With notable exceptions, commercial bank efforts to boost revenue by selling corporate finance and capital markets products to middle market have not met expectations. This, despite significant investments in investment banking capabilities, product training, and corporate finance training that have kept corporate finance teachers busy for several decades. Why is this? What can sales team leaders and market managers do?
Two Key Factors Reduced the Growth Rates for Capital Markets Capabilities
While the reasons for under-performance vary bank to bank, there are two universal themes. First, marketing strategies. The “service” organization (i.e. the capital markets group) and the field sales force did not mesh. The groups had different objectives and different compensation plans. Many sales people considered the investment bankers arrogant and transactional. The investment bankers considered the relationship managers dim-witted and antiquated. As a result, the two groups could not collaborate to define effective marketing strategies and to exchange the information each group needed to fully take advantage of opportunities.
Second, sales process. Bank sales managers took the view: “RMs are already talking to these companies. They can cross sell or refer opportunities for capital markets.” The sales managers did not see that customers don’t buy capital markets services the same way they buy more traditional bank products. Loans and other bank products have been sold through a “features/benefits/price” conversation. Capital markets products and services must be sold as if they are “professional services,” where ideas and professional competence are the primary value.
What will it take to close the gap? While much progress has been made, the most critical elements are:
- better definition of market strategy and sales processes,
- a new approach to training,
- more focused sales management, and
- a recognition and compensation philosophy that, at minimum, does not distract sales people from the task.
Better Definition of Market Strategy and
Market Strategy
Market strategy, particularly target selection for each capital markets capability, is critical. Specialists and relationship managers must share a common understanding of “what a qualified prospect looks like” for each capital markets product or service. These definitions should be specific, for example: “Manufacturing companies with sales > $50 million who meet criteria for Bbb debt ratings and that are interest rate sensitive.” RMs must know these criteria for each of the opportunities they’re expected to find. These criteria enable RMs to plan their sales efforts and to forecast prospective business effectively. They also reduce the amount of “noise in the system” from opportunities that don’t deserve attention from scarce investment banker resources.
Crisp sales process definitions will help boost the number of opportunities identified and reduce effort expended in sales process. The field sales organizations and product specialists must define (for each product or service):
These definitions provide a framework for RMs and specialists to work together effectively, each knowing what they can expect from the other and when.
New Approach to Training and Sharing Information
To meet client expectations, bank training must prepare RMs for their roles in the sales processes (which differ by product or capability). Depending on the RMs’ roles in opportunity identification and selling, product training and sales training should be modified.
This is not a new problem. For example, in 1998, describing Merrill Lynch’s initial attempts to generate additional mergers and acquisition advisory business, Fortune magazine reported: “[Clients] wanted bankers who came to them steeped in knowledge of their industry and full of creative ideas…That was a problem for Merrill’s M&A bankers, who were generalists… Many bankers simply didn’t know enough about each of the industries to make provocative presentations…” (Fortune Magazine, April 27, 1998, page 138) Data provided by Greenwich Associates and other firms confirm that clients today expect the same from investment bankers and commercial bankers who want to provide the more strategic capital markets and corporate finance services.
Like Merrill, bank leaders now must make specific decisions around how they are organized and how their bankers are prepared to respond to these client expectations of advisors. The same logic applies in small business, middle market, and large corporate banking. Whether you’re offering M&A advice, Treasury Services, mutual funds, or debt financing, product training should be transformed into “customer training” to focus on:
Sales training should shift toward a professional services model in which the value comes from the expertise of team members, of which the RM is one. Clients want counsel from people who have been down particular roads before. They are looking for advisors who can take a view or a position about market conditions and other factors. Sales training should prepare RMs to probe these issues deeply and to offer opinions. RMs must be good representatives of the expertise that will later come from the capital markets professionals.
This begins with intimate customer knowledge. Generally speaking, RMs know their customers well at a transactional level – specific needs which the customer has decided to address. Generally, they do not know their customers well at the level needed to identify opportunities or capital market services. Key missing ingredients include:
The sales training must also teach the RMs to position the capital markets group’s capabilities and begin prescribing sales processes. Often, this will include the ability to describe “success stories” that demonstrate capabilities and market savvy.
Finally, make sure your RMs are receiving and reading information that they will need to discuss in sales calls and conversations over meals:
More Focused Sales Management
Sales managers (from line-of-business head to sales team leader) must decide how their teams will “play the game.” Since all product suppliers in the bank are competing for sales force mind-share, the sales managers must set a strategy and priorities for sales force attention. With the basic direction and expectations set, there are several important goals for sales managers:
First Priority: Field Coaching
Second Priority: Planning and Review
A Supportive Recognition and Compensation Plan
The basic test we apply is: “Do no harm.” Relationship manager recognition and compensation plans are typically complex because of the large array of products and services available for sale and the impact on a bank’s balance sheet and income statement. Separate recognition and incentive compensation plans. The recognition plan should kick in for activities that drive sales. The compensation plan should kick in for sales results. Having said that, our “no harm” guidelines include:
Compensation and recognition plans must recognize that RMs must invest time to develop their knowledge, competence, and confidence with their customers’ circumstances and with the services they are representing. The plans must recognize the time RMs invest with their customers, learning far more about them than they had to learn when selling ZBA accounts, loans, or corporate trust services. The plans must recognize the risk the RMs take when selling these services; the risks to their compensation and sales production are higher for capital markets and corporate finance capabilities than they are for standard loans and operations-oriented products.
Summary
Sales management coaching drives sales results. To accelerate sales of capital markets and corporate finance products and services toward optimum levels:
