Here’s An Interesting New Sales Idea

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People need us most when they’re facing big life changes.

When we know a couple is getting married, it’s easy to recommend combining checking accounts into one joint account. Or, recommending that they open a dedicated savings account to put money aside for their honeymoon.

The challenge is knowing when these changes are happening. Why not ask?

What if you sent an email to all of your customers asking if they see any life milestones coming down the road?

I would see the email as something like this:

We know that you didn’t choose XYZ Bank/Credit Union just because we’ve got the friendliest and fastest tellers in town. You chose to bank here because we’re there for you when you need us most.

Over the years, we’ve noticed that customers need us most when life is at its most hectic.

We want to be there for you BEFORE life spins out of control. Do you foresee any of the following events coming in the near future:

___ A Wedding

___ A Divorce

___ Moving

___ A Baby on the Way

___ The Kids Are Moving Out

___ Retirement

___ Staring a New Business

___ Kids Going to College

___ Starting a New Career

Other:____________

If a lead generation form came, voluntarily, from your customers that gave the sales staff this information, wouldn’t it be helpful? Do you think that your team could more easily outbound call if they knew that your customer had these events on the horizon? Do you think that they could have a better conversation with the customer and could recommend 2-3 products or services based on knowing what events were upcoming?

Now, let’s take this idea one step further…

What if we created an ad campaign, not around specific products or prices, but about the fact that people really care about their bank or credit union most when life changes happen? What if those ads directed prospective customers to a dedicated web page with the above form?

Admittedly, I would expect fewer leads … but wouldn’t those leads be more qualified?

Wouldn’t a strategy like this differentiate you from the other banks and credit unions in town? Wouldn’t this approach lead to proactive selling? Wouldn’t it be easier to craft a digital buy around specific life events to get even better leads?

Of course, your team would have to be trained in life stages and armed with the questions and possible product recommendations for each life event. But, with a little preparation, this might be a great acquisition strategy for the right credit union or community bank.