Volume 1
Difference Makers Series
Taking Brand
Purpose to
the Bank
How a small bank
in Kansas defines
what’s next in
retail banking.
You probably haven’t heard of Peoples Bank,
a Kansas institution with a growing presence across state lines.
But, tucked away in a corner of the Midwest, Peoples Bank
is showing it’s possible for a bank to be built on a purposeful
brand idea, and relentlessly drive it through every facet of the
experience. From its unorthodox hiring practices to a sales
process described as “hand-to-hand combat,” Peoples Bank
lives up to its motto of “Banking Unusual.”
In the face of unprecedented disruption in the banking industry,
many brand leaders are left wrestling with how to stand out in a
sea of sameness. To differentiate, you have to build your brand
from the inside out by creating purpose that you drive through
the experience.
That’s great on paper. But even the best-laid strategies need to
work in the real world, especially in a highly regulated industry
like banking. Mark Twain once said, “A banker is a fellow who
lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining but wants it back
the minute it begins to rain.” So how do you convince skeptical
leaders who are only focused on the bottom line?
“How do you convince
skeptical leaders who
are only focused on the
bottom line?”
The Perfect Storm
As early as 2001, Peoples Bank could see it coming, like a
funnel cloud about to touch down, the changing landscape
in banking. Without question, the banking industry has faced
unprecedented consolidation. As recently as 2005, banks had
between 10,000 - 11,000 different branches, with that number
now cut in half. And it’s the same way with ownership groups.
Peoples Bank anticipated converging factors that have forced
community banks to take a long, hard look in the mirror.
Organizations have to decide who they are, what their business
model will be, and how they’re going to stay competitive.
Peoples Bank is a community bank in many, if not all, respects.
Chartered back in 1871 in Ottawa, Kansas, Peoples Bank
started as a family-owned business, and it remains one today. In
its branches, or “Stores” as they call them, you’re welcomed by
the smell of warm chocolate chip cookies, gourmet coffee and
someone who knows you by name. In this case, the name really
does say it all: Peoples Bank puts people first.
In 2001, the bank formed its holding company, Peoples, Inc.
and it has been evolving ever since. Peoples Bank of Kansas/
New Mexico has 15 banking locations across states and
numerous separate mortgage offices from coast to coast.
Peoples Bank of Colorado is also owned by Peoples, Inc. and
also features a very customer-centric brand of banking.
Peoples Bank leads the way in driving customer-centric
change alongside the likes of Umpqua Bank and Simple.
If you peel away all the brand layers, Peoples Bank is no
different than the guys down the street when it comes to what’s
visible to the naked eye. The computers are the same, the hours
are the same, the products are largely the same, even the blinds
are the same. Peoples Bank needed a clear way to articulate
how its services were different from the competition, and
“Banking Unusual” was born.
On trend with a few brave leaders in the industry, Peoples Bank
has successfully risen above commoditization by making what it
does and why a singular idea. Only content with setting trends,
not following them, Peoples Bank stands up to heavy-hitters of
change like Umpqua Bank and Simple.
Warner Lewis, EVP-Director of Marketing at Peoples Bank,
knows the plight of the modern banker all too well. He hails
from a long career in broadcasting
and advertising, speaking with a
confidence that’s easy to glean.
Straightforward and unapologetic,
he owns his words without bragging.
Warner works for the Peoples Bank
holding company executing marketing
strategies for both the Peoples
Bank-Colorado charter and the
Kansas/New Mexico charter. The
Peoples Bank-Kansas/New Mexico
charter is more of the outlier.
According to Warner, the first thing banks need to do is make
decisions about culture and the kind of exchange they want to
have with the customers coming through the door or visiting
online (the ones who pay the bills).
Peoples Bank realized that its people - the frontline staff who
were actually interacting with customers, or Guests as they call
them - were the most important part of the brand.
“Peoples Bank needed a
clear way to articulate how its
services were different from
the competition, and ‘Banking
Unusual’ was born.”
