain the most competitive in the current banking environment. These institutions will attract the finest talent with their training and career development opportunities and over time, develop well-trained risk managers.

Through credit risk training, banks can enhance professional growth around advancing the bank’s most significant activity – increasing loan revenue – while reducing related risks. This gives employees a sense of involvement in the institution’s well-being and helps retain the best workforce. It also provides employees better opportunities to stay, rather than seek career options with competitors.

Learn about the benefits of leveraging credit risk training as an essential talent management strategy. Download our latest white paper.

The post Close the Talent Gap with Credit Risk Training to Attract and Retain the Best Employees appeared first on Omega Performance.

In a commercial bank environment, lenders with commercial or small business lending responsibilities must quickly develop higher-level analytical thinking to accurately evaluate credit risk. Analysis experience develops naturally over a period of years, as lenders work with different types and sizes of businesses, different industries, and different economic conditions. However, mistakes in risk assessment made during that extensive learning period can be costly to the lender, the bank, and the customer. Credit losses, loss of client relationships, and attrition within the lending ranks are frequent consequences of this extended development period.

The Catch 22

Once a lender’s foundational training is complete, lenders face a Catch 22: their lack of experience limits them to analyzing smaller, simpler, lower-risk credits until they have acquired the experience to dependably make good decisions on larger credits. Yet this apprenticeship perpetuates that very lack of experience and ensures a long learning curve instead of a short one. If lenders do not have the opportunity to exercise their independent decision-making skills on more complex, higher-risk credit requests, how long will it take the lender to acquire the requisite experience and higher-level analytical thought processes?

Increasing the Speed of Ascent: the Case Study Learning Approach

Banks have tried many approaches to increase the speed of learning by pairing lenders with mentors and coaches who evaluate more complex credits, and by sending lenders who have completed their foundational training to workshops, seminars, or off-site universities to accelerate the pace at which they acquire those critical analytical skills.

Progressive banks have found an effective solution—using the case study method made popular by educational institutions like the Harvard Business School.

Workshops, seminars, and learning labs use a modified version of the business-school case analysis model to provide an active learning experience in a large group setting. If those methods include the analysis of cases of varying complexity—cases based on true-to-life scenarios or actual historical credit files—the lender’s acquisition of higher-level analytical skills can be accelerated. Lenders have an opportunity to work with a larger group to analyze a variety of  opportunities and to make recommendations on credits that are similar to those they would encounter on the job.

Case Studies for Accelerated, Advanced Learning

Consider, then, using an advanced case study approach to extend and accelerate the lender’s ability to perform independently at a higher level of competence and confidence.  Instead of pulling lenders away from the job for repeated seminars or workshops, provide additional opportunities for risk-free learning on the job. Using an online platform, present the lender with a variety of case experiences. By selecting from a library of cases, the bank provides the lender with credit situations from different industries, levels of business complexity, and economic periods. Lenders can access an assigned case and all of its component parts, record their analysis, and complete a credit action sheet or credit memorandum that echoes what they would complete at your organization for a real credit opportunity.

Once submitted, experts review their recommendations, along with those of other case participants, and incorporate feedback into a brief group session held via webinar. During the webinar, participants explore those aspects of the case identified by the expert as areas of insufficient or faulty analysis. Participants work in small groups, consider each other’s solutions, and arrive at a consensus credit solution. Each group’s solution is then presented back to the credit expert facilitating the group session. During these sessions, lenders reevaluate their approach to problem-solving and expand their ability to think broadly about credit solutions.

Experience Without Risk

Why does it work? Because it most closely replicates a lender’s task on the job: to independently perform and document an analysis, and advocate for a solution—but without the risks.

• Case assignments can be selected to match the types of customers and situations the lender will face at this organization—or to economic situations it may face in the future.

• Each lender must follow the bank’s process to perform a complete evaluation of the opportunity, complete the business, industry, and financial analysis, develop a credit decision and structure, and present an independently-formulated solution to the expert before discussing it with others.

• It removes the individual’s ability to hide behind the conclusions of a group.

