Question

Topic: Strategy

Building Relationships With Business Owners

Posted by Anonymous on 4/27/2009 at 3:37 PM ET 250 Points
Central Bancorp has five divisions, a Wealth Management Co, Mortgage Co, Title Co, Commercial Insurance Co and Bank (in organization).
We are launching a new product (Custom 401K) within the Wealth division that will be of value to any size business owner, however the purpose of the meeting/seminar with local business owners would be not only to introduce the Custom K product but to allow us to know them better, a B2B networking and to discover their needs. I need help with putting together an intro meeting. Should I:
* invite business owners from different industries
* any ideas on the content

Your suggestions are appreciated!
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Frank Hurtte on 4/27/2009 at 5:11 PM Accepted
    Business owners are busy and they get lots of "come ons" from sales people. If I wanted to supliment my food costs by attending every "free lunch or dinner" seminar, I could eat 10-12 meals per month. I don't.

    That being said, it would be my guess that most of your banking clients do not recieve a phone call from the bank with good news. I suggest you phone a couple of these people and ask this question. "We would like to get to know our clients better and we would like to share a bit about a couple of new products. Would you be willing to come over on .....?"
  • Posted on 4/27/2009 at 5:26 PM Accepted
    I will invite to your main conference room those business owners you consider the best target. The invitation sent through a letter signed by your Chairman and follow up with a confirmation by phone. Make sure in your letter you explain the benefit of this new product for their business and that it will be a 1 hour presentation. Make sure you mention "a selected group of companies are being invited". Business owners generally have a tight agenda with not much time for small talk and want to be with other key owners. Prepare a Power Point presentation short and well focus as I am sure you will. Make sure your Chairman is there and anyone else capable of responding to any question. Follow up with face to face meetings.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/27/2009 at 7:31 PM Accepted
    I think the main event should be you listening to the small business owners. Get THEM to talk about their problems, seek suggestions from their peers, and listen to what they're saying -- really.

    You might even get 2 or 3 of them to present specific problems they're facing to the group, and then facilitate an ideation session that generates a bunch of ideas for them. If they think about the resource available to them (all these business owners with their own problems and experiences), they'll probably value the event even more than if they show up to hear a boring presentation about a new bank product.

    If you can, try to get a few professional consultants there to make sure the ideation gets started with high energy. And if you can find a great facilitator, that's even better.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/28/2009 at 9:04 AM Accepted
    What would be clear benefit for them to attend? Can you get their input in exchange for attending a non-sales presentation by someone that has information that these businesses need?
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