5 Ways to Create Your Own Purposeful Brand
1. Know who you are and what you do well.
2. Hire for attitude, pay for skill.
3. Place extraordinary customer experience at a premium.
4. From business leaders to part-time employees, provide everyone cultural training.
5. Don’t underestimate the value of a meaningful conversation with the people you serve.
From Taking Orders to Providing Value
For decades, banking tended to be a very transaction
based industry, with the importance placed on getting the
transaction right and balancing the drawer at the end of the day.
Understandably, the quality of the experience and the service,
the so-called “soft skills,” held less importance.
“We felt that this next generation – baby boomers and the
generations coming behind them – would place ‘real people’
skills at a premium,” said Warner.
Larger, consolidated banks have more ATMs, more locations,
more robust online banking opportunities — just more. The
Peoples organization will never be the lowest price, and it
doesn’t want to be. Warner leaves that to the big guys.
“There’s nothing wrong with the Wal-Mart business model, but
we’re not looking to be the Wal-Mart of banks,”
“Our job is to deliver an extraordinary banking experience and
provide value, but price it to make a profit – without apology.”
A dig at a local competitor, Warner said, “Fortunately for us, we
have never hung a big banner outside our building that says ‘free
checking.’ If we get into price wars, I know we’re in trouble.”
For Peoples Bank to compete without offering services en
masse—thousands of ATMs, thousands of branches, endless
convenience factors—then the value would be in providing a
boutique experience Warner likens to the cult-like Starbucks
phenomenon.
“Every market has that Starbucks customer who’s willing to pay
$5.95 for a strawberry vanilla latte versus an $.89 convenience
store coffee,” said Warner. They want a memorable experience
and are willing to pay for it.
“Fortunately for us, we have never hung a
big banner outside our building that says
‘free checking.’ ”
Peoples Bank truly lives their “banking unusual” catch phrase
with recruiting advertisements like the one above.
That Magic, Secret Sauce
If competitors can copy functional claims and enter price wars,
then community banks have to give people a reason to walk into
branches to stay relevant.
“Without an extraordinary customer experience, there’s no
reason for us to exist,” said Warner. “Because one of the
mantras we say to everybody that works for us is, ‘Banking is
necessary but banks are not’.”
For that reason, Peoples Bank places a huge premium on
recruiting, hiring, and training people from industries that put
extraordinary customer experience at a premium - places like
local restaurants and retailers.
“This isn’t a knock on career bankers at all, but it’s not rocket
science. If you can run the cash register at the Gap, you can
cash a check.”
In keeping with this thinking, Peoples Bank has put an
unorthodox hiring practice in place. Often times the brand team,
in addition to HR and others, screens potential candidates.
“We want to make sure people have that magic secret sauce,”
said Warner. “You have to wake up every morning with an
orientation of enjoying and wanting to take care of people, and
we can’t inject that into people. You either have it or you don’t.”
The difference ultimately comes down to the DNA of the people
who work with customers, which is why Warner said Peoples
hires for an attitude and trains for skill. One of the Kansas
branches employs three former bartenders and employees of the
local country club. Why not hire those that were trained to serve
customers with high expectations?
“Not only do they know a lot of people, they have tremendous
customer service skills. Imagine serving customers at a country
club; they’re going to be pretty demanding, so that’s exactly
the kind of employee Peoples Bank would be looking for,” said
Warner. “And all we have to teach them how to do is to ask the
right questions and provide only the solutions that are in the
customers best interest.”
“This isn’t a knock on career
bankers at all, but it’s not rocket
science. If you can run the cash
register at the Gap, you can cash
a check.”
“We look at likelihood to recommend and likelihood to do
business with us again. We work very hard there, and our
scores are very happily in the high 80s and 90s.”
At Peoples Bank, everyone from high-level business lenders to
part-time tellers goes through cultural training.
“It’s about how relevant people are as a new employee of the
company and how they make a difference here, and it’s not
patronizing,” said Warner.
Warner is so confident in the cultural training at Peoples Bank
that he feels he could quiz 100 employees on its mission
statement and purpose…and get the same answer from
each of them.
