In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet welcomes fintech expert Dr. Leda Glyptis to talk about what she's been up to the past few years, her book, climate change, and the overall environment in the financial services industry.

In this week's Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet takes a look at some of the latest headlines in banking news to see what the buzz is in the market and what's top of mind for bank leaders.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Jim Young and Gita Thollesson discuss some of the takeaways from Q2’s State of Commercial Banking 2024 Market Analysis. Register for the webinar on Feb. 8. 

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Q2's Steve Collum, senior manager, Strategic Advisory Services, digs in with Jim Young about Basel III and the ripple effects the changing regulatory landscape may have on the banking industry.

Digital technology impacts almost every aspect of a financial institution, from growth strategies to go-to-market approach. In this episode, we replay a panel session from this year's BankOnPurpose where FI leaders discuss opportunities and challenges with the accelerated market demand for digital experiences.

In a first for The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet hosts a livestream discussion with Carl Ryden and Corey Gross exploring AI’s role in banking and lessons learned from Q2’s Andi copilot for bankers.

In this week's episode of The Purposeful Banker, Jim Young returns to welcome Tony Hernandez for a look at the latest market update based on Q2 PrecisionLender data.

Amid a world focused on shortcuts in the name of efficiency, is there room for beautiful, elegant innovation? Alex Habet and Adam Blue share a captivating discussion about humanity, artistic creation, and business.

Alex Habet shares some perspective around a replay of a timeless Leda Glyptis talk on digital transformation in advance of her session at the upcoming BankOnPurpose leadership conference.

Alex Habet welcomes deposit expert Neil Stanley back to the show to talk about an interesting opportunity for banks to be heros for their customers by offering refinancing, but not in mortgages.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Jim Young welcomes Ian Benton from Javelin Strategy & Research to talk about the value of small businesses in today's market and what financial institutions must do to attract and grow their relationships.

Jim Young welcomes Q2's Tim Daley to the podcast to talk about not only how to determine whether the time is right for the bank technology you want funded, but how to go about championing the project.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Jim Young and Dallas Wells return to the podcast to discuss how to get the most bang for your buck in the 2024 technology budget.

Q2's Gita Thollesson joins Alex Habet for a mid-year check-in to see what Q2 PrecisionLender data can tell us about how banks are faring in this volatile market.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet replays an intriguing CONNECT 23 panel discussion with Corey Gross, Adam Blue, Carl Ryden, and Steve Gogolak about the practical applications of AI in banking and business in general, both in the short and long term.

Alex Habet shares a replay of Adam Blue's keynote at CONNECT 23 about how AI will affect banking, and how it won't.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet welcomes well-known banking expert Neil Stanley, founder and CEO of The CorePoint, to discuss just how different the current market is from past high-rate environments.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet welcomes Andy Heusel to discuss how waking up the "sleepy money" of deposits has affected bank strategy.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet welcomes Debbie Smart to talk about how payments innovation is a game changer for financial institutions serving commercial and small business customers.

Alex Habet welcomes Alexis Chavez, co-founder of gnuGrid CRB Uganda, the only credit reference bureau in Uganda focused on the informal financial sector (90% of the market) to enable 22 million borrowers to access their own credit scores and prove credit worthiness.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet and Tony Hernandez share the latest Q2 PrecisionLender data and discuss what effect the high interest rate environment is having on commercial lending.

Recent bank failures and pressure on liquidity have shined a light on how much digital has changed the banking industry. Alex Habet and Dallas Wells discuss the anomalies of the past few weeks and what regional banks can do to be proactive in this volatile environment.

In part 2 of our look back at the impact AI has had on banking, Alex Habet replays a 2018 panel discussion with Carl Ryden, Jim Marous, and Greg Michaelson.

In this episode, Alex Habet and "Deal Doctor" Tony Hernandez talk about the importance of commercial deposits in the current market environment and discuss ways to both obtain them and protect them.

As AI-focused technology makes the headlines, we take a step back in time to replay a 2018 BankOnPurpose presentation by Carl Ryden, then CEO of PrecisionLender, who shares where he believes artificial intelligence, financial technology, and the banking industry are headed based on what he was seeing and hearing in the industry across the world.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet welcomes Gita Thollesson to discuss some of the takeaways from Q2’s State of Commercial Banking 2023 Market Analysis.

In this week’s podcast, Alex Habet shares a replay of a panel discussion of bank executives and Q2’s Kim Rutledge about how financial institutions are managing staffing issues in an interesting jobs market.

In this week’s podcast, Alex Habet shares a replay of a panel discussion of bank executives and Q2’s Katharine Briggs about the role digital plays in their organizations.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet and Tony Hernandez break down ways financial institutions can empower their commercial relationship teams for strategic growth.

Alex Habet is joined by Sam Kilmer of Cornerstone Advisors in a discussion about the expected market landscape in 2023, the challenges and opportunities it will bring to financial institutions, and ways they can manage them.

In this episode of the Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet welcomes back longtime podcast contributor and former host Dallas Wells. We'll get an update on what Dallas has been working on in the past few months and get his take on recent events.

Alex Habet is joined by Adam Blue, Q2 chief technology officer, in a discussion about balancing speed with patience and intention to build a resilient, diverse business.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet speaks with Steve Bartels from Q2 about the state of cybercrime in financial services and what banks and credit unions can do to fight it.

Shon Cass of Texas Security Bank joins Alex Habet to talk about the bank’s story, strategy, and culture; how they think about technology; and how they’re planning for 2023 and beyond in an uncertain macro environment.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet and Tony Hernandez talk about why a relationship approach is more important than ever, from interdepartmental collaboration to pricing and deal structuring.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, Alex Habet and Tony Hernandez discuss results of the most recent review of Q2 PrecisionLender data and how the current rate environment is affecting pricing.

In this episode of The Purposeful Banker, we rewind to a 2019 conversation with PrecisionLender CEO Carl Ryden and 11:FS CEO David Brear about the strategies banks should employ to go beyond just weathering the storm, to actually prospering during tough times.

As Q2 prepares for the in-person BankOnPurpose conference in November, Alex Habet looks back at some of our favorite, most impactful sessions from past years. 

As our economy reacts to the recent interest rate hikes, businesses aren’t shying away from taking out loans. In fact, the average loan size has grown significantly. In this episode, Alex Habet and Tony Hernandez discuss the latest trend data from Q2 PrecisionLender and highlight some key considerations for relationship managers.

Now that we're in one, what is a bear market, really? And how should bankers adjust their strategies, if at all? In this week’s podcast, Alex Habet and Dallas Wells discuss the carnage in the stock market and what it means for banking in the short and long term. 

In this episode of the Purposeful Banker podcast, Alex Habet sits with Dean Jenkins, former banker and leader of Product Marketing at Q2, to discuss the takeaways from recent research into what small businesses say they need from their financial institutions and what they’re not getting today.

With the Federal Reserve announcing a half-point raise in May—and further raises on the horizon—Alex and Dallas talk about the short-term impacts to deposits, the demand and competitive environment, the state of the general economy, and more.

In this week's podcast, Dallas Wells and Alex Habet continue their conversation about how financial institutions can best serve small businesses. There's no question that inserting technology into a relationship-driven business is tricky, but how can it be done, and why does it matter? Tune in as Dallas and Alex explore these questions, how the team at Q2 thinks about achieving this balance, and more.

In this installment of The Purposeful Banker, Dallas Wells and Alex Habet get real about what it takes to serve today's small businesses. While digital capabilities are in demand and certainly table stakes, there's more to consider. How well do you know the SMB customers you're trying to attract, and what changes does your FI need to make to retain them once you have them?

It's Jim Young's final appearance on the show! He marks the occasion with Dallas Wells by going back to the beginning, more than six years ago, and comparing what commercial banking was like then, vs. now. 

Interest rate hikes are (finally) on the horizon. How should banks adjust their 2022 strategies? Will an increase in commercial loan demand follow? And when the funding costs rise, will pricing move up as well? 

Discussing the findings in the Economist's recent report: "What Is Shaping the Ecosystem of Small Business Lending?" It's based on a global survey of lenders from traditional FIs and fintechs. 

A look at some of the insights and analysis coming up in the annual State of Commercial Banking webinar and report. 

We start the year off by taking a look back at how the commercial pricing story unfolded over the course of 2021: where things started, what happened along the way, and where we stand now as we head into 2022.

A generation of commercial bankers is rapidly moving toward retirement. What steps does the industry need to make to lessen the impact of this impending talent crunch? 

Discussing the recent BCG/Q2 partnership, as well as YieldBuilder - the product jointly developed by the two companies - and the impact it will have on the commercial banking industry. 