• The expert who reviews their submission acts as loan committee, identifying any weaknesses in the evaluation or solution.

• By listening to the expert and their peers and exploring alternate solutions, they gain perspective, learn of a broader range of acceptable solutions, and gain confidence.

• Lenders are called on to address challenges to their positions by answering “What ifs” and “Why’s” to their recommendations, as they would before a loan committee.

By refining those solutions, they learn to make higher-quality lending decisions.

Case Study-Based Learning Outcomes

Through the use of two levels of case study exercises, your lenders develop more sophisticated analytical skills. They are exposed to a greater variety of situations and economic conditions than would be possible with job shadowing, mentoring, and apprenticeships. They also gain confidence using their decision-making skills, presenting their solutions and viewpoint, and incorporating feedback into the final solution.

This means banks can expect elevated job performance in the following ways:

• Improved ability to assess and manage credit risk for your bank leading to superior lending decisions.

• Enhance facility with applying multifaceted approaches in dealing with individual customers to determine strengths and weaknesses of each.

• Analytically constructing written defenses of their credit recommendations then cogently articulating their reasoning to their peers.

• Ready re-evaluation of lending recommendations resulting from peer feedback.

• Competent defense of challenges to their recommendations including to the “What ifs” and “Whys” presented about them.

• Advanced experience making credit decisions in multiple types of lending situations.

It is clear that the case study approach – when properly structured, supported with bank resources, and backed by bank senior management leads to substantially increased performance for financial institutions.

The post Case Study Learning Approach – a Risk-Free, Accelerated Skill Builder appeared first on Omega Performance.

Course Catalog Updated for 2018

The Driving Credit & Sales Effectiveness: 2018 Course Catalog is now available for you to download. 

Looking for a way to enhance your team’s credit skills development? This year’s catalog features up-to-the-minute information about our new and existing courses, including duration, learning topics, and the results and business benefits your organization can expect. It has also been updated to align with our new website to make it easier to understand our offerings and share information with your colleagues. It includes an overview of our philosophy and explains how our training can help your bank or credit union succeed, whether your employees are new to the industry or simply in need of a refresher.

You’ll also get an overview of our blended learning approach, which includes self-paced eLearning, instructor-facilitated skills application labs, and robust coaching and mentoring solutions, industry-leading credit management training that empowers your managers to reinforce and sustain employees’ skills, so that your organization can make the most of its investment. There is also a full page showcasing our different eLearning licensing options.

Once you know which courses you’re interested in, you can find more detailed information (including complete product cards with module-by-module descriptions) by visiting our course listing or contacting us to schedule a demonstration.

Download your free copy of the Driving Credit & Sales Effectiveness: 2018 Course Catalog today!

The post Course Catalog Updated for 2018 appeared first on Omega Performance.

How Small Business Lending is More Challenging Than a Typical Sales Role

Congratulations! You’ve just hired an incredible salesperson! She’s personable, articulate, and intelligent … but she’s never worked in small business lending.

Still, you feel her strong prospecting skills and knack for uncovering needs, presenting solutions, and closing deals are enough to make her your next small business lending superstar. But small business lending is a bit more complicated than other types of sales.

In addition to typical sales skills, small business lenders must be able to qualify businesses (to determine whether they can sell to them); assess business, industry, and financial risks; and evaluate management’s strategies for addressing those risks.

While most salespersons just need a “yes” from the customer, small business lenders must first identify a solution that satisfies both the customer and the loan approver. Oftentimes, the solution that’s approved isn’t the one the customer requested or expected; other times, the request is declined, and the lender must deliver negative news.

What’s exciting about lending, however, is that there are many customer touchpoints, which presents lenders with multiple opportunities to establish themselves, as well as their financial institution, as trusted, knowledgeable partners, who are able to provide valuable insights to small business owners.

So how can your new small business lender bridge the gap between a traditional sales role and the lender’s role, position herself as a trusted partner, and improve the odds of a successful outcome for the customer and the financial institution? The answer is by having more-effective conversations.

