David L. Peterson

International Speaker, Bestselling Author, Serial Entrepreneur, Shipwreck Survivor

Innovation ThinkTime

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Being Strategic by Reducing Operating Costs

What are the activities that a typical business customer of yours engages in that mostly manually and cost-intensive? Don’t know? It’s likely that, as bankers, we don’t spend much time thinking about the internal cost of our business customers. But there are areas in which an FI has a direct opportunity to reduce costs for a business, regardless of what type. And in the process, becomes very strategic. Here is an example: reducing the manual effort of posting to accounts receivable. Supposed your CEO is speaking with a local mid-sized business customer. Do you think that accounts receivable will be a part of that conversation? Unlikely. Neither the company CEO nor your CEO will think it worthy of their time. But in fact, it is likely that the company has significantly increased its …

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Being Strategic by Increasing Revenue / Customers

Let’s say you were interested in assisting your business customers in getting more clients, more sales, how would you go about achieving that? Consider that you have a significant online community, individuals and businesses that are connecting to your online banking platforms. While they are online, there are opportunities to make an appeal to them on behalf of existing business customers. Let me give you an example. Say you have a local insurance company AllStar Insurance, as a business customer. AllStar creates a profile of individual or business customers that they would like to pitch a new service that insures against online fraud. Based on the information that you have access to, you can identify those online users that meet the profile and present an online banner ad to the …

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“What are you doing” – A Continued View on Perspective

It may be a coincidence, but I seem to be on a bit of a perspective kick. While in church on Mother’s Day Sunday, our associate pastor told a story about Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. One day, as Christopher was making his rounds examining the work he had laid out for the day, he encountered three laborers working on cutting and shaping stones. He asked all of them the same question—”What are you doing?” The first man explained he was shaping block to fit in a specific place on the wall. Christopher thanked him and moved on. The second man explained he was there to earn a living wage and provide for his family. Christopher thanked him and moved on. The third man said, “I am helping Christopher Wren build St. Paul’s Cathedral.” There was …

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Bringing Innovation into the Bathroom

I’ve written about lights in parking garages that indicate an available parking space before. This visual indicator is so handy, and I’m happy the parking garage at the OKC airport has installed these lights. So you can imagine my delight when I walked into the restroom at the Atlanta airport and saw the following: Lights in the bathroom? Three available stalls according to this picture—well, more investigation was needed. What triggered the light to go red? Turns out, they connected the light to the interior latch in the stall. When you go in, close the door and “lock it”, the light turns red. At a busy airport like Atlanta, this can be a real benefit—it’s an innovative way to communicate the availability of services. Where do you have the opportunity to innovatively communicate …

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Don’t Ruin a Great Experience!

Don’t you hate when you’re having an amazing digital experience with a vendor, and they ruin it? Here’s the story. After a successful series of meetings in Atlanta, I returned my Hertz rental car and headed for the terminal. I really love the convenience of the email receipt—no waiting around for an associate with 20 pounds of remote scanners and printers on their belt. However, once I was back in Oklahoma City, I realized I had left my sports coat in the back seat of the car, so I sent Hertz an email through their Contact Us feature on the website. I explained what had occurred and asked for them to contact me, to which I received an automated response essentially stating, “We received your email. Someone will get back to you.” This was fine; at least it confirmed they received my …

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