We look at insights from the PrecisionLender database, as well as polls conducted with commercial bankers, to see what those findings tell us about Primacy - why it's so vital now, why it's so difficult for some banks to achieve, and the bottom-line impact of broadening relationships. 

Spreadsheets have their uses, but they're often not capable of performing some of the tasks banks ask of them. In this episode we look at spreadsheet shortcomings and the ways they could be harming your bank.

PrecisionLender's founder Carl Ryden likes to say "Data that doesn't lead to action is just trivia." Banks are great at measuring all sorts of things, but which metrics are really helping them improve performance and which ones are just ... trivia? 

Big-bank M&A deals are at their highest levels since the late 90's. In this episode we explore what factors are pushing more and more and regional banks to join forces. 

How can your bank keep the competition from raiding your deals? And are the processes your bank puts in place to guard against bad deals actually doing more harm than good? We go back into the blog vault for this week's Purposeful Banker episode. 

We revisit an oldie-but-goodie topic: Banks spend a lot of time and effort calculating the price for each commercial deal. But how much do they focus on whether their bankers actually "get" that price? 

Are some of the pricing and structuring tactics being used in the commercial banking market lately a sign of growing anxiety, or perhaps potential opportunities? 

Shifting the focus from commercial RMs, to the Treasury Management perspective and exploring how Treasury officers view the deal collaboration process. 

Banks need better collaboration on commercial deals in order to win coveted deals and improve profitability. But that's much easier said than done. 

We preview our upcoming webinar, "Connecting Commercial Banking Technology," discussing why banks are focusing more on building an end-to-end commercial tech stack and how PrecisionLender connects the key pieces. 

Primacy is a buzzword at a lot of commercial banks these days, but what does it mean, exactly? What truly determines primacy? And what do banks need to do to achieve it?

Commercial bankers customarily work hard to protect margins on their loans. But in the current environment, is there a case to be made for booking deals even if it means giving on margin and coming in below return targets? 

Bankers often use the promise of additional cross-sell to make commercial loan deals work. But those promised accounts often never show up. Why do banks struggle so much with this critical final step? 

In this episode we talk about some of the potential downside to adding scale via mergers, as well as the market shift toward looser credit standards. 

Every bank says it's a "relationship bank," but their actual relationship profitability often looks quite different. We share some of those stories, as well as ways they can improve performance.

Taking a look at our last Commercial Loan Pricing Market Update from the first quarter of 2021 - what are the trends so far this year and what do they mean? 

The transition off LIBOR at the the end of 2021 may seem like old news, but there are many issues banks needs to address ... and time is running short.  

Stimulus measures early in the pandemic injected massive amounts of liquidity into the economy. Meanwhile, businesses feeling the uncertainty of the market have opted to park that money for now at their banks. What are banks doing with this glut of deposits? And does this mean they may actually turn away future deposits?  

In PrecisionLender's annual survey, commercial bankers gave their views about the impact of 2020 events and the outlook for 2021. In this episode, we compare those survey responses to real-life banker behaviors. 

Taking a look at the reasons why commercial loan growth may be tough to achieve in 2021, but also ways banks can overcome those obstacles. 

Taking a look at PrecisionLender's two new products - Portfolio Insights and Market Insights - and how they help commercial bankers make better data-driven pricing decisions.

PPP is back ... and more complex than ever. Dallas Wells walks us through the various programs and explains what's at stake this time around for commercial banks.

Gita Thollesson joins the podcast to give a sneak peek at a few of the findings she'll share in her upcoming State of Commercial banking webinar. 

2021 will present a lot of challenges for commercial banks, but there are ways that banks can improve their revenue performance. We offer a few suggestions in this week's podcast. 

A look at the all-important quest for banks to be the primary option for customers. We'll explore the reasons why that goal is getting harder and harder to achieve.

How are banks responding after 9 months of the pandemic? We look at two particular areas - provisioning and bad loan sales, in which bank actions seem to tell two very different stories.

How have banks' responses to the pandemic affected the loyalty of their commercial customers? Chris McDonnell shares some eye-opening findings from Greenwich Associates' research. 

The Aite Group's Christine Barry on what commercial banks should look for when adding cash management technology and how lenders can better cross-sell cash management and treasury services. 

What do the results from Bank Director's annual technology survey tell us about how banks are viewing technology and their ability/willingness to invest in it during a pandemic? 

Former BankOnPurpose keynote speaker Bob Moesta talks about  the principals of demand-side sales, and how they can be applied by commercial bankers. 

The banking industry is much stronger now than it was the last time the U.S. economy had a significant downturn. So why isn't that being reflected in the stock prices of publicly traded banks? 

In this episode we look at how banks should handle tricky budget questions during COVID-19. Forecasting future revenues and expenses is tough even in the best of times for banks, but the current pandemic has added an extra layer of difficulty.

Amidst all the challenges facing commercial banks during the pandemic, there also looms a problem on the approaching horizon - can they meet regulators' deadline to switch from LIBOR to SOFR? A look at the issues involved and whether the deadline is realistic.

The hotel industry has been one of the hardest hit sectors of the economy during the pandemic. What does that mean for the banks that have lent money to hotels? And what methods are banks using to give hotels time to regain their financial footing? 

A banking CEO recently made some scathing public comments about CECL. Is his view widespread? And what's at the root of dissatisfaction with the accounting standard? 

PrecisionLender's Gita Tholleson, author of the recent report "Risk Levels and Bank Behaviors During COVID-19" joints the podcast to discuss her findings. 

With risk mitigation on the minds of commercial bankers everywhere, it's time to look at how they're measuring risk - and where those ratings might be coming up short. 

With COVID-19 forcing banks to support a remote workforce, and to rapidly process PPP applications, have commercial banks reached a point where digital transformation moves from "innovative" to "expected"? 

Commercial banks are out of survival mode and have at least grown accustomed to life with COVID-19. There’s time now for them to ask “Okay, what’s next?” We discuss some options in this episode.

As commercial banks step up efforts to mitigate risk, they worry about RMs that might ignore the rules and guidelines. Is their concern valid or should they focus risk-reduction efforts elsewhere?

What's it like for commercial RMs in the midst of their first financial crisis? And how should banks handle difficult workout conversations with clients? 

Many banks are trying to reduce risk by only allowing senior execs to make all key commercial lending decisions. Is that approach actually having the opposite effect?   

Mergers and acquisitions - once an attractive tactic for banks - have become more problematic during the COVID crisis. Why are some banks pulling the plug on planned mergers, and how are banks that made recent acquisitions handling the new lanscape?

With Main Street Lending programs finally about to start, how should banks approach them? Will MSLP stimulate more activity? And how should banks think about risk with these deals?  

Banks have been heads down in processing PPP deals, but they need to step back and consider some big questions, like how they plan to tackle Main Street Lending, and what their risk profile looks like going forward. 

We discuss the cratering middle market lending numbers and why banks need to be ready to participating in the Main Street Lending  program. 

Main Street Lending is the next set of federal emergency lending programs, but it's been somewhat overshadowed by PPP. We go through some different uses cases for the program, the controversy around SOFR, and how banks are trying to navigate all the complexity. 

In this week's episode we explain our latest product:  the PrecisionLender CARES Edition. Dallas Wells walks listeners through why we developed CARES Edition and how it helps bankers manage the unprecedented demand for federal emergency loan programs. 

Discussing recent commercial line of credit utilization numbers. What's happening with them, and what do they tell us about how companies are faring right now?

How are current market conditions affecting the way banks are approaching commercial deposits? Will we another wave of "surge deposits," a la 2008? And what can deposit balances tell us about the current level of credit risk? 

To keep you up to date on what's happening in the commercial lending market, we review PrecisionLender's data on several key metrics - NIM, volume, spreads, etc. 

In this episode, we look at how today's market compares to banking during the last financial crisis. We also discuss how bankers should carefully approach sales conversations, as well as ways banks support for their employees. 

In this episode, we talk with Jim Stengel, about how banks that spend time focusing on their purpose and end up seeing the results in improved performance. Jim is the former Global Marketing Officer at P&G turned company founder, best-selling author, and podcast host. He will also be speaking at BankOnPurpose this year.

We take a deeper look at Accenture's recent report on 2020 commercial banking trends - from empowered bankers, to moving way from legacy systems, and more. Which trends are the most important and how should your bank respond? 

Interview with Sam Maule, Managing Partner for America at the digital banking consultancy 11:FS. Sam will be delivering a keynote speech at BankOnPurpose this May, titled "Doing Digital: A Modern Bank's Guide to Thrive."  

