Succeeding in a down market…Texas style

Posted by Luke on Fri, March 6, 2009

legends of texas bbq cookbook of the day 7 30 07 Succeeding in a down market...Texas style A big focus for us at Truebridge is filtering out the bad news and focusing on the positives. In doing so, we recognize that there’s a lot we can learn from the mistakes that have been made by the larger financial firms, but when you brush all those aside, you expose a whole universe of individuals and institutions that have remained strong by sticking to their tried and true business practices.

Recently we highlighted a few stories that the media has covered over the past couple months about banks. Here’s a story about an individual working inside a community bank in Texas.

Today the American Banker highlighted a Texas rep whose production grew 300% in the past two years, which is triple the industry average.

Brian Surovik is a financial advisor at Lone Star Bank in College Station, TX. The tag line for this bank reads, “Financial services… Texas Style”. When I think of the Texas culture, I think of cowboys, BBQ’s and line dancing. However, I’m also reminded of the southern hospitality that asks you to slow down, take a break and chat with your neighbor. This style fits perfectly with financial services and Brian is one who takes it to heart.

Over the past few years he’s bounced around. He moved from a brokerage, Edward D. Jones & Co. LP, to a bank in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since. Over the years he’s gone through mergers, acquisitions and most recently, government takeovers. This has given Brian a degree in client hand-holding and with the current environment, the lessons he’s learned are paying off.

So what is it that makes Brian so successful? According to the American Banker article, one technique is asking clients for referrals. This is sales 101. But just asking won’t work unless you’ve taken the steps to ensure clients will agree to provide the names of their friends and family. The article goes on to state his client appreciation dinners and constant financial planning reviews. In other words, he focuses on existing clients. By doing so, Brian receives more client referrals and increases his retention rate.

He also conducts several educational seminars. Education today is a key driver for success. Those who are there to help the consumer understand their options in a clear, concise, and honest manner will win in this environment.

Financial advisors are not the only ones who can learn a few things from Brian, so can banks. We’ve heard it time and time again. According to Gartner Research, it’s five times more expensive to acquire a new customer then it is to retain. By focusing on your existing customers you’ll increase retention, referrals and get more out of your marketing dollars.