Zions Bank

300

$1,200,000,000

1.  Growth of 22% in 2006 and 25% YTD in 2007
2.  Implementation of new sales culture:  Zions created this sales system by 
following the following steps:
   a.  Identification of role.  What started as mass role ambiguity led to 
clear role unity, and understanding of high and low value activities to achieve 
role.
   b.  Identification of sales process.  By discovering milestones that matter 
as defined by salespeople, managers, and customers, a simple process was 
created to "manage what matters."  This led to the development of benchmarks 
and best practices related to the core process.  They key deliverable here was 
teaching the sales team to focus on leading indicators (performance ratios 
based on sales milestones) rather than lagging ones (sales).  This 
fundamentally changed how our bankers approached sales.
3.  Implementation of a Coaching/Leadership system.  Zions learned that 
coaching excellence was the greatest predictor of sales excellence.  Credit 
Managers became Sales Leaders.  This required more role perception work and the 
implementation of a leadership model identifying the right people, the right 
part of the sales process, the right amount of time coaching, the right way to 
coach, and how to measure success.  By investing in the coaching strategy and 
making people development king, product sales jumped quickly and surpassed our 
objectives.  This was underscored in a recent SBA Loan campaign where every 
Sales Region surpassed goals set by the bank.  This has never happened before 
in bank history.  Officers now have confidence in how to achieve sales results 
that before had been scoffed at.

1.  Understand Role:  The fastest way to move the sales needle was to achieve
role unity.  By unifying the perceived role of the Commercial Lender, the
lenders were able to identify themselves as something other than just a credit
officer.  Role perception drives perceived high and low value activities, which
drives use of time.  By understanding role, the Zions lenders are now spending
80% of their time on high value activities. 

2.  Manage What Matters:  By establishing a formal sales process and performance
benchmarks, Zions sales leadership has identified the activities that lead to
accomplishment.  For example, Each lender knows the precise # of sales calls
required each week (on an individual level) in order to hit goal.  There are key
performance ratios relative to our sales process that tell us if someone is
improving or regressing prior to skills having impact on deals.  As a result, we
have learned that all activities are not tied to accomplishment and that we need
to be tenacious about managing the metrics that matter.

3.  Coaching is King:  Transforming Credit Managers into Sales Leaders is no
small task.  However, the results have been amazing.  Not only has sales risen
(25% this year), but turnover rates have declined to record-high levels.  More
important, our sales leaders feel like Babe Ruth at home plate “calling their
shot.”  The confidence that comes from powerful coaching sessions translates
into confident calls with customers.  Our pipelines have increased, our average
deal size has grown, our win rate has jumped, all while lowering turnover. 
These have come as the coaching has been formalized and institutionalized.  Our
credit leaders now identify themselves as sales leaders, and the results speak
for themselves.

Banking traditionally does not attract people with sales aptitudes.  In fact,
many of our lenders have said they went into banking so they would not have to
sell.  With this new approach (Process + Metrics + Coaching), our officers have
a unified perception of role.  The distinguishing quality of note is that the
system creates a specific plan for each officer.  Each officer knows the precise
# of calls they need to go on every week in order to hit goal.  In addition, the
performance ratios identify with precision where an officer can improve, and how
much that will increase sales.  Each ratio has between 4-6 drivers for success
or failure.  The officers have learned to trust the metrics and proceed with
confidence.  This was underscored in the recent SBA season where Zions received
an award for top SBA lender, and every region in the bank was in excess of 100%
of goal…the bank hit 235% of goal as a team.  This happened as a result of the
system.

1.  John Stillings, Sr. Vice President, Commercial Lending:  30+ years in
commercial Loan sales.  Responsible for the commercial sales profitability of
300 lenders.

2.  Robert Jeppsen, Vice President, Commercial Sales:  Sales leader with 15
years experience in technology sales, sales leadership, and sales intelligence.
 Architect of the Zions Sales Culture and Coaching System.

Marketing and Sales have a strong relationship.  Marketing drives the brand in
the footprint of the bank and creates collateral pieces for different campaigns.
 However, the real synergy in marketing and sales comes through Marketing’s
“Next Most Likely Product” technology.  Marketing profiles the portfolio and
engages the customer in the customer’s desired medium (phone, internet, when the
customer next comes to a branch, etc.) with a specific message relative to the
product that makes most sense to the customer based on what we know about them.
 Marketing sets appointments and passes information to the commercial lenders in
real time.  This has led to 5+ products per business.