Graduation

Tonight, the Class of 2012 graduates from the ABA School of Bank Marketing and Management.

Last night, many of us gathered together for one final happy hour (before the official 'final happy hour') as our class.

Most people were feeling bittersweet about the experience. Glad to be done with presentations, papers and "school," but sad to be leaving a great network of friends and colleagues. Not that, in the age of social media, we won't stay connected to each other, but most of us will not have the opportunity to see each  other every day.

Yes, we are [insert your own cliche here].

Part of the ongoing value of the school is the network you leave with. I'm happy to have a group of people with wide varieties of experience who I can reach out to with my questions. And, I'm happy to be that resource to my fellow classmates.

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

Mission: Accomplished

I'm ready for my t-shirt: "I Survived BankExec."

And, our bank (for now) will not be taken over by the FDIC. We ended with some liquidity issues, but...what's a funding issue between friends?

The simulation required our class to be divided into teams: 7 banks competing against each other. We spent a lot of time meeting just as our team, so I can only speak to our team's dynamics. However, based on the success of each bank in our class, I'm sure the experience was similar for everyone.

Our team was made up of people with a variety of complementary backgrounds, from non-competing areas. While we had about a month to pour over the initial set of financial statements, once we began making decisions for the simulation, we had less than 2 hours to review and decide our next move. This is where having everyone's diverse background was beneficial. In our team, one person would make a recommendation for a decision. Another person would bring up some considerations. All of us discussed, contributed, and arrived at a consensus. We even had time for people who might be unfamiliar with a particular area of the bank (ie maybe they didn't handle deposits, loans or investments) to ask questions and get them answered by other teammates more familiar with those particular areas.

Personally, I find I learn more from this informal type of learning.

The biggest challenge with the game, and our biggest points of discussion, is that the simulation is not the real world. So, some people in our team made suggestions that were very valid in the real world and their real markets, but not in the game. Again, it was a great opportunity to discuss how things happen in the real world and how they differ significantly (on some items) from the simulation.

I'm not going to reveal all of our winning strategy here (as the child of educators, I would hate to deny you your own learning experience!), but I will say that we had two ground rules that helped keep things moving for our team:

1) It's just a game. (This was repeated multiple times a decision period, especially as time drew closer to meals or end of day)

2) No arguing over pricing decisions that were 5 basis points (bp) or less apart (ie should our rate be 7.99 or 8.00?).

Also, it's important to remember that the simulation is designed to help you think like your finance department, not your marketing department. You only make two marketing decisions: how much to spend on marketing and what priority you place on each of your products to receive those marketing dollars.



Ok, maybe 3 marketing decisions: how to position your bank to sell it to your classmates so you can hang out by the pool on a beautiful afternoon. We had no takers because we priced too high. My strategic advice to you: Sell your bank as "free to a good home."



Seeing the bank from this other perspective helps you understand how you can justify your marketing budget in terms of overall bank profitability, and helps you understand why your bank may be making certain decisions about products/sectors to pursue.

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

School Begins Again

Last night, we had orientation meetings for our respective classes.

During the networking/check in session prior to orientation, it was great to see everyone from my year and meet the new students who I reached out to prior to this week.

Glancing through my binder, however the reality of being back hit. 8 AM start today. A full day of class.

Year 1 is a lot of information - the foundation for Year 2, which is a lot of practical application. My schedule this year appears to be a lot of group discussion and practical application. As one of our advisers explained, "This is the time to make mistakes. To try things out without messing anything up in the real world."

As a "Year 2" now, I'm coming into class with a different perspective. One of my classmates said it best of her Year 1 orientation experience: "I didn't know what was going on."

If you are looking at the School of Bank Marketing and Management, I encourage you not to be intimidated by "not knowing anyone." Many friendships are formed over flight times. Ninety percent of the class will come in the same way -- not knowing anyone.

The week's activities are a great way to get to know classmates. This week, we have a variety of happy hours planned. Tomorrow evening is a tour of the Sixth Floor Museum. Saturday is a real Texas rodeo. Next year's school, in Atlanta, will surely boast just as impressive a list of activities.

By Year 2, you know the ropes. Understanding and being able to manage the stress and expectations of the school is half the battle (the other half being actually accomplishing the work and networking). And, as I found out tonight, your binder is about half the size of the Year 1 binder. (which, unfortunately, is also a bit of an intimidating reminder that we aren't learning through presentation this year. We are learning through practical application.)

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

So This is BankExec

There are two major projects in Year 2 of SBMM: the presentation, which I wrote about in my last entry, and BankExec, the bank simulation software that show you the decisions that are made to run a successful bank.

I'm spending the wee hours of my Cinco de Mayo reading the instruction manual because:
1) It's recommended; and
2) I love reading instruction manuals.