A Calculated Risk Turned Reward
Like all cultures, the first couple years demonstrated a split
opinion on whether this model of high-level service combined
with a memorable banking experience would actually work.
“A third of the people embraced it, a third of the people actively
pushed back and a third of the people waited to see if this was
just another flavor of the month,” said Warner.
Sure enough, that particular flavor has lasted over 15 years.
Peoples Bank has received extraordinarily high customer
satisfaction scores achieved by engaging in thorough, robust
Guest surveys conducted by third parties, namely the CFI Group
out of Chicago and ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index)
and the Aspen Consulting Group.
“We look at likelihood to recommend and likelihood to do
business with us again. We work very hard there, and our
scores are very happily in the high 80s and 90s.”
But the real measure, according to Warner, is whether or not the
business is growing and increasing the number of relationships
with current Guests. Part of that growth comes from knowing the
difference between being friendly and actually being helpful.
“I can be friendly as pie and do you a lot of financial damage at
the same time, so a lot of the training goes into how to engage
and evaluate our Guests needs,” said Warner. “When someone
says they want to open a checking account, before we blindly
get out the paperwork and open it up, we take them through a
fairly rigorous evaluation process to make sure it’s truly the right
product for them.”
And there’s no order taking at Peoples Bank, like at a typical
fast-food job. Similar to a fine-dining experience, customer
service is everything.
“We offer products and services that may serve you better, even
if they aren’t as profitable for us in the near term,” said Warner.
“If we build that trust level early on as an advisor and only sell
Guests exactly what they need, it goes a long way in developing
those all important trust and loyalty factors.”
The proof can be found in the website’s raves and reviews. One
such mention saying, “Everyone is so friendly and nice and
always, always helpful. It’s just unusual to feel as though one is
known by these bankers.”
And another, “I grew up in a small town where the bankers knew
us, and this bank feels like home.”
“Now the marketplace could have rejected our high touch, high
service model and said, you know, stick it. We don’t want to pay
your premium price; we just want free checking and don’t care
about service,” said Warner. “Fortunately, it didn’t.”
Prepared for What Comes Next
Every day, Warner wakes up and has to deal with new hurdles.
With the increase in regulatory requirements, Peoples Bank once
again found itself at a crossroads. On the topic of regulation,
Warner chose his words carefully.
“In the sea of financial sameness, all of us face extraordinarily
new regulatory challenges. Our ability to deliver products and
services to the customer is much more complicated than ever
before,” said Warner. “If you’ve taken out a mortgage in the last
two to three years, you know the mountain of paperwork has
grown to a mountain range of paperwork; it’s extraordinary. All
designed to ‘protect you’.”
Warner recognizes Peoples Bank can’t dominate the
marketplace via media. Lacking the resources of larger financial
institutions, it can hardly keep pace with social media.
“We have three people alone
in our entire marketing
department, so it boils down
to knowing who you are,
what you’re good at, what
your core competencies are,
targeting those audiences and
aggressively contacting them.”
“We have three people alone in our entire marketing department,
so it boils down to knowing who you are, what you’re good at,
what your core competencies are, targeting those audiences and
aggressively contacting them.”
In fact, Peoples Bank still makes sales calls on both current
customers and prospects - what Warner refers to as hand-tohand combat.
“It’s very much a different world, and the good news for us is
outside sales calls don’t seem quite so foreign because we have
a proactive banking culture,” said Warner. “At the end of the
day, we have to rely on our bankers getting up out of their desks,
getting in their cars, going around and calling on people.”
He recognizes that people are very busy, and sometimes those
calls can be invasive, but to his bankers’ surprise, he also
knows that, “By God, people will buy stuff from you if you’ll
just ask them.”
It’s the beginning of
the end for old banking.
Don’t get left behind. Join People’s Bank and
others in leading the way forward.
#oldbanking
150 Adams Street
Denver, Colorado 80206
T 303.388.9358
www.monigle.com