Small business lenders must view every conversation as an opportunity to add value, both for their customers and their financial institution. They must know how to engage business owners in ways that demonstrate their credibility and build trust but also yield the information they’ll need to evaluate the opportunity. They must know how to develop—and share—financial insights with the customer and the loan approver. Finally, they must know how to present solutions (and even declines) in ways that continue to position themselves and their financial institution as engaged and interested in the best outcomes for the business.

Learn more about how our small business lending training solutions can help your small business lenders succeed.

The post How Small Business Lending is More Challenging Than a Typical Sales Role appeared first on Omega Performance.

Three Conversations Successful Small Business Lenders Have

Smart small business lenders know that in order to be successful, they must have the skills to build long-term relationships with clients, and effectively communicate with underwriters to develop appropriate solutions that leave all parties satisfied.

By breaking the lending process down into a series of three targeted conversations, your small business lenders can bridge the gap between the client and the underwriter.

Here are the three most important conversations that your lenders need to have when they are working with a small business owner.

1. Qualify the Business; Clarify Needs

Understanding a business’s operating cycle and capital investment cycle is key to fully understanding a client’s needs and challenges. When equipped with financial analysis skills and knowledge of the client’s industry, a small business specialist is poised to conduct a focused conversation that will build credibility with the client. When conducted skillfully, the conversation will also build enough trust that the client will feel comfortable providing detailed financial information.

2. Share Financial Insights

Every business is unique. Discovering a business’s unique strengths and weaknesses is at the heart of successful small business lending. Having had an opportunity to analyze a client’s financials, lenders should be prepared to have a client-focused discussion during which they ask questions about what they observed in the financial statements so that they can fully evaluate the borrowing cause and the business’s ability to repay.

By shifting from a lender-focused interrogation to a client-focused conversation, the lender is able to provide value to the client through insightful analysis of the business, while giving the underwriters what they need to make an informed decision.

3. Present Financial Solutions

Financial solutions can be difficult to understand, even for the most sophisticated small business owners. Presenting solutions is often complicated by a mismatch between what the business owner has requested and what the lender is willing to offer.

The lender must present the solution in a straightforward manner that highlights the benefits to the client. It is important to be able to present solutions in a benefit-focused manner to prevent objections.

Even when you have to communicate bad news, such as a decline, there is an opportunity to build trust and set the stage for a future relationship. Make sure your lenders know how to position a decline as an opportunity to share business insights that will help the owner improve the business’s financial position so that it can qualify in the future.

Knowing how to have these three conversations will position your small business lenders as consultants and elevate the status of your financial institution. We’ve recently launched a brand new course that teaches these conversation skills. Learn more about Effective Credit Conversations.

The post Three Conversations Successful Small Business Lenders Have appeared first on Omega Performance.

Bridging the Gap Between Lending and Sales

Business lenders face challenges that those in typical sales roles do not. They have to qualify businesses to determine whether they can sell to them; assess business, industry, and financial risks; and uncover management’s strategies for addressing those risks. Business lenders must also have the requisite credit skills to analyze their findings and develop value-added solutions. However, arguably the most important skill business lenders can have is the ability to bridge the gap between risk-focused lending and customer-focused sales so that they can build lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.

The infographic below shows best practices for business lenders, from gathering information so that lenders can relay the business’s story to the loan approvers,  to developing and sharing financial insights with the client, and sharing the lending decision in a way that fosters a consultative relationship.

Want more lending tips to help you  improve your skills and bridge the gap between lending and sales? Our new course, Effective Credit Conversations teaches the skills needed to position your lenders as trusted advisors. Learn more.

The post Bridge the Gap Between Lending and Sales appeared first on Omega Performance.

Attributes of Successful Small Business Lenders

Successful relationship managers wear many hats, and are able to blend their credit and conversation skills, in order to drive sales for their managers, get the right information to their underwriting team and please their customers.