As someone who spent the 1980s dorking out on text-based video games, I love a good "thinking man's game." After reading a 50+ page manual, however, I'm longing a bit for Adventure (and others) where all of my decisions needed to be succinctly captured in a two-word phrase, and, when I got in trouble, I just had to type "XYZZY!" ("Nothing happens.")

My challenge for my team with BankExec is to be the first marketing-based executive team to run a successful bank. If other blog entries are to be believed, this is a nearly impossible goal. (Also, for the record, creating a successful bank is not the goal of the exercise. The simulation helps you understand all of the decisions that go on in the bank by putting you, as part of a team, into a position where you need to make every decision. Whether or not your bank is seized by the FDIC before the end of school week is just the cherry on that Sundae of Learning.)

Full disclosure, I have an MBA. I'm part of my bank's ALCO committee and am a member of our management team. This simulation is what I participate in on a monthly basis in my job. And, right now, it's overwhelming to me.

In real life, I don't have every decision thrown at me at once. In real life, I don't have to think about every decision. Some decisions/recommendations are intuitive (or perhaps just feel more intuitive than they are, since I'm not required to submit them to HAL in table format). And, for me, sometimes when problems are presented as "financial" problems (ie accounting/finance/CPA type stuff), I second guess my thinking.

But, ultimately, BankExec appears to be 75% sales/marketing decisions to position your bank against the competition to obtain loans and deposits. Then it's just a matter of "running the numbers," which is just like household budgeting: How will I pay for this? What interest am I earning on my accounts? Am I breaking any rules by doing this?

I also can't discount the benefit of the collective experience of my team. The recommendation from the manual is to break the simulation down into 5 parts - one for each team member. Each of us will run through thought process for one area, then make group decisions based on these individual recommendations.

But, I'd have to turn in my "Highly Competitive" card if I didn't set my bar just a bit higher. I'm not looking to be the best bank, just one that survives Year 2!
Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

Getting Ready for Year 2

My paper is done, turned in and graded. Year 1 is officially behind me. I believe one of the plethora of forms that I turned in with my paper officially acknowledges that.

Now I'm prepping for Year 2, both academically and socially.

My first academic task is turning my Year 1 paper into a board/management PowerPoint presentation of my marketing plan. I'll admit, while I've done many PowerPoint presentations in my life, and presented many justifications for projects, this project is giving me a bit of writer's block! I usually don't use the notes function of PowerPoint (I prefer to "wing it" when public speaking), so having to think about what I'm going to say before I say it is a challenge. This will be one of the most planned presentations that I've done in my life; hopefully it goes as smoothly as my extemporaneous ones!

My social task, as a class officer, is to help plan the events that will take place May 14 - 22, 2012, in Dallas. If you are reading this blog because you are thinking about attending as a Year 1, we hope that we have put together a nice balance of activities and down time. Some days when you get back from class, your mind is definitely hanging the "Brain is full" sign on your forehead. If you're reading the blog as a current Year 2, we've taken the feedback that you provided last May to put together our schedule. Stay tuned!
 
Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

The Year 1 Project

Once you've gotten your feet under you from all of the meaningful takeaways from the on-site week, it's time to start your project. The purpose of the Year 1 project is to assimilate all of the information you've learned over the week into one actionable plan - with measurable goals, Return on Investment (ROI) and an executive presentation - that can actually be implemented at your bank.

It sounds a little intimidating, especially if you've been out of school for a while. However, with all of the takeaways you get at the school, it is easy to find a project that fits with your bank's strategic goals.

Plus, while the project requires footnotes and a bibliography (not typical of marketing plans at my bank), the majority of the project is a marketing plan. For me, it's very similar to what I'm already doing when trying to plan out a major initiative - determine a target market, justify the need for the marketing initiative and figure out the steps necessary to successfully bring the plan to life.

The project is due in October, but there are different parts due between June and October to keep you on track. You also are matched with an advisor in a non-competing market to help guide you through the process. Additionally, part of the project is a requirement that your supervisor sign off on your proposal. The idea behind the sign-off is to make sure that you get buy-in from your bank so this project could actually be implemented.

I've already determined a project proposal that my boss is very excited about: an initiative to increase adoption of our online services. Now, I'm working through the background research to figure out some of my measurable project goals: What adoption rate am I going to aim for? What does that mean for my bank's bottom line?

One thing we learned in our Marketing ROI class was that, in determining the TRUE success of a project, we need to look at our organic growth and account for that with our marketing goals. Since that growth will happen whether or not a specific campaign is done, it needs to be removed from your end results to show your true Marketing ROI, including improvements to corporate profitability and efficiency.

(And to think I graduated from college with a degree in Communications so I would "never have to do math again.")

This brings me to another benefit of the ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management. As a marketer, you know that there are many roads to a career in marketing. Not all of those roads include full training to provide the mathematical justifications appreciated by senior management and the Finance department. The classes at SBMM help you speak the language of these other departments so you can translate your gut feelings and interesting ideas into tangible goals and measurements. Or, as I call it, "getting beyond 'you're the one who puts the logos on the pens.'"