Tim Shanahan, Head of Client Strategy, comes on the show to talk about PrecisionLender's newest product - Market Insights. What's the problem Market Insights solves and how does it solve it? Tim has the answers!

Gita Thollesson, PrecisionLender's SVP of Market Insights, joins the podcast to give a sneak peek at a few of the findings she'll share in her upcoming State of Commercial Banking webinar. 

We surveyed commercial bankers in Q4 to get their thoughts about a potential economic downturn. In this episode, we look at the survey results and Dallas Wells interprets what bankers are REALLY saying. 

Atlantic Capital Bank CEO Doug Williams shares the story of his bank, its search for purpose, and how that lead to a better bottom line. 

Dallas Wells returns from American Banker's Small Biz: Banking conference and shares his thoughts on the hottest topics of discussion among bankers at the event. 

Greg Demas joins the podcast to talk about what he's hearing from community and regional banks and where he sees potential for improvement - specifically why they should focus more on revenue growth and less on expense reduction. 

Taking a look at Bank Director's 2019 Tech Survey and what it says about commercial bank strategic priorities and spending habits. 

What are the challenges regional banks currently face as they strive to become the Goldilocks solution for commercial clients: Not too small; not too big; just right?  

How much do bank names matter? What prompts them to sometimes make a name change? And why are so many bank names so ... similar? All that and more on this episode! 

What to about the inverted yield curve? Dallas Wells explains how bankers should adjust to this tricky environment and how their banks can help them make sound long-term decisions about each customer and each deal.

We discuss Beal Bank, an unusual bank with an interesting story. It's one that should resonate with banks that are wondering if they’re prepared for a potential downturn.

When the next economic downturn eventually comes, will your bank be ready? PrecisionLender CEO Carl Ryden and 11:FS CEO David Brear discuss the strategies banks should employ to go beyond just weathering the storm, to actually prospering during tough times. 

Gita Thollesson, PrecisionLender's SVP of Market Insights, comes on the podcast to share some of the findings from her upcoming webinar on the pursuit of commercial deposits. 

What do commercial bankers think about their pricing processes and technology, and about the deals their RMs price each day? PrecisionLender got the answers to those questions in a recent survey. Dallas and Jim discuss some of the eyebrow-raising results. 

Is Libor really on the way out? Is SOFR the most likely index to replace it? And how will these changes affect the loans already on your commercial books and the ones you're going to price in the future. Those answers and more are in this week's episode of The Purposeful Banker. 

In this episode, we look back at the BankOnPurpose 2019 talk given by former poker champ Annie Duke, author of the book, "Thinking in Bets." We discuss the ways in which Annie's insights on decision-making and risk can be applied to the challenges faced by commercial banks. 

How do you tap into the value of your top RM's behaviors? What should you measure? How do you do measure it? And how do you scale that knowledge?

Greg Martin, a business services offer for BB&T, shares his approach to developing his commercial book. He makes the case for pursuing industry specialization to find "the riches in the niches."

During this interview at BankOnPurpose 2019, 11:FS chief-of-staff Leda Glyptis talks about how banks should balance the need to innovate with the need to minimize risks. She points out where banks have fallen short in their innovation efforts, but also where there's hope for the future. 

We talk to Gita Thollesson about her latest report, "Commercial Renewals: Market Best Practices." Why don't banks reprice more often? What's the right increase to ask for? Why do some banks excel at renewals while others struggle? Gita shares her findings and insights on this week's show. 

How should bankers handle those moments when their clients "test" them on the price of a deal? Are there ways to avoid that moment? Or, if it's inevitable, to actually benefit from it?

Commercial banks have "attracting deposits" at the top of their priority lists this year. Which banks are faring the best in this battle? And what are they doing to stay ahead of the competition?

What can community banks learn from story of the decline and eventual demise of the National Bank of Delaware County? What mistakes should they avoid? What are the areas where they can continue to compete and win? 

You never get a second chance to make a first impression, yet so often the onboarding experience starts off the business-customer relationship on the wrong foot.  In this episode, Dallas and Jim share stories of onboarding experiences gone awry and discuss the lessons banks can learn from them. They also share tips on ways banks can get it right, right from the start. 

Gita Thollesson, SVP for Client Success and Market Insights at PrecisionLender, returns to the podcast to discuss more winning tactics of top commercial relationship managers. In this episode, she focuses on structuring deals with performance-based pricing or grid pricing.

Why is that banks sometimes struggle to sell new products? Where are the pain points, and what should they be doing differently in their sales processes? 

Lot of banks have implemented or are in the midst of implementing CRMs. But a lot of those same banks aren't getting the most out of their CRMs. What's causing the problem? And how can banks fix it? 

"Coaching" is becoming a very important topic for commercial banks. What does "coaching" mean? Where can it provide an impact, and what role does tech play in it?

We close out 2018 by replaying our most popular episode of the year - Gita Tholleson sharing the tactics of the best relationship managers that set them apart. 

PrecisionLender's Tim Shanahan comes on the podcast to recap his recent trip to the Small Biz: Banking Conference. Among the event's hot topics: Hiring bankers who can sell; building your bank's tech stack; partnering with fintechs; and a potential credit turn.   

PrecisionLender's Tim Shanahan comes on the podcast to recap his recent trip to the Small Biz: Banking Conference. Among the event's hot topics: Hiring bankers who can sell; building your bank's tech stack; partnering with fintechs; and a potential credit turn.   

NBKC is a community bank that is not only surviving, it's thriving - growing its lending business into new markets. What are some of the lessons other bank's can take from NBKC's success?

Talking deposit strategies during a rising rate environment, with Neil Stanley of The Corepoint. 

Banks measure all sorts of key performance indicators; which are the ones that show the strongest connection to how these institutions are valued? Jeff Marssico of The Kafafian Group joins the Purposeful Banker podcast to talk about his articles on this topic, and what he found. 

Why were bankers talking about Iron Man suits? How much of AI in banking is about retail, vs. commercial? Will automation actually create jobs? George Neal shares his last impressions from the BankAI conference. 

What are bank leaders saying about important topics such as: tech investment, how banks can deliver value, competition among community banks, and alternative growth strategies? 

Doug Engelbart's 1968 computer demo was hugely influential for the tech industry, but it took some time for his vision to be accepted by his colleagues. In fact, some of his ideas are just now being implemented. Why does it sometimes take so long for the future to take hold? And why is it that some "get it" much earlier than others? And what does that mean for the banking industry? We tackle all those topic in this week's podcast. 

Everyone at your bank is on board the innovation train, but is it headed to the right destination? In this week's podcast, Dallas and Jim explain why successful banks are focusing their innovation on customer value, not cost-savings.  It's also the central theme of the ebook they discuss, "Flip the Formula: How Top Banks Innovate to Win."    

Gathering information is a science. Filtering out noise is an art. To best serve their customers, commercial banks need to find the right balance between the two.

Lots of banks are talking about their artificial intelligence initiatives, but how are those programs affecting the bottom line. In this week's podcast, PrecisionLender CEO Carl Ryden walks through the important questions that bank analysts and investors should be asking, as well as the answers bank leaders should be prepare to give. 

What separates the best commercial RMs from the rest? Gita Tholleson, SVP for Client Success at PrecisionLender, explains how top RMs deliver tangible value, act as trusted advisors, and find ways to outmaneuver the competition.

How are banks doing in recruiting commercial lenders? Why are incentive plans still an unsolved issue? Those issues and more details from Bank Director's Annual Compensation Survey are discussed in the latest Purposeful Banker podcast.

Big commercial banks aren't just spending more on tech in terms of total dollars; they're also dedicating a higher percentage of their budget to tech investment. Why does this spending gap exist and what does it mean for regional and community banks? 

Why is it that top commercial relationship managers win deal even when they're not offering the lowest rate? Gita Tholleson, Precisionlender SVP of Client success, shares the tactics that separate the best RMs from the rest.

Why are the toughest competitors for a commercial deal sometimes working at the same bank? And how can you align your commercial bankers so they're working toward the same goals with each customer relationship?

Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss an Accenture article on the three traits of innovative commercial banks and what those traits look like in banks we work with. They also discuss the hurdles banks face in becoming innovative.    Accenture article:  https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insight-future-fintech-banking

Dissatisfaction isn't always a bad thing. Hear from Dallas Wells in this episode on why your bank may need some level of dissatisfaction to be successful. 