Here are some of the skills that successful small business lenders must have to help their financial institutions develop profitable loan portfolios:

• Planning

  • Successful relationship managers plan their calls beforehand. They conduct research and decide what questions they will ask. Lenders are most successful when they have a checklist or other tools that help them consider the best open-ended questions they can ask to draw information from the business owner.

• Relationship Building

  • The best small business lenders have ongoing, consultative relationships with their customers. They foster those relationships by taking the time to get to know their customers, building solutions that help their businesses thrive, and following up regularly once those solutions are in place.

• Credit Analysis

  • Relationship managers may not require the same level of analysis skills as underwriters, but to be successful, they must be able to identify trends in a business’s financial performance and determine whether they are likely to continue. The most important job of a small business lender is predicting, understanding, and defending future cash flow.

• Storytelling

  • Since the loan approval process is a centralized function, separate from the customer-facing lending process, at many financial institutions, relationship managers may be the only personnel who have direct contact with the customer. This places the responsibility of effectively telling a business’s story on the small business lender.

Want to learn more about how to develop these skills in your lenders, so that you can increase the number of profitable loans at your organization? Download a copy of our latest white paper, “Think like an Underwriter. Act like a Salesperson. Speak like an Advisor.” today!

The post Attributes of Successful Small Business Lenders appeared first on Omega Performance.

The annual American Banker Retail Banking conference is fast approaching!

The 2018 event will be held April 9th−11th in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the historic Broadmoor. This year’s Retail Banking conference will focus on innovation, improving the customer experience, and adapting to regulatory changes. With so many great topics and speakers at such a beautiful location—and just three days to take it all in—you can make the most of your experience by following these tips.

1. Plan your schedule in advance.
Spend a few minutes on your flight or the night before reviewing the agenda and choosing the sessions you want to attend. If more than one representative from your organization is attending and simultaneous sessions seem useful, consider coming up with a plan to divide and conquer.
Take a look at the resort map and figure out where everything is located. Sessions will be held in the International Center, which is opposite most of the room blocks, so account for the walk over when you’re planning.

2. Network and be social!
Take advantage of the opportunity to meet people who work in the same industry as you. From colleagues to speakers to exhibitors, there are a wealth of people ready and willing to share their knowledge, chat about industry best practices, and discuss solutions that could help your organization function better. Before you attend, research the attendees and speakers you think you’d like to meet by reviewing their websites and social media to learn about their areas of expertise and help you start conversations with them.

Share your experiences on social media (using the hashtag #retailbanking) and see what others are saying in real time. The conference’s Twitter handle is @retailbanking18, and of course you can always tweet at us at @OmegaPerform.

3. Spend time in the expo hall.
You never know what solution you may find to help you address your organization’s pain points, so don’t miss the opportunity to chat with exhibitors ranging from digital platform companies to training providers. And don’t forget to pick up some conference swag to bring back to your co-workers or family!

4. Explore the Broadmoor.
The Broadmoor is a luxury resort with a rich history and stellar amenities. Take time to explore the main building, which was built in 1918 (100 years ago!). Take advantage of the spa, pools, bowling alley, and wonderful restaurants. If you have time before or after the conference, it’s worth the short trip to the Garden of the Gods, a National Natural Landmark of towering sandstone rock formations (pictured on the left).

5. Follow up!
Attending a conference is a great way to learn about new trends and best practices that you can potentially implement at your organization. While you’re at the conference, be sure to take good notes, so that it will be easier to recall and follow up on your ideas once you’re back at the office. You may find it helpful to keep your notes in two sections: one for actionable items you want to implement, and another for general takeaways.

We hope these tips will help you have a productive and enjoyable experience at the American Banker Retail Banking conference, and we look forward to meeting you at Omega Performance’s booth (#23) or at the bowling alley!

Contributor: Laura R. Poggi, Director of Marketing, Omega Performance

The post Top 5 Ways to Make the Most of the Retail Banking Conference appeared first on Omega Performance.

Help Your Lenders Build Value-Added Relationships

Do your relationship managers struggle with translating their credit skills into “sales speak”?