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

Key Takeaways from Year 1 - School of Bank Marketing & Management

From my classmate, Amanda Rolfs, Marketing Assistant at Central National Bank:

Most valuable has to be most of the classes for me. I simply can't pick any one class. However, if you forced me to answer, I'd say I got the most out of the PR & Communication class or the Planning class. I'd have to agree with Phil, Compliance class was definitely the most interesting. It's too bad Chuck Lewis wasn't the headlining comedian at the comedy club. I think we'd have been rolling on the floor. Concept we're using already? I'm picking up bits and pieces from all of the courses; however, the stuff I came home and started right away has got to be some of the tips from the Digital Marketing class. We are doing social media already, but I picked up some great pointers from that and immediately incorporated them into my workday routine.

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

Key Takeaways from Year 1 - School of Bank Marketing & Management

More key takeaways from Year 1. Today's takeaway is from my classmate, Phil Lawrence, AVP/Marketing Specialist at OmniAmerican Bank.

I have found I use the greatest amount of information to be Web related, whether talking about the need to style our writing towards a more staccato style or taking into consideration search engine parameters.  The most useful information so far has been the ongoing discussions on maximizing our responses to direct mail.  The most interesting? I'd pay money to hear Chuck Lewis do "stand-up compliance" at a comedy club.  The man's a compliance artist.

To add an editorial comment, Chuck Lewis' compliance presentation was probably worth the price of the school itself. I don't think any of us knew that compliance could be so entertaining!

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

Key Takeaways from Year 1 - School of Bank Marketing & Management

One of the first things we discovered (during the reception dinner) as the Class of 2012 for the ABA School of Bank Marketing and Management was that each year, the curriculum is re-tooled based on feedback from the previous year.

From a marketing knowledge standpoint, that's awesome. The school is always evolving to meet the needs of the current marketing environment. But, there is still a solid focus on the fundamentals of marketing, management and sales.

Here is a key takeaway from one of my classmates, Angela Preston, AVP of Marketing at ABC Bank:

The takeaway that I wanted to start immediately (and actually did) was the Hot Seat training!  It was taught during the sales training class at the very end. The day after I came back to work, I used it in our monthly teller Education/Training class.  It worked so well!  We had a group of 6 people in the class, and I had each one of them sit in the hot seat and had the others ask questions about something they knew a lot about (icebreaker).  So they all got a chance to see how it feels to answer questions about something they already know a lot about.  It is interesting because not only was this a great tool once they got to the product/service part of the hot seat training...but when they were doing the icebreaker, they learned so much about their peers in the room.  So the takaway from this type of training is really two folds!!

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

First Thoughts from SBMM Class 2012

Perhaps the fact that my first blog post comes almost a month after school ended demonstrates that when you go to SBMM, you get a LOT of information and have a LOT to digest.

Or maybe it simply means that I mistakenly scheduled vacation almost immediately following SBMM.

As with most things, the truth lies somewhere in between. (Also, I would not recommend scheduling a vacation immediately after SBMM.)

Year 1 was an intensive week of marketing and sales fundamentals.

Perhaps like many financial institutions, mine requires a report following any school/conference of takeaway items that can be used by our bank. I stopped at 10 items, but I probably could have gone on for pages. Many of my Year 1 colleagues had the same reaction.

For me, an interesting concept that I brought back for my senior management team was an exercise that we did in our Marketing Planning course about who our target customers were.

Four questions. One answer: If you don't know who your target customers are, then you are trying to navigate without a map. And...most banks don't know who their target customers are.

As a community bank, I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that, historically, our focus hasn't been on a "target customer" because that implies that we have one set of customers who we treat differently (ie better) than our other customers. Moving from zero to "targeted customer list" is a HUGE leap for us.

A first step toward "target market," which was affirmed during one of our classes, is that different customers do want to be treated differently.

We don't need to treat any group of customers worse than others. We just need to treat customers the way they want to be treated. From a customer service standpoint, that is how you provide exemplary service.

Simple. Revolutionary. And that was just one of my takeaways from SBMM.

Note: The views presented here are the personal views of our ABA School of Bank Marketing & Management participants and do not reflect the views of their respective banks.

Bowling Domination

The bowling activity tonight proved to be a big success again this year. Everyone was certainly fun, social & competitive tonight ... especially in our group. Kudos to Hollie (Y2) Dave (Y1) & Conny (Y1) for having the best scores to my knowledge. Tomorrow is going to be intense. First decision in BancExec. Therefore ... good night all!

First Night = Success

Last night's orientation, registration, dinner and reception turned out great! I was quite impressed and pleased with how open and engaged everyone (both Year 1 and Year 2) were with each other. Dinner was mighty tasty too! The energy levels were high, and it appeared everyone was ready for the school week to begin. I have a feeling a lot of memories will be made this week. So let's get started! Today is the first day of class.