Jim Young and Dallas Wells sit down with Jimmy O'Boyle of Chatham Financial to talk swaps. You'll learn about the 2017 benchmark stats tracked by the Trading Desk, and what they mean for commercial banks. Interested in hanging out with Chatham during their Swaps Tailgate at the BankOnPurpose Conference? You can register here!  https://info.chathamfinancial.com/Event-SwapsTailgateBankOnPurpose2018_Registration.html   https://www.chathamfinancial.com/

Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss why default settings matter at your bank and how your default settings can either hinder or help you.  "We know that the default settings determine the behavior of the group. Organ donation, 401k allocations, the typeface on our word processor--the way it's set to act if we don't override it is often the way we act. Because often, we decide it's not worth the effort to change the setting today." - Seth Godin  http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2018/03/getting-the-default-settings-right.html 

Jim Young sits down with Rollie Tillman, Managing Director at PrecisionLender, and David Andrukonis, Director at RiskSpan. They  discuss what CECL means for banks and how you can best prepare for it.   Learn more about RiskSpan here: https://riskspan.com/ 

In this episode, Jim and Dallas discuss rising interest rates. You'll come away with a clear understanding of the different ways rising rates will affect your bank and how you should adjust your tactics accordingly.

We've seen that our clients have very high pull-through rates, which piqued our interest. What are they doing to be so successful? Jim and Dallas discuss insightful and interesting tactics to help you improve your pull-through rates in this episode of the Purposeful Banker. 

How old is your banking technology? Jim and Dallas discuss reasons why your bank might hold on to old technology in today's technology forward world and how you can begin to replace the old with the new with as little risk as possible. 

Jim and Dallas chat about the ramifications of being a complacent commercial bank. You'll learn why you shouldn't keep kicking the tires on digital transformation, what it means to be a passive bank, and where pricing fits in with all of this. 

If you're looking to implement technology within your bank, this is the episode to listen to. Dallas shares lessons he's learned from bank technology implementation projects that didn't quite go as he'd planned. 

Maria Abbe, Content Manager at PrecisionLender, sits down with Katharine Briggs, EVP of Client Success, to discuss why the financial services industry is the least trusted industry, according to the most recent Edelman Trust Monitor. They dive into possible reasons why this may be and how banks can earn back the title of trust they rightly deserve. 

"Community and regional banks have developed a dangerous reliance on commercial real estate (CRE) lending that is not sustainable. This CRE treadmill is dangerous, and banks must decide how they intend to get off it." Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss how your bank can get off the CRE treadmill and diversify its growth.     Join us on April 25th - 27th for the third annual BankOnPurpose Conference in Austin, TX. Use promo code 'podcast18' for 10% off your registration. www.bankonpurpose.com 

Listen as Joel Rosenberg, SVP of Delivery & Client Success at PrecisionLender, walks us through the simulations he did to answer the question: Should I price with Prime or LIBOR?   Join us on April 25th - 27th for the third annual BankOnPurpose Conference in Austin, TX. Use promo code 'podcast18' for 10% off your registration. www.bankonpurpose.com 

Jim Young chats with Jeff Marsico, EVP at The Kafafian Group and writer of the blog, Jeff for Banks, on the importance of defining who your customers are and building a strategy to target them.    http://jeff-for-banks.blogspot.com/ http://kafafiangroup.com/   Join us on April 25th - 27th for the third annual BankOnPurpose Conference in Austin, TX. Use promo code 'podcast18' for 10% off your registration. www.bankonpurpose.com 

If it's lucrative, the competition is going to want it and they're going to have the ammunition to go after it. In this episode, Jim Young sits down with George Neal to discuss why you would want reprice your best deal. 

If you're not leading in today's banking industry, you're losing. There's no longer such a thing as a "fast follower." Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss the need to lead in today's banking industry, a conversation based off of the article by JP Nicols, managing director at FinTech Forge and BankOnPurpose 2017 speaker, entitled "Leaders, Learners, and Laggards."

"The customer is always right if it's the right customer for you." In this episode, Jim Young sits down with Tom Stewart and Patricia O'Connell, authors of the book "Woo, Wow, and Win," as they share the concept behind service design and how you can use it to better serve your customers. 

Jim Young and Rollie Tillman, Managing Director at PrecisionLender, discuss how the tax cuts will affect banks.

This podcast episode originally aired on July 31, 2017. To find the links mentioned in this episode, head over to the podcast page in our Resource Center: https://explore.precisionlender.com/podcasts/is-a-performance-plan-in-your-future. Struggling to develop new business and match your previous sales performances? There may be several reasons why you're not on your A-game anymore. In this episode, Jim Young chats with Ned Miller, SVP at MZ Bierly Consulting, about the reasons why some experienced bankers are falling short and how they can regain the confidence in selling that they once had.

This episode was originally published on June 12, 2017. You can check out the links mentioned in the show by heading over to the page in our resource hub: https://explore.precisionlender.com/podcasts/how-to-avoid-originating-a-bad-loan.  With experience in a money center bank, at a large asset manager, in specialty finance, and having underwritten billions of dollars in commercial real estate loans, Katharine Briggs joins us to talk about how to avoid originating a bad loan. She shares tactics that will help you mitigate the factors that lead to bad loan origination, the impact originating a bad loan has on your bank and your relationship managers, and processes you can put into place to keep your bank on the right track when originating loans. 

In this podcast, we're joined by Mikey Trafton, serial entrepreneur and expert in building high performance teams with amazing cultures. Mikey was a speaker at the first annual BankOnPurpose Conference in 2016. He's continuing the conversation by sharing how to attract the best talent, how to interview, and how to build a team that's a solid culture fit and incredibly productive. 

Group brainstorms are supposed to be an effective way to bring everyone's voices to the table and spark some great new ideas, right? Not so much. Jim and Dallas discuss why group brainstorms can harm your team's productivity level and how to structure meetings and team communication in a more efficient and effective way. 

There's a shift in relationship banking and it's time to act accordingly. Jim and Dallas discuss the changes we're seeing in relationship banking and what you can do at your bank to better serve your customers. This topic comes from a recent Financial Brand article by Jim Marous entitled, "Banking Desperately Needs A Relationship-Based Selling Strategy." Show Notes: Banking Desperately Needs A Relationship-Based Selling Strategy, by Jim Marous 3 Reasons to Cross-Sell & 4 Ways to Do It Better, Dallas Wells  

Scott Morgan, Managing Director at PrecisionLender, shares where he is seeing banks struggle with pricing. He talks about transparency, sharing data across the bank, utilizing technology, and building processes that work. 

Jim Young sits down with Lorraine Moore, former bank executive, speaker, author, and advisor to executives across all industries. She uncovers why creating a culture of accountability is more important than ever before and how leaders can create an environment that encourages accountability. You'll learn how to become a stronger leader and foster a workplace that's empowering.

Two-time BankOnPurpose keynote speaker, Lisa McLeod, joins PrecisionLender CEO, Carl Ryden, in this week's podcast.  They address the choice banks face regarding purpose and culture, as well as how those choices could affect your bank.  You'll come away with a better understanding of how to build your bank's purpose and lead in a way that fosters that purpose. For more information on Lisa, you can check out her site here: https://www.mcleodandmore.com/. And purchase Selling with Noble Purpose here: https://www.amazon.com/Selling-Noble-Purpose-Drive-Revenue/dp/1118408098 

We sit down with Carl Coe, EVP of Client Development at PrecisionLender, who shares how to get the most out of your sales team, beginning with the difference between training and coaching.  You'll learn which behaviors are learned and which are innate within a salesperson, why coaching is crucial for your team, and how you can provide ongoing coaching. 

What do a space pen, a pencil, and pricing loans have in common?   Sometimes, simple is better.   In this episode, Dallas Wells and Jim Young chat about why there is a need to simplify technology interfaces in order to make it more user-friendly for its end users.

Jim Marous, named one of the most influential people in banking and co-publisher of The Financial Brand, sits down with PrecisionLender Director of Communications, Jim Young, to discuss the changes coming to the banking industry.  They discuss how banks can embrace and leverage these changes to be more successful.  You can find more on Jim Marous here: https://thefinancialbrand.com/?s=jim+marous Jim Marous will be a 2018 BankOnPurpose Conference speaker. To register for and learn more about BankOnPurpose head to this site: https://bankonpurpose.com/  

Relationship Managers hold a very important position within the bank and their success determines the bank's success. But hiring and retaining strong RMs has become increasingly difficult across the industry. Jim and Dallas sit down to discuss these rising challenges and ways banks can foster environments that make RMs thrive.    The blog post Jim and Dallas mention can be found here: https://explore.precisionlender.com/blog/how-to-attract-and-keep-top-rm-talent-at-your-bank   And the Bank Director survey they discuss can be found here: https://www.bankdirector.com/index.php/committees/compensation/2016-compensation-survey-where-are-lenders     

Rollie Tillman, Managing Director at PrecisionLender, sits down with Jim Young to share insights from having gone through over 50 mergers and acquisitions as both the buyer and the seller. He shares pain points of M&As and how to make the transition as smooth as possible. 

Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss a few recent and relevant articles that uncover what automation will do to banking jobs. You'll learn the effect automation will have on the industry and how you can succeed despite the rise of machines. 

Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss a recent PrecisionLender blog post on why now is the right time to cross-sell. They uncover why you should cross-sell and share tips for better cross-selling. 

Jim Young and PrecisionLender Chief Analytics Officer, George Neal, discuss some of our recent data findings on loan time to close statistics. Some of the findings were as you would expect, but others were quite unexpected. 

Jim Young and Carl Ryden discuss the increasingly popular term "ecosystem" and how having one benefits your bank. You'll learn why you need one, how to manage implementing one within your bank, and navigating through inevitable friction points. 

This episode is a rebroadcast of episode 90. Jim Young and Carl Ryden discuss how Artificial Intelligence will improve the banking industry and help amplify your data. 

In this episode, Dallas and Jim talk about the difference between price setting and price getting as it relates to a recent infographic from Bain & Company. 

Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss what it means to "price with a tourniquet" and how doing so leads to poor approval processes and lending practices and unhappy customers. You'll learn what to do instead when it comes to pricing loans. 

Jim Young sits down with Jeff Henderson, EVP of Product Development at PrecisionLender, to discuss APIs and why they're important. They also discuss bank data - how much you should share, with whom, and how often. 

Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss an article by Chris Skinner on why banks need to partner with technology instead of building their own. You'll learn the importance of buying technology over building it and how it'll impact both the bank and its customers. 

Struggling to develop new business and match your previous sales performances? There may be several reasons why you're not on your A-game anymore. In this episode, Jim Young chats with Ned Miller, SVP at MZ Bierly Consulting, about the reasons why some experienced bankers are falling short and how they can regain the confidence in selling that they once had.

In this episode, Maria Abbe and George Neal discuss two different types of AI, why it's important to know the difference, and which one will help your bank. You'll learn practical ways to implement AI and how it'll give you a leg up against the competition. 

In this episode, Jim Young chats with Travis Engebretsen, VP of Strategy at Seacoast Bank. Engebretsen recently wrote a piece on how a well-defined value prop that points to the customer is what will distinguish one bank from the others. The two discuss how a bank can create a customer-centric value prop and talk through the do's and don'ts. They also discuss how to buy technology effectively and efficiently at your bank and how your value prop affects how and what you buy. 

(REBROADCAST) It's common practice in the banking industry to design for the average customer. In this podcast, Carl Ryden shares why you should design experiences for the edges instead.

There is a lot of content out there on banking, specifically retail banking. But when it comes to commercial banking, there isn't as much thought leadership. Seeing this gap, we decided to puts our thoughts, beliefs, and approaches on commercial banking into a book. In this podcast we talk about the origin of the book, the topics covered within the book, and how to get your copy of Earn It: Building Your Bank's Brand One Relationship At A Time. 

This episode topic is a bit different from topics of the past, but it builds off our BankOnPurpose panel discussion on hiring and retaining talent at banks. When it comes to hiring, training, leading, and ultimately helping employees - especially women - rise to levels of leadership, there are many aspects that come into play for banks. These include the bank's view on diversity and what women can do throughout their careers to build the confidence they need to rise to leadership. In this episode, Katharine Briggs, EVP of Client Success, sits down with Maria Abbe to share her experience as a leader, both in the work place and in the community, and how women can work towards becoming leaders in their own organizations.

With experience in a money center bank, at a large asset manager, in specialty finance, and having underwritten billions of dollars in commercial real estate loans, Katharine Briggs joins us to talk about how to avoid originating a bad loan. She shares tactics that will help you mitigate the factors that lead to bad loan origination, the impact originating a bad loan has on your bank and your relationship managers, and processes you can put into place to keep your bank on the right track when originating loans. 

Making the decision to store your data in the cloud can be overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Jim Young sits down with Chelsea Marshall, Trust and Security Specialist at PrecisionLender, to discuss common misconceptions about the cloud as it relates to on premises solutions and data security. 

User Experience (UX) affects each piece of your organization and is a distinguishing factor in creating a better experience for your customer. In this episode, Jim Young sits down with Amanda Stockwell, President of Stockwell Strategy, to discuss the importance of UX at your organization, how you can create parameters for successful UX, and each individual's role in the process. 

Jim Young sits down with Dustin Minarchick of CNB Bank, winner of the Up & Comer Award at BankOnPurpose 2017. After many years of success in a Credit Analyst role, Dustin made the jump to a Commercial/Retail Lending Officer and has thrived. In less than a year, he generated $10,563,000 in new business spread across a staggering 125 relationships. At an average of 2.5 new relationships a week, in addition to other responsibilities, Dustin has shown no signs of slowing down, making him a perfect choice for the Up & Comer Award.

Jim Young sits down with Trevor Lewis of Los Alamos National Bank, winner of the first annual Trophy Deal of the Year award at BankOnPurpose 2017.  Trevor worked with the developers and their legal council for close to six months to get a structure that would work for the developer, the bank, and the various government entities. He balanced the needs of all parties involved and allowed his passion to be directed by the amount of economic development the deal would create for his community. 

FOMO, or the fear of missing out, is a term frequently used in discussions about social interactions. For example, it's the reason we check our phones immediately when a notification pops up. But how does it relate to banks and, more specifically, buying bank technology? Dallas Wells, Chief Success Officer at PrecisionLender, sits down with Jim Young to share his thoughts.

Maria Abbe sits down with Katie Wirka, Lead Client Support Specialist at PrecisionLender, to discuss some of the recent trends in the world of customer support. We'll cover each of the following: 1. Switching from reactive to proactive support. 2. Encouraging empathy in client interactions. 3. Using new technologies (AI, predictive analytics, natural language processing).

Dallas Wells, Chief Success Officer at PrecisionLender, sits down with Jim Young to discuss the positive powers of peer pressure - beginning first with its role in the Montgomery Bus Boycotts, where peer pressure helped a social cause spread. They'll also explain what it looks like in a bank when peer pressure is helping positive habits form - and how your bank can use peer pressure to achieve positive outcomes.  "On a playground, peer pressure is dangerous. In adult life, it's how business gets done and communities self-organize."

How could a bank benefit from partnering with a restaurant management software company? To start, it would provide access to actionable, industry-specific data and insights that would otherwise be unavailable. Dallas Wells, our Chief Success Officer, joins us to discuss this and other benefits for banks who choose to partner with tech, not just fintech. 

Jim Young sits down with Dallas Wells, Chief Success Officer at PrecisionLender, to discuss common points of confusion we've seen around the idea of Artificial Intelligence in Commercial Banks.  AI is just bots AI is for retail, not commercial Data used by an AI will be visible to other banks AI will replace Relationship Managers and their interactions with customers AI is still 5-10 years out

Fintech is changing the financial services industry, and simply executing yesterday’s tactics a little bit better is no longer sufficient in this era of digital disruption.  In this podcast, JP Nicols, Managing Director of the FinTech Forge, will share how the most innovative organizations in the world innovate on purpose to create better outcomes for their customers and for their companies.

Jim Young sits down with Dallas Wells, our Chief Success Officer, to discuss Dallas' recent blog post about the 7 Deadly Sins of Pricing. You'll learn about each one, diving in deeper on a few of them to talk about real-world examples from Dallas' experience working at and with banks. 

Maria Abbe sits down with Mike Schaefer, Director of Talent Acquisition at PrecisionLender, to discuss best hiring practices for banks.  Takeaways for this episode include: - How your bank can approach hiring. - How to maintain and grow your organization's culture through strong hiring practices. - Some insight into how PrecisionLender looks at hiring. 

In this podcast, we sit down with Kevin McNamara, president of Vertical IQ, as he shares with us how to build a successful sales process. You'll learn what a successful sales process looks like and how to make sure that what you build sticks within your organization.

This week, George Neal, Chief Analytics Officer at PrecisionLender, sits down for a second time with Maria Abbe to answer some of your questions about cleaning up and better leveraging your data.

No one ever wants to think the worst can happen, but when undertaking a project that requires valuable time and resources, you'll make the most of your investment if you give some thought to a plan B. Dallas Wells, EVP of Banking Strategies, and Jessica Stone, Director of Client Success, talk through some of their experiences at PrecisionLender and beyond that have led them to put effort into backup plans.

