May the FORCE Be With You, Too.

A case study on how one bank created a new culture of sales, service and support

Two years ago, Farmers & Mechanics National Bank, a Maryland-based organization that is part of the $1.7 billion F&M Bancorp, realized some of its successful bank competitors had strong sales cultures. F&M felt there was but one direction to go if it was to survive in today's marketplace.

"We knew we needed to create a sales culture in which the customer was at the center of every action and decision," explained Dawn Heaton, retail senior vice president "Speed was also important, because of the numbers we wanted to achieve."

They chose Omega Performance, a financial services consulting firm headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., to assist them in building an effective sales culture. F&M had a few basic objectives. First, the bank wanted the new culture to embody its existing F.O.R.C.E. guiding principles:

* Focus on being our customers' bank for life.

* Offer fun and pride in the workplace.

* Reward and celebrate success.

* Champion the customer.

* Exceed financial expectations.

They also realized that the culture needed to build on customer demographic information and branch practices already in place in their 43 branches. But to be successful, the new culture had to do even more: It had to involve everyone in the bank.

Strategy sessions

After conducting a situation analysis, senior management team held a session to define the bank's sales culture, create customized management routines, and plan how to communicate the initiative bankwide. The session also included skill development in coaching, leading sales team meetings, and developing reward and recognition strategies.

Farmers & Mechanics took steps from the outset to ensure that everyone in the bank understood, felt involved in and wanted to get behind a new sales, service and support culture initiative.

To help unify efforts, the bank created a unique culture-change kickoff that blended past success with a future call to action. They chose a "Star Wars" theme that incorporated the bank's inspirational F.O.R.C.E. value principles. Costumed executives shared examples of how employees were already supporting each principle and linked the principles to the new sales culture.

During the kickoff, President & CEO Faye Cannon called for a commitment from all employees. She asked everyone to grab the glow stick taped to the bottom of his or her seat, the lights went out, and a theater full of employees snapped their glow sticks alight-in unison. From that highly charged moment, employees were committed and the sales culture journey had truly begun.

New routines and skills enhancement

Farmers & Mechanics began to use the new management routines to guide, coach and support their teams' success. Like everything about the new culture initiative, the management routines were designed to build on what managers were already doing well, and make direct associations between employee activities and superior sales and service.

To improve employees' sales and service skills and increase customer focus throughout the bank, a training curriculum was developed and tailored to the needs of branch managers, platform staff, tellers, customer service reps, credit analysts and others.

Platform staff developed the skills to uncover customer needs and match solutions to needs. Feedback from videotaped role-playing was rated as one of the most helpful parts of the training.

"By the second videotaping, we saw a marked improvement in people's sales skills and professionalism," says Katrina Yurish, Farmers & Mechanics training and development specialist, "and they saw it themselves. The difference in ability in just one day was significant."

Tellers learned how to provide more value to customers by making informed referrals and used audiotaping to practice maximizing the impact of their referrals. Managers learned how to coach to the sales process. Yurish says, "This was very powerful. Managers thought they had been coaching in the past. But when they were able to sit in during customer interactions and provide immediate, specific feedback, they realized that this was a far more effective way to truly modify behavior."

Analysts used Omega's programs to improve their credit analysis skill and consistency, which enabled them to serve internal customers better.

"The credit curriculum is a critical piece of our new culture," explained Maureen McCollum, vice president of credit administration. "When the focus is on increasing business and expand relationships, you must have your analysts providing a higher level of support for commercial lenders so those lenders can be out on the street developing business."

Measuring and reinforcing success

From the beginning, Farmers & Mechanics was committed to formally quantifying skill development and measuring new proficiency back on the job. The bank quantifies the skills assessments that occur during the courses--such as videotaping and use of the customer interaction model--so that results are less subjective and can be tracked.

Farmers & Mechanics also reinforces the new sales, service and support culture with a monthly newsletter, quarterly bankwide rallies and visible executive support.

"When our president sends a note to a back room officer regarding turning a customer complaint into a success," explains the training director, "the light bulb goes off for that officer. They realize, 'I am part of this culture. I have a role in its success.'"

Results

Two years into its sales, service and support culture journey, Farmers & Mechanics reports these results:

* Bank deposits and loan volume have increased because employees deliver more value with better sales and service skills.

* Behavior change and buy-in is better than expected. Even areas of the bank that wouldn't normally expect to participate in a customer-focused sales-and-service culture now get involved because they understand how their roles impact customers.

* Employees are behaving differently throughout the bank. On the retail side, employees are asking more open-ended questions and analyzing customer situations better to deliver more value in the relationship. This is seen as a direct result of the skills training.

The new culture is also supporting the bank's growth goals. During acquisitions, the new management practices, consistent sales and service skills, and organizationwide support system have made combining cultures easier and faster.

"Now we find we can fully integrate new acquisitions," says Heaton, "So that the group is creating a positive contribution to our organization in nine months. Before we put the new sales, service and support processes in place, we didn't know how long it would take. This new culture works very well in acquisition situations."

The bank's success to date, and the speed with which it has achieved organizationwide culture change, show that it has gained momentum and is moving in the direction of a sales culture.

"When we decided to create the new culture, we were being extremely proactive," says Heaton. "Our new culture definitely puts us ahead of the competition."

This case study adapted from an Omega release, The F.O.R.C.E. is With Them.