New for 2018, our Effective Credit Conversations Course starts with a short eLearning course that introduces the credit conversation strategy, the framework used to merge sales and credit skills.

The eLearning is followed by a two day skills application lab, during which learners have the opportunity to prepare for and conduct each of the conversations included in the Credit Conversation Strategy.

We just released a new video to help explain the benefits of our Effective Credit Conversations course. Click here to watch.

Upcoming Webinar: Turning Credit Skills into Meaningful Conversations

Thursday, April 19, 2018 2pm ET/11am PT

Interested in helping your relationship managers build more thoughtful questions based on the financials? On April 18, 2018, at 2pm ET, join Omega Performance for our webinar “Turning Credit Skills into Meaningful Conversations”.  Register here today!

Unable to attend live? Register and we will send you a recording!

The post Help Your Lenders Build Value-Added Relationships appeared first on Omega Performance.

Reducing Frustration in the Lending Cycle

It’s a scene that’s all too familiar.

Having met with a prospective customer several times, your relationship manager has prepared and tendered a loan submission. Your underwriters have begun their review, but quickly find that it’s lacking the information they need to complete their analysis. They reach out to the relationship manager, seeking clarification. The relationship manager reaches back out to the customer. A back-and-forth ensues, and the sales cycle begins to drag . . .  and drag . . . and drag.

The underwriter is frustrated.

The relationship manager is frustrated.

The customer is frustrated—and worse still, beginning to question the relationship manager’s abilities.

What if your relationship managers were better able to uncover the right information—at the right time in the sales cycle—simply by knowing how to leverage their credit knowledge to ask better questions?

On Thursday, April 19, 2018, Omega Performance will host “Turning Credit Knowledge into Meaningful Conversations,” a half-hour webinar where we’ll discuss the steps you can take to help your relationship managers have the kinds of conversations that result in higher-quality loan submissions and less of that “back and forth.”

During the webinar you’ll also learn how relationship managers can:

• Ask better questions about the trends, strengths, and weaknesses in a business’s financial performance
• Capitalize on their credit acumen to better uncover potential needs and propose targeted solutions
• Blend their credit and conversation skills to position themselves as financial partners and build lasting relationships with customers

Click Here to Register Today!

The post Reducing Frustration in the Lending Cycle appeared first on Omega Performance.

We had an amazing experience at the historic Broadmoor for the American Banker 2018 Retail Banking Conference. Our representatives from Omega Performance thoroughly enjoyed our time meeting and talking with those in the industry, as well as attending sessions. We came back with banking trends that we thought would be useful to share with you as you plan for 2018 and beyond.

Here are the top four trends we gained from the banking conference:

1. The economic outlook shows that there will be growth in spending in 2018, partially due to deregulation and due to last year’s tax changes. However, in 2019 there looks to be slower growth and increasing inflation, and we may even be facing a recession in 2020. The labor market is still strong and wages are likely to increase.

2. It’s all about digital. It’s important for customers to be able to access information on their phone, tablet, or computer, and it must be easy and seamless for the user.

The banking branch is still important, but only for complex transactions and problem-solving. Three-quarters of customers choose their bank because a branch location is close to their home or work, but most rarely enter the branch.

To succeed in the future, your tellers will need to become universal bankers who can provide full service and problem-solving capabilities. It’s good to note that opening an account still usually happens at the branch, although that too is evolving into a digital service as new technology for identifying the customer is adopted. You can also use your branch to accomplish your bigger purpose, such as to help local entrepreneurs, or to help customers adapt to the digital revolution through customer financial education and services.

3. Purpose is important. You should choose a “north star” that drives how you interact with your customers. “The customer journey needs to be what the customer wants it to be.,” said one speaker, Carol Sexton, head of Retail banking at Cambridge Savings Bank.

The purpose is to serve the customer, help them with financial education and help them access the services they need. Adopt a customer-centric purpose and publicize it to be successful. Design easy to use products and services around that purpose.

4. Agility is critical. You must have the ability to change and have an agile development system in place that is user-focused and develops and changes along with user needs.