In this podcast, we sit down with Jack Hubbard, Chairman and Chief Sales Officer of St. Meyer & Hubbard, as he shares with us what it means to become a Resource Manager. You'll learn how to shift your current sales approach to better serve your customers in this fast-paced and ever changing world. 

In this podcast, Maria Abbe sits down with Megan Fielman, Senior IT Audit & Compliance Manager at PrecisionLender, to discuss best practices for handling a vendor risk assessment, and why a partnership with your vendors is crucial when it comes to security.

Data is a key differentiating factor for all organizations. Knowing where your data is unique, and where there is sufficient data to draw distinction is critical to moving data from dead weight to working asset. Data quality requires work, which is best factored into project timelines and included in workflows. Operationally, data correction should have a priority in any data driven organization.

On rare occasions, we'll dedicate an episode to something new in our pricing platform, but it's really got to be special to stray from our usual programming. The background behind the creation of Andi fits the bill. In this podcast, Jim Young and Carl Ryden talk about how banks can unlock the potential of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

It's common practice in the banking industry to design for the average customer. In this podcast, Carl Ryden shares why you should design experiences for the edges instead. 

In this podcast, we review the high points of Chapter 12 of "Earn It," which is titled "How Will You Earn It in the Future?"

We are excited to introduce The Purposeful Banker Awards which will honor the best bankers in the industry at BankOnPurpose Conference 2017.   

When it comes to buying or building technology, there is no "one size fits all" solution. In this episode, Dallas Wells and Maria Abbe discuss when you should consider building technology and when you must buy instead.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning has been a topic that's been on our minds quite a bit lately at PrecisionLender. In this two-part series, Carl Ryden and Jim Young discuss some of our favorite articles about AI and how it relates to the banking industry. 

Artificial intelligence and machine learning has been a topic that's been on our minds quite a bit lately at PrecisionLender.  In this two-part series, Carl Ryden and Jim Young discuss some of our favorite articles about AI and how it relates to the banking industry. In part 1, we'll look at the two perspectives of adopting AI.

Performance measurement has become a hot topic recently within the banking industry. In this podcast, we sit down with Rollie Tillman, VP of Delivery & Client Success here at PrecisionLender, as he discusses how performance measurement within PrecisionLender has increased value for banks. You'll learn where to start when measuring performance, what types of metrics to use, and how to work through any struggles you may face along the way. 

If changing your bank’s pricing culture, tactics and tools seems overwhelming, that’s because it is. In this episode, Dallas Wells and Jim Young talk about harnessing the power of continuous improvement to tackle change, which is Chapter 11 in the Earn It: Building Your Bank's Brand One Relationship at a Time. 

There's a lot we can learn from other industries when it comes to Customer Experience. Making processes more efficient and cutting down wait times are only the beginning. In this podcast, Maria Abbe sits down with Scott Morgan, VP of Delivery & Client Success at PrecisionLender, as he shares how the customer experience at Disney World can be translated into banking.

In this podcast, Dallas Wells and Jim Young review the high points of Chapter 10 of "Earn It," which is titled "Get Your Lenders to Engage, Not Revolt." We'll review how to get your bank to embrace a culture of change and then, when that culture is in place - some specifics on how to train lenders and how to ensure adoption of the tool. 

In this podcast, we sit down with Jason Cohen as he talks honesty. Cutting corners and exaggerating the truth may seem appealing when competition is fierce and the next deal needs to get done. But does it actually result in more revenue and higher profitability? Cohen makes the case for honesty and divulges how it can make us more effective and more profitable. 

Your customers aren’t coming to you because they want a loan. They’re coming to you because they need what the loan will help them do. Whether that’s starting a business or keeping one running smoothly, understanding the “why” behind your customers’ desires is key to better serving them and maintaining lasting relationships. In this podcast, Bob Moesta and Chris Spiek, creators of the “Jobs To Be Done” framework, share how to uncover what it is your customers need.

Could the employees at your bank recite the company values? More importantly, do they treat their customers and each other with those values?  In this episode, Maria Abbe and Jessica Stone talk about how giving respect results in a more efficient workplace.

Before the ink has even dried on the contract, you may already be dreading implementing the new tool or system your bank has purchased. It doesn't have to be that way, though. In this week's podcast, Jim Young talks to Jess Stone, PrecisionLender's Director of Client Success, about lessons learned - both good and bad - during countless implementations. It's a chance to see why we do what we do, but also to learn some do's and don'ts that you can apply to any future software implementation at your bank.

Buying technology at a bank can be a frustrating, even intimidating, experience. But it can also pay off handsomely, if you know the pitfalls to avoid and the right questions to ask. In this episode, Jim Young and Dallas Wells discuss why vendor management is a lot like credit underwriting. 

In this podcast, we sit down with Lisa McLeod as she delves into finding and defining the purpose within your bank and why it's important that your purpose lives at the forefront of everything you do. She'll address how to align your purpose with strategy in order to make the best decisions for your bank. Lisa is recognized internationally as a sales and leadership consultant and for creating the popular business concept, "Noble Purpose."

According to St. Meyer & Hubbard, 57% of the loans that go to committee get rejected. How will machine learning shape the way banks do commercial lending in the future?  In this episode, you'll hear from the CEO of PrecisionLender, Carl Ryden and managing partner at Georgian Partners, Justin Lafayette about ways that banks can use artificial intelligence to cut costs, save time and improve efficiency. 

The best banks don't look at efficiency as merely a way to cut down on something - costs, time, etc. - they also look at it as a way to free up resources to do something else. Mort O'Sullivan of ARCA will talk about this. ARCA makes cash recycling machines, which have the dual purpose of speeding up transactions at branches while also freeing up tellers to be more to their customers than just bean counters.

Banks spend as much as 70% of their total technology budget on maintaining their core systems, but that's not where value is created. In this episode, Jim Young and Dallas Wells share the latest chapter of Earn It: Building Your Bank's Brand One Relationship at a Time.

Understanding decision psychology could be the difference between winning clients or watching them go elsewhere. In this podcast, Matthew Jackson of Simon-Kucher & Partners will look at the psychological side of presenting your offer and its pricing, and share insights on client buying behavior. 

In order to be successful, a bank relies on processes. However, it can be difficult to build one that addresses a real problem and actually gets adopted. In this episode, Dallas Wells and Jim Young explore how bank's can develop a Minimum Viable Process (MVP) to achieve success.

When it comes to buying bank technology, some banks have a tendency to be overly cautious. Other banks may bite off far more than they can chew. And then there are banks who get it just right. In this episode, Dallas Wells chats with Pam Hannett from Silverline and Bryan Lee from Salesforce about what the right balance is when purchasing new technology for the bank.

Sometimes, the best deals are the ones you don't make. In this episode, Todd Classen from Moody's Analytics shares a personal story of how a banker saved his family farm by refusing his father a loan. 

When it comes to your lending team, choose transparency. Giving out information, rather than hoarding it, empowers your lenders and gains the trust of your customers. In Chapter 7, you'll learn about the downside of withholding information and why successful banks aren't just transparent internally; they're open with their customers too.

Why is haggling so prevalent in car purchasing? People are not comfortable having those conversations, and yet the customer-buying experience at a car dealership is known for it. Dallas Wells and Jim Young discuss how this is translated into the commercial loan negotiation process.

In this competitive market, borrowers have options. Does your bank consistently find itself as the last resort that borrowers go to for that ultra-low rate? In this episode, George Neal and Jim Young will share insights from our latest white paper about how the best banks serve their community as more than just a commodity.  

In this episode, we're revisiting an issue that receives a ton of attention in the industry; mergers and acquisitions. To help us with the discussion, Dallas Wells is joined by John Freechack from Piper Jaffray.

In the latest chapter of Earn It: Building Your Bank's Brand One Relationship at a Time, we're exploring top lenders - who they are, how they succeed, and how to make more of them.  Dallas Wells and Jim Young discuss some major takeaways from the latest chapter, which is released on theearnitbook.com. 

The questions your lenders ask their customers will shape the conversation and ultimately the deal that's crafted.  In this episode, Jim Young and Dallas Wells talk about the best way to ask questions and what to do with uncovered information.

Imagine what happens when innovation is embraced at a bank. While some banks fear FinTech, Eastern Bank dedicates entire teams to exploring it. In this episode, Dallas Wells interviews Trish North, SVP of Digital Sales and Implementation in the second part of a look at Eastern Bank's innovation.

Customer loyalty is at the core of a bank's success. When you show that you care about your customer's needs, they are more willing to pay fees, forgive mistakes, and refer new business.  This week, Dallas Wells interviews Joe Bartolotta, the EVP and Director of Strategic Partnerships at Eastern Bank in Boston, MA. 

