While perusing my daily news stories related to financial services, I came across this article from The Financial Brand. It discussed a study concluding 58% of potential account switchers, including those already looking to move from their existing financial services provider, would consider an “alternative” provider like Apple, Facebook, Google, or Amazon. Not surprisingly, Millennials […]
Category Archives: Entrepreneurship
Efficiency Doesn’t Mean Someone Gets Fired …
Once again, my perusal of PYMNTS.com yielded a great story. The story highlights the changes retailers have experienced throughout the use of self-service. The early assumption for self-service was it would reduce headcount and be a money saver. However, that turned out to be untrue. Instead of merely letting those performing transactional services (i.e. check-out) […]
Think It’s Easy to be an FI? Think Again …
During my daily review and read routine, I always check out PYMNTS.com, as I find their articles relevant and well written. Here is a story from their December 21st feed. This article highlights the plight of an internet-only entity posing as a financial institution called Robinhood, and the issue of deposit insurance. As I have […]
Making Business Meetings Unique and Fun
If you’ve followed my blog for a while, you know I periodically talk about having fun at work. I truly believe when we make our workplace fun, our team members enjoy their work and their environment more. This translates into more productivity and also transfers to our clients. Trust me, even if it is just […]
If You Are Going to Provide Digital Service, You Better Take it All the Way
As a speaker, consultant and strategic facilitator, I fly a lot. Advancements, such as mobile apps, allow quick and decisive decisions and have certainly improved this experience. There are even options where I can self-select to generate alerts to let me know about key events such as “my flight is boarding.” These alerts can be […]
Creating New Tricks Using Traditional ‘Old Dog’ Marketing Concepts
In my search for transformational growth in the financial services industry, I am constantly on the lookout for innovative activities. The majority of my keynote speeches still revolve around some type of branch transformation. And one of the biggest elements of the transformation needed in the branch is the transformation of the people working there. […]
You Got to Know When to Fold Em …
It is always a crapshoot answering your mobile phone from a number that you don’t recognize. In one particular instance, what I thought was a phone call from a recently signed client, turned out to be a cold call from an organization that had reached out to me via LinkedIn previously. Their LinkedIn message had […]
I Got Caught with a Coke
I was on my way out of the store with a 16-oz Coca-Cola in my hand on a Saturday morning when I spotted my cardiologist walking into the store. We made eye contact, and both exchanged a brief greeting, the nondescript kind that involves no personal information when two people know they know each other, […]
The Best $250 I Ever Spent – On Creating a Memorable Experience
I recently attended the 2017 Payments Conference put on by the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA). This is a gathering of all of the stakeholders in the payments biz and generally is a great big meet and greet for those of us who have spent decades in payments. One of the highlights of this […]
Cocky Goliaths Can Fall Hard
The year was 2004. Two software giants were duking it out for supremacy in the microcomputer market. Well, that’s not really true. They were not equally gigantic, at least in relative terms. The giant was Microsoft and in 2004, it had a revenue of $36 billion. Its “competitor” was Apple and in 2004, it had […]