Right now you need to be able to adapt to the millennial customer who likes everything to be digital, seamless, fast, and available for every platform. They like rewards, and if an account comes with other services, then they don’t mind if it costs money. They tend to want experiences over things, and want those experiences to be personalized and painless.

At the same time you need to be prepared for the Gen Z customers of the future who have grown up as digital natives in a world with social media and personalized marketing. They expect personalized messaging and real-time payments; are risk-averse; and while two-thirds of them already have a bank account, almost half of them avoid face-to-face banking transactions.

We hope these trends can help your organization adapt to a changing landscape in banking. Omega Performance has provided training solutions to the financial services industry for the past 42 years. We continue to innovate to help our clients meet the needs of their customers and members. Learn more about Omega’s sales and credit training offerings.

Contributor: Laura R. Poggi, Director of Marketing, Omega Performance

The post Top 4 Trends from the 2018 Retail Banking Conference appeared first on Omega Performance.

When it comes to winning and expanding small business relationships, financial institutions are expecting more and more of their branch managers.

At the community and regional banks, saving banks, and credit unions she consults with, there is a movement toward getting branch managers out of their branches and into the lucrative small business market, says Omega Performance facilitator and business lending expert Laura Beaver. However, many branch managers, who still must manage their typical day-to-day responsibilities, aren’t equipped with the credit and sales skills they need to capture small business relationships successfully.

These higher expectations are not limited to branch managers, the commercial segment is also expected to create more sophisticated loan structures.

She says the most common skill gap she sees is difficulty making the “mind-to-mouth” connection—knowing not only what questions to ask but how to ask them, in order to gain deeper information about what the business does, the challenges it faces, the needs it has, and any risks to repayment, all in one or two conversations.

How can branch managers, along with anyone in a relationship management role, blend their credit and sales skills seamlessly and simultaneously? By learning how to link a business’s story (or the qualitative information they gather) to the results of a quantitative financial analysis that answers the questions, “What are the trends in the business’s financial performance?”, “What caused them?”, and “Will they continue into the future?”

The qualitative piece—uncovering a business’s story—can be helped greatly by precall planning, and learning how to have better, stronger conversations with customers. The quantitative analysis, and its role in the credit sales process, has increasingly come into focus as financial institutions have discovered that their people need to be more sophisticated, in order to add value to their conversations, and the overall relationship, earlier and more profoundly.

To learn more about this topic and how you can improve your relationship managers’ ability to have the lending conversation, watch our latest webinar.

The post How to Turn Credit Skills Into Meaningful Conversations appeared first on Omega Performance.

What are the Best Courses to Become a Bank Manager?

Considering continuing education for a bank manager? Whether your bank manager is new to their role or simply would benefit from more training, Omega Performance has courses to help your bank managers succeed.

In addition to managing daily operations, bank managers are often responsible for building relationships and monitoring sales.

Building Customer Connections is designed to help bankers have the kind of conversations with customers that build loyal relationships and earn additional business for your organization. Branch bankers and managers must also know how to prepare for and execute follow-up meetings to expand customer relationships, which can be learned in Advancing Customer Connections.

Credit skills are important for most bank and branch managers. Our basic credit skills course, Business Lending Fundamentals, will teach you how to use the asset conversion cycle as a framework for uncovering borrowing needs and identifying potential credit solutions.

Excited about mentoring others? Scorecard Coaching teaches bank managers how to improve employees’ performance by providing them with specific, balanced feedback and helping them to develop results-oriented action plans.

Ready to improve and expand on your bankers’ skills? Contact us today to schedule a demo or learn more about which courses can help you develop quality bank managers.

The post What are the Best Courses to Become a Bank Manager? appeared first on Omega Performance.

Omega Performance through the Ages: A Tradition of Innovation

Oftentimes our current clients come to us and say, “I still have a shelf full of your books,” or we meet new clients who say, “My manager took your training back in the day.” For more than 40 years, our clients have come to us because of our high-quality training solutions, designed specifically for financial services professionals.

