http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2018/02/6-worlds-greatest-banker.html
ISSUE #6– Wednesday, May 16, 2018
The
World’s Greatest Banker
Posted by Denny Hatch
Frank Brock, President, First Bank of Troy Idaho
In 1960