Commercial banking is not just competitive in the context of immediate sales, it is also competitive about how a bank is able to build stronger, long-term relationships with its prospects and customers. And to achieve all this, you’ll need to coach your relationship managers (RMs) on how to build and cultivate long-term relationships.
SMB banking systems that use modern, intelligent tools will realize better sales and forge stronger relationships with customers. A smart tool, among various other things, can provide contextual tips and help build predictability in the entire sales process by making it more data-led.
Why coaching is important for RMs
Coaching your relationship managers is not just about explaining your products. It’s about sharing the philosophy and the vision of the bank. They must have a very clear picture of why your bank exists and how you aim to solve customer problems profitably.
A strong coaching program is required for at least three reasons:
- Standards: A strong coaching program is the North Star that the RM will reference to in their field job and help them deliver per the standards.
- Long-term: Relationship management builds future demand. A strong coaching program ensures that RMs are able to drive growth on the basis of long-term engagement, instead of limited, short-term growth.
- Real-life: A coaching program provides real-life, hands-on training that your relationship managers need if they must perform on ground without any dissonance.
Features of a good coaching platform
Irrespective of how good your products are, the growth of your bank is dependent largely upon how you have coached your relationship managers.
Here are the 3 top features of a good coaching tool:
- It should be technology-powered: Because practically all businesses today are powered by technology, it’s crucial that your coaching tool is technology-driven.
- It should be contextual: The right coaching tool needs to be both dynamic and capable of providing contextual coaching by showing your relationship managers how they should be performing or responding to particular situations.
- It should be data-driven: It should be led by what is actually happening in the field, thereby ensuring your RMs act on facts and insights about your customer.
Why mobile-first coaching for RMs is integral
Now that we’re clear about the importance and the features of a great coaching program, let’s see why a mobile-first solution for coaching commercial banking RMs is integral to engagement, performance, and growth.
1. Mobile makes onboarding easier
A mobile-first solution makes the onboarding process easier because it’s both handy and comprehensive. Any data it doesn’t have, it can easily pull from the centralized sales enhancement platform that it’s using.
Your relationship managers will be using a mobile device while they will be in the office or out there meeting with clients. Using the same device and platform during and after the coaching gives them the robust confidence that comes only from the familiarity of repeat use.
2. Mobile-first solution is contextual
The best part of an intelligent lead management software is its ability to build context. This contextual coaching becomes vital because that helps your RMs easily connect the dots.
The ability of Vymo to ‘understand’ context helps build customer centricity. As mentioned earlier, coaching is not about explaining your RMs about your products, it’s about helping them understand the broad market dynamics. All this learning helps your intelligent tool build context while coaching the RMs.
3. Mobile-first coaching leads to better performance
Because your RMs will be vying for business by leveraging customer relationships, insights from a smart sales enhancement tool will reinforce their pitch.
The tool will generate actionable data and recommendations by breaking down user behaviour, success of sales funnels and the like, and thus make your teams’ job more efficient and data-led. It will build efficiency by helping prioritize leads and map the right leads to the right RMs.
4. Mobile-first solution reduces attrition
The EBN cites a study that says that losing an employee could cost the company 33% of the employee’s annual salary.
Vymo ‘learns’ how top performing RMs achieve results and everyone else replicate that success. This improved performance, in turn, creates a better atmosphere in which few, if any, team-members would like to quit.
Coaching is also a clear way of telling your RMs that your system is committed to and is investing in their performance. Making your relationship managers feel valued goes a long way in keeping them deeply engaged with your bank.
5. Mobile-first coaching is about engaging, learning and doing
SMB banking has a number of touchpoints and, depending upon a variety of factors, multiple stakeholders are impacted by decisions. Also, conversions take longer.
That’s precisely why your manager’s ability to keep prospects engaged becomes pivotal.
Only a new-age mobile tool can provide experiential training. For instance, Vymo provides timely nudges for the best next action in order to keep the prospect engaged. This helps RMs you’re training navigate through situations a great deal more efficiently.
Closing remarks
Because people are getting increasingly short of time, age-old sales methods aren’t effective since they’re mostly hit-and-trial. Offering lower fees or better interest rates can work with a few prospects, but most customers will look for additional factors before deciding which bank to engage with. All this underlines the importance of relationship marketing – your RMs are the new frontiers of growth for your bank.
The impact of coaching on the success of your RMs is so deep that it’s worthwhile to recap its benefits. Effective onboarding, contextual learning, better future performances, reduction in attrition and immersive learning are some of the top benefits you’ll draw while using the right tool to coach your RMs.
In the light of all this, using a mobile solution to coach your RMs and sharpen their skills for the real world is imperative. By using smart tools to coach your RMs, you are not only improving the outcomes of the coaching but also charting a stronger growth story for your bank.