While we still have printable job aids to help learners when they’re at their desks, the books have been replaced with interactive, self-paced eLearning, which—in the spirit of innovation—we’re currently updating to meet learners’ individual needs even better. We’ve always encouraged training managers to create personalized learning paths by allowing individuals to test out of modules, and we’re now in the process of adding adaptive learning technology that will enable individuals to identify—and bypass—the content within each module that they already know.

This feature is currently available in our Consumer Lending course and will soon be added to our Business Lending Fundamentals course. It will be added to more of our credit training courses in the months to come.

As we continue to modernize our solutions, we hope that you’ll continue to trust us with your credit and conversation training needs. We have some exciting innovations coming down the pike.

Download our flier to learn more about how we’ve evolved over the years, and watch this video to learn more about adaptive learning.

The post Omega Performance through the Ages: A Tradition of Innovation appeared first on Omega Performance.

Benefits of Microlearning for Your Millennial Workforce

According to a study by the Brookings Institution, millennials will make up 75 percent of the workforce by 2025—and according to this article from elearning industry, they have an average attention span of just 90 seconds.

How can financial services organizations engage this generation of professionals to ensure that their bankers and lenders continue to be well-trained?

Microlearning, or small “bursts” of learning, can be an effective and efficient way to train the modern workforce.

Microlearning typically consists of short “mini-lessons” that focus on a single learning objective. Learners are generally able to complete the lessons anywhere, anytime, and at their own pace, usually on a mobile device.

Because microlearning is quickly and easily accessed and completed, it complements—and capitalizes on—learners’ naturally short (and ever decreasing) attention spans.

The best microlearning courses incorporate multimedia, such as video and audio, to engage learners.

Microlearning serves a different purpose than traditional eLearning. It tends to work best as informal or supplemental training, once a foundation of knowledge from more traditional eLearning courses has been built. It helps your learners to retain information over longer periods of time because lessons are small and are designed to review and expound upon material your learners have already been exposed to.

By continuing to align learning with current trends, technology and your workforce, you will create an environment rich for professional development.

To learn more about microlearning and how it can benefit your training initiatives, download our white paper, The Power of Small Things: How Your Learners Can Benefit from Microlearning!

The post Benefits of Microlearning for Your Millennial Workforce appeared first on Omega Performance.

How to Improve Customer Service in the Banking Industry

To improve customer service in the banking industry, it is necessary to train your frontline on how to effectively interact with customers. Here are some steps that bank tellers and other frontline staff can take to improve customer service.

1. Connect with customers by acknowledging them as soon as they enter the branch. Smile, make eye contact, and remember to ask for and use the customer’s name.
2. Ask “How can I help you?” Then, show the customer that you truly care about finding the best possible solution by asking further questions as needed.
3. Listen to your customer’s responses, and think about whether there are any additional opportunities to help him or her with products or services offered by your financial institution.
4. Once you are sure of the best course of action, handle the transaction quickly and accurately. Give the customer a summary of what you have done and what he or she can expect as a result. Transparency helps build trust with the customer.
5. Ask if there’s anything else you can do, and if so, go through the process of uncovering and clarifying needs before again handling the transaction quickly and accurately.
6. Remember to make eye contact and thank the customer before moving on to the next one.

Courses such as Creating Customer Connections teach your tellers and frontline staff how to expand upon these fundamental skills  in order to create exceptional customer experiences that differentiate your organization and result in quality referrals to your other lines of business.

The post How to Improve Customer Service in the Banking Industry appeared first on Omega Performance.

Bridging the Gap Between Lending and Sales

Business lenders face challenges that those in typical sales roles do not. They have to qualify businesses to determine whether they can sell to them; assess business, industry, and financial risks; and uncover management’s strategies for addressing those risks. Business lenders must also have the requisite credit skills to analyze their findings and develop value-added solutions. However, arguably the most important skill business lenders can have is the ability to bridge the gap between risk-focused lending and customer-focused sales so that they can build lasting, mutually beneficial relationships.

The infographic below shows best practices for business lenders, from gathering information so that lenders can relay the business’s story to the loan approvers,  to developing and sharing financial insights with the client, and sharing the lending decision in a way that fosters a consultative relationship.

Want more lending tips to help you  improve your skills and bridge the gap between lending and sales? Our new course, Effective Credit Conversations teaches the skills needed to position your lenders as trusted advisors. Learn more.

The post Bridge the Gap Between Lending and Sales appeared first on Omega Performance.

How to Improve Customer Service in the Banking Industry

After just one or two negative interactions with a financial services organization, customers might choose to take their business elsewhere.

If this happens enough times, it can cause great losses to your organization. How can you create consistency in how your frontline staff interacts with customers and help ensure that customers are happy with a majority of interactions? Soft skills like smiling, making eye contact, and light conversation with customers are necessary skills, and like more technical skills, they can also be taught. To improve customer service in the banking industry, it is necessary to train your frontline on how to effectively interact with customers.

Here are some steps that bank tellers and other frontline staff can take to improve customer service.

1. Connect with customers by acknowledging them as soon as they enter the branch. Smile, make eye contact, and remember to ask for and use the customer’s name.
2. Ask “How can I help you?” Then, show the customer that you truly care about finding the best possible solution by asking further questions as needed.
3. Listen to your customer’s responses, and think about whether there are any additional opportunities to help him or her with products or services offered by your financial institution.
4. Once you are sure of the best course of action, handle the transaction quickly and accurately. Give the customer a summary of what you have done and what he or she can expect as a result. Transparency helps build trust with the customer.
5. Ask if there’s anything else you can do, and if so, go through the process of uncovering and clarifying needs before again handling the transaction quickly and accurately.
6. Remember to make eye contact and thank the customer before moving on to the next one.

Courses such as Creating Customer Connections teach your tellers and frontline staff how to expand upon these fundamental skills  in order to create exceptional customer experiences that differentiate your organization and result in quality referrals to your other lines of business.

The post How to Improve Customer Service in the Banking Industry appeared first on Omega Performance.

By 2025, many of your most seasoned employees will have retired or be retiring soon, and 75 percent of your workforce will be comprised of millennials.

Though baby boomers, who are now in their late 60s and early 70s, have worked longer than previous generations, they are now beginning to retire at record rates.

According to AARP, baby boomers are retiring at the same rate that millennials are turning 25. Did you know that as of 2017, 66 percent of the U.S. federal workforce was eligible to retire? What if they all decided to retire tomorrow? Can you imagine the effect on the government and the country as a whole?

With so many skilled commercial lenders likely to retire soon, your organization will be losing a wealth of experience and institutional knowledge. How can you possibly fill their shoes? And how much will it cost you?

Let’s calculate the cost of losing your experienced commercial lenders.

• How many of your organization’s commercial lenders are eligible to retire in the next five years?
• How much did they contribute, as a whole, to your organization’s bottom line last year?
• How much did these same individuals contribute during their first five years as lenders?

What total did you come up with? Imagine the effect when they are all retired.

Now, consider the incoming millennials. Though older millennials have been in the workforce for some time now, younger millennials are just beginning their journeys. Their opportunities to advance their careers and take on more responsibility have been limited as baby boomers remain in the workforce.

How can you combat the impending loss of your most experienced workers and quickly get your tech-savvy millennial workers up to speed? You need to train and coach your new lenders so that they can fill that gap.

Omega Performance offers commercial lending eLearning courses that can equip your millennials with the skills they need. You can also make the most of the experienced staff members while they are still with you by training them to coach and mentor your less-experienced staff.

Show your millennial staff that you are dedicated to them and their career growth. They value collaboration in the work force, and seek a sense of purpose and community in the workplace that past generations didn’t. They also crave clarity and understanding of what is expected of them.

Thinking about and discussing the questions above can help you not only develop a better understanding of the value of a well-trained work force, but also achieve buy-in from stakeholders to up your training budget.

Think about it. What is the cost of not training your employees?

The post Making Up for Lost Experience appeared first on Omega Performance.