There are two type of people. On one hand, you have managers, or the bosses, who work on a schedule filled with hour-long meetings. On the other hand, there are makers. Makers need larger time blocks to get projects completed.  In this episode, Jessica Stone and Dallas Wells discuss how PrecisionLender has adopted this concept for our own teams, and explore ways to make it work in your bank.

Banks have all sorts of C-suite officers from chief executive officers to chief risk officers to chief loan officers. But for some reason, there’s no chief pricing officer. Dallas Wells and Jim Young discuss why banks need an advocate for pricing on the executive team. 

When it comes to sales, it makes sense that relationship-builders perform better than others, right? In The Challenger Sale, Brent and Matthew Dixon Adamson argue that the sales people who challenge and educate their customers have more success than relationship-builders. Jim Young and Dallas Wells review the book and discuss how it relates to the banking industry.

Dallas Wells interviews Ray Grace, the North Carolina Banking Commissioner, about innovation and regulation in the banking industry. Grace talks about why the word 'change' is perceived as more dirty than 'FinTech,' and why it's so important to experiment in this complex economy.

If you don't know what APIs are, this episode is for you. Banks are using APIs for consumer applications like transaction history, branch locations, and depositing a check, but there's so much more to it. In this episode, Jessica Stone speaks with Mike Finger, a software developer here at PrecisionLender about what an API is and how it applies to the banking industry.

Dallas Wells and Jim Young discuss the newest chapter of Earn It: Building Your Bank's Brand One Relationship at a Time. In chapter 4, Dallas and Jim discuss the impact of moving the pricing process forward. And don't worry, there's plenty of sports analogies in this one.  The first four chapters are available at theearnitbook.com.

Mergers and acquisitions are complicated. Dallas Wells talks with Brett Werner with TS Bank to discuss strategy and tactics to make the process a little smoother. Learn how Warren Buffet has influenced TS Bank M&A strategy.

To help you sort through the mountains of useful information that was shared at BankOnPurpose 2016, Jim and Dallas give highlights.

You may have heard of the 80/20 rule, but what about Zipf's Law? Dallas and Jess talk about how these mathematical principles apply to banking and the lending team. 

We all fall victim to the sunk-cost fallacy from time to time, "This movie is terrible, but I've already spent an hour watching so I might as well watch the next hour." Actually, you should just stop the movie and spend the next hour on something you really want to do! Dallas and Jess talk about how the same concept can apply for bankers around pricing decisions. 

We're going to be discussing the book that Dallas and Jim have spent a great deal of time on these past few months. The book we've been co-writing, along with PrecisionLender CEO Carl Ryden is called Earn It: Building Your Bank's Brand One Relationship at a Time. If you're just now hearing about the book, we're releasing it sections, a month at a time. After starting with the intro and Chapter 1 in March, we released Chapters 2 and 3 just last week. It's all available at theearnitbook.com. 

Dallas and Jess explain the concept of customer success, how it works for PrecisionLender, and why it is so important in the Saas business. But, the economics (low margin but high volume, high cost of customer acquisition, losses in year 1, importance of lifetime value and need to minimize churn) also apply to banking, so bankers should take some of those same concepts and apply them to their business.

Dallas Wells is joined by Matt Davis, COO of Paragon Bank, to discuss Enterprise Risk Management (ERM).  In Matt's article for banking.com, he laid out 8 big types of risk that an effective ERM platform should cover. Its one thing to talk about ERM, but is quite another to actually bring all of those very different risks under one umbrella. Matt and Dallas go over what some of the struggles Paragon Bank has either found directly or heard from other banks in managing risks that are often in a silo with their own department?

When your bank crosses the $10 billion mark, you are no longer considered a community bank, you are now a midsized institution. That new label brings with it an enhanced supervisory approach from Dodd-Frank regulations. There has been a lot written about the impact of these new regulations, but Dallas Wells was lucky enough to talk with Al Dominick from Bank Director about what’s currently happening as well as what to expect moving forward. .

We're changing the name of our podcast to The Purposeful Banker. Where aiming at giving you better, broader insights, more guests and basically taking it up a notch.

Employees are the lifeblood of any company. They embody your company to your customers and the public, and they turn the ideas and strategies into real results. Hiring employees can be tough. But hiring the BEST employees is even harder. In this episode, Dallas and Jess talk about how to find and keep superstar employees. 

Lenders typically have two sets of negotiations for every deal. First they have to successfully negotiate and win a deal with their borrower, and then they have to negotiate internally to get the deal booked. This means navigating the often difficult waters of credit and loan ops, including pricing approval, credit approval, document prep, and closing.

Negotiating with borrowers is where the rubber meets the road in pricing. It is also something that very few lenders are trained to do - instead they have to learn by trial and error.

The first year at any new job can be tough, and lending is no different. Jess chat with Dallas about the top 5 things he wishes he knew his first year of commercial banking.

How do you differentiate between what your customer wants and needs? What do you do when a person says they want something, but their actions prove otherwise? Dallas and Jess talk about our own approach to handling client feedback and how your bank can use the same approach to look at the services you receive and offer.

How can banks better incorporate the loan portfolio into ALCO discussions? How has regulators' focus on interest rate risk impacted bankers? What are some resources for bankers that want to learn more about ALCO and interest rate risk? Dallas and Jess speak with Darnell Canada, Managing Director at Darling Consulting Group, to answer those questions and more.

Earl Worley has been with KS bank for over 20 years and is ow the COO. Join Phil Buckley and Rollie Tillman as they find out from Earl how he views commercial lending, it's impact on the bank's health and what keeps the COO happy.

Banks struggle with lending when they try to be "all things to all people" and go about selling without a clear focus and strategy. They need to know which products and customers are profitable for them, and where they can provide real value outside of just the lowest rate. Then, spend their sales time and resources working those deals instead of spinning their wheels on low margin "commoditized" loans just for the sake of volume.

Today we're talking about a blog post written by our CEO, Carl Ryden, a couple weeks back: Putting First things First. Carl talked about the struggle to keep the urgent from crowding out the important. 

According to the research of Stephan Liozu, author of "The Pricing Journey," there are two dimensions of pricing capability, Price Setting and Price Getting, and in order to excel at pricing, companies must master both dimensions.

What makes lenders happy at work? According to CoBiz Financial, named one of American Bankers' top 50 Best Banks for Work for in 2015, the key is providing lenders opportunities to deepen client relationships through exciting community initiatives. Jess Stone speaks with Scott Page, CEO of Colorado Business Bank and Arizona Business Bank, which are part of parent company CoBiz Financial, about the programs they offer to keep their employees happy and connected to the community, as well as advice for banks that may want to launch similar initiatives. 

What's one of the scariest things that keeps a bank CEO up at night? Two words: data breach. PrecisionLender's Vice President of Information Security, Chris Nelms, talks with Dallas and Jess about how to ensure your company's security while working with vendors.

Jessica Stone speaks with PrecisionLender's VP of Information Security, Chris Nelms, about what you can do ensure the safety of your technology and data. Although every bank is different, your IT person will surely love you if you heed this advice.

In normal business, if you're right 95% of the time, you're a huge success. In banking, if you're only right 95% of the time, you're probably out of business. That risk means that banks and bankers are cautious when making decisions, and for almost every bank that means decisions are ponderously slow. To the general public, that's how businesses worked last century. Banks are starting to be seen as laggards compared to some of their FinTech competitors. Dallas talks though how your bank can start using the time tested "Scientific Method" to start picking up speed and also start making better (data driven) decisions.

Joel Rosenberg talks with Jessica Stone about the fundamental shift that is moving the world under the feet of the US banking industry. Is the way your bank looking at Lending Club eerily reminiscent of the way GM and Ford looked at Honda in the early 1970's?

Carl Ryden, CEO at PrecisionLender, talks about their new banking conference, BankonPurpose. Why he felt there was a need for a new conference and what he hopes bankers will get from it.

Telling people that their data is "in the cloud" can seem like a weird movie scene, but it's usually the safest and easiest option. There's a reason most of the world's biggest companies are moving to the cloud.

A couple of weeks ago we released part one of our discussion with Charlie Johnson from Flagstar Bank in Michigan and and Andy Max from First National Bank of Omaha, and their efforts around integrating Salesforce.com within their banks. Because we just let them talk, we ended up with about 90 minutes of gold. Part two is where the guys talk about social "listening". Flagstar Bank started with Radian6 - which was purchased by Salesforce a few years ago and now fully integrated within their Marketing Cloud. Andy and Charlie both agree that your bank's brand is no longer wholly in your hands. The social side of brand strategy in the fast-moving, 21st century digital landscape is a place of enormous opportunity as well as fraught with peril.

