What Does a Clothing Store Have to do with Banking?

Jack Mitchell is the CEO of Mitchells/Richards/Marshs, one of the most successful clothing stores in the country. In his book “Hug Your Customers” he talks about “Reactive – Proactive”, and the way things used to be at his stores – that the salespeople just waited around for someone to come walking through the door, then they sold some clothing. He says that things have changed, that  now “You can’t stand idly twiddling your thumbs until someone walks in the door. You must take actions to bring customers through that door. In other words, you need to initiate the sale, not simply complete it.”

This concept certainly applies to the banking business. When I was a teller in 1973, we did the same thing. We waited for customers to walk through the door and took care of them. There was plenty of business to go around and we didn’t worry much about competition. These days, if you’re not out there advertising and marketing, creating and closely managing an iron-clad sales program, and making your customers’ experiences at the branch extraordinary, they’ll just as easily go to any bank on any corner.

It takes much more than just waiting around to stay in business.