I don’t mind the use of the word cra-maz-ing on the DM piece. I do, however, think it’s a mistake to try and get me to open the piece simply to find out “what the word means to me.” They could have used the cra-maz-ing coined word to capture my attention provided they explain the basic thrust of the offer somewhere on the mailer’s exterior.

‘Javelin estimates that each in-person transaction at a branch costs a financial institution about $4.25, while an online channel transaction averages 19¢ and a mobile channel interaction averages 10¢.’

The important thing to note from the above sentence isn’t the $4.15 difference, it’s that fact that all of them are pretty cheap and the odds of satisfying, keeping, and cross-selling someone in a branch are a lot better than with an app on a phone. There’s also the fact that you’ll never be able to pay the person in your branch $4.15 to kindly get the hell out, start using this nifty app instead, and have a nice day.

Every now and then we up and do something rational and we think the rest of the world will quickly do the same. But there’s a lot of money to be made in giving people what they want instead of what they need.

An offer is only as good as the execution.

Great thoughts and comments. As Robert Townsend, author of Up the Organization once said, “Consultants are people who borrow your watch and tell you what time it is, and then walk off with the watch.” However, let me defend these misguided consultants you mention in the post. If running your business were so easy (and you didn’t need consultants), then why aren’t you actually doing the things you know to do? Also, I would argue there are many instances where an outsiders viewpoint is extremely helpful. We are too close to our own organizations too much of the time. The problem may not be with the advice consultants are offering, but with the resolve of the leaders to implement those suggestions. And can we learn from other industries? Of course we can. That is lateral learning.

Do consultants state the obvious and play a mean game of “buzzword bingo?” Absolutely. The challenge is to sift through their recommendations and actually make changes to improve your financial institution.

Use properly, consultants can greatly improve your company. Used incorrectly, they are just a waste of time and money.

Mark

- “You need to be innovative like Apple.”
- “Look at Starbucks!”
- “You need to help people make online purchase decisions like Amazon.”
- “You should have customer service like Zappos.”
- And my personal pet peeve… “You should be knee deep in social media like BofA, Wells Fargo, Chase and Citi.”