Dallas Wells and Jess Stone speak with Bill Ragle, SVP at Comerica Bank, about his experiences managing a lending team, and his experience and advice for managers and lenders alike.

We all wish we had more time in the day. During this LenderPerformance podcast, Dallas and Jess will explore tips, review technology and share best practices on how lenders can aim to be more efficient at work. 

Jess Stone interviews Brandi Haymore to discuss conferences. Banks spend big money sending employees to conferences, and often feel like they get very little return on their investment. However, they can be a great resource for the bank, and attendees that leverage the connections and knowledge properly can see big impacts on their careers. Brandi will share thoughts on how to prepare, what to do while you're there, and how to share and implement the best ideas when you return.

Implementing a CRM system in a bank can have tremendous value, but it is also incredibly hard to get it right.  Charlie and Andy will share some first hand experience in what worked and what didn't, and more importantly, what they wish they had known when they started.

Almost every community bank in the country claims to differentiate themselves through superior customer service. How do you define customer service? More importantly, how do we actually go about providing it instead of just talking about it? This week, Jessica Stone joins Dallas Wells in discussing the overarching concept of customer service and also the specifics of customer service in the banking world.

McKinsey's study of the S&P 1500 companies that found a 1% improvement in pricing would generate an 8% improvement in operating profits is something that we love to share. What we hear more often is how banks are focused on cutting costs. Cost cutting is seemingly always the first club out of the bag, but why? If your bank has a commercial loan portfolio of $500 million, a 1% improvement in pricing translats to 4 basis points, which is $200k per year on that portfolio. A commercial loan book usually turns over quickly, meaning you can get to those results faster than in banking than other industries. For this fictional bank, it would take less than 20 months to hit that number. In this episode Dallas Wells and Al Pacino talk about the game of inches, and why it's those inches that make all the difference.

Dallas Wells talks about the 3 biggest problems he sees while working with banks trying to take their lending to the next level.

Who are the Mad Men characters in the stereotypical bank? In this light-hearted Labor Day special, we'll poke some fun at the stodgy "old boys' club that still runs a lot of banks, and to point out how they are being left behind by the new way of thinking.

A disclaimer, and that is that I am much more of a banker than a techie.  I'll be explaining this in layman's terms, but that is mostly because those are the only terms I have for it.  I work at a software company, but the only code I've ever written was a couple of very buggy macros for Excel.  So instead of the techie angle, I am tackling this issue from the business perspective, which is generally where bankers are coming from. 

We think of pricing as your steering wheel for the bank. It should be the mechanism by which you are guiding production onto the books, but a lot of times it just doesn't feel that intentional.  The car itself is doesn't feel attached to that steering mechanism. The lenders are just going about their business pricing deals the way they've always priced them, or they're coming in after the fact and putting in the terms that they've already promised into the pricing system and then we're giving them a report card on how well they did in that pricing discussion, or often how bad poorly they did. There's a better way.

As we've asked bankers about topics and ideas that we should be covering with these podcasts, there is one answer that is almost universal, and that is HELP US WITH SALES.  Every bank out there is thinking about growth, and loan growth specifically.  Even those that are hitting their numbers have to work really hard to get there.  Banking is a highly regulated and seemingly commoditized business, so those that win have to do so with a purposeful and well executed sale strategy.  So, to that end, we've talked about business development, we've talked about building relationships, and today we are going to talk about managing a pipeline.

Today, we're going to take a little bit different approach.  PrecisionLender has a customer success team, which happens to be where my role fits. Our job is a little more low-tech.  Specifically, we spend big chunks of every day on the phone with lenders.  Those conversations cut a wide swath, as they range from talking big picture strategy with management teams to talking through the mechanics of individual deals.  But, a recurring theme is looking for ways that banks, especially lenders, can build stronger relationships with customers.  Obviously ours is often pricing focused, around what we call "weaponizing the math" to find a workable deal that is hand crafted for a borrower.  But, we also hear a lot of tips of the trade, which is our topic for today: we're going to talk about some specifics on building stronger relationships.

High-performing banks are making significant investments in integrated systems that push the focus upstream, toward the lender-borrower relationship. Integrating your bank’s pricing with leading CRM systems (e.g. Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, etc.) create richer opportunities for lenders and allow comprehensive reporting for management. This significantly increases the “R” in your ROI for each one of those systems. This week, we’ve stolen one of the PrecisionLender Development podcasts (from May, 2015) that talks about how we think about integrating our specific solution with Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics.

In this episode, we'll be talking about what we're learning from looking at the data from the $11 billion dollars in loans and deposits that go through the PrecisionLender system each month.  What do the numbers tell us?  What intuitive conclusions were wrong, and which were dead on?  To help answer those questions, I'm joined today by Laura Jackson. Laura is the PrecisionLender Data Scientist in residence and has been charged with the very broad task of figuring out what the data is trying to say.

One of the overwhelming trends in banking that lenders have had to deal with over the last several years is the mass exodus away from variable rate financing. With rates at generational lows across the globe, any borrower worth his salt is asking for (and getting) long term, fixed rate deals. In order to compete, lenders have had to stretch beyond the typical comfort zone at many banks.  With that stretch comes the next obvious question.  How the heck do we hedge some of this risk so that we can keep booking deals without putting our balance sheet in a really ugly position?

Because PrecisionLender watches about $10 billion in loans and deposits flow through our pricing solution, we get to see a lot of great things. Starting today, we want to start sharing some of that aggregated data with you and what it means.

Relationship pricing is one of those terms that almost every bank we talk to throws around a lot. When John Tull says it, he means how they holistically evaluate customer relationships. They look at both the opportunities that is in front of them in terms of a potential opportunity as well as the existing relationship that have with a customer currently at the bank.  

Even if you don't have fancy software to make the process easier, lenders can "act like quarterbacks" by better preparing for negotiations. It's not always about rate, so being willing to think about some of the other variables (rate type, term, collateral, etc) will help lenders add real value for their borrowers.

Joel Rosenberg talks through the benefits and the things to watch out for with SBA loans, including when to sell them.

Providing value to your borrowers is largely driven by your expertise in matching the right financing structure to specific business needs. Join us as we discuss the current rate structure and yield curve, as well as the ability to discuss it intelligently at the knowledge level of the borrower.

This episode we're going to be talking about growing loans in a small market, and some of the challenges that go along with that.  To help us find the answers, I'm joined by Eric Judd.  Eric is the Senior Loan Officer at West Plains Bank & Trust in West Plains, MO.

You have Chief Officers for everything under the sun, but you probably don't have a Chief Pricing Officer who is tasked with making sure that your bank is doing everything it can to price your loans in a way to insure profitability and accelerate growth. Dallas Wells makes the case for a Chief Pricing Officer.

Trent Tomlin, President at Tomlin Advisory Group, provides strategic planning, financial advisory and growth implementation strategies and modeling for entrepreneurs.   He also has been a very successful commercial lender. Trent offers us an unvarnished peak into the mind of a professional who sits on the other side of the table now. If you've ever wondered what the person was thinking about you as you shook their hand before they left, don't miss this episode!

Can lenders really use social media for business development?  Is it really worth all of the extra time and effort it takes to “do it right” and engage on things like Facebook, twitter, or LinkedIn?  Jill Castilla, President & CEO at Citizens Bank of Edmond (Edmond, OK) joins me in this episode to talk about how she has actively used social media as an integral part of the turnaround story and now growth at her bank.

Jeff Marsico, EVP of Bank Strategy, Profitability, and Mergers/Acquisitions at The Kafafian Group, Inc joins me this week to talk about all the data you have access to, and how to decide which is actually valuable.

Dallas Wells talks with Carl Ryden about how lenders can out maneuver their competion every single time.

Brett McDowell is an Executive Vice-President at Centennial Bank in Lubbock, Texas. As a young, smart and ambitious lender, Brett needed to figure out how to get his older peers in the bank to take him seriously and ultimately follow his lead. In this 15 minute podcast, I speak to Brett about how he managed to accomplish that feat, what he thought of Banking School and other hurdles younger lenders have to struggle with.

Carl Ryden. co-founder and CEO at PrecisionLender, spoke at the Data4Decision conference in Raleigh on March 26, 2014 about how to ask the right question about the mountain of data in front of you. Not all data is useful, in fact, much of it is useless and looking at it means nothing. There are a few simple steps you can take to make sure you're not wasting your time. You can follow along with the slideshow by opening http://www.slideshare.net/precisionlender/whats-are-you-going-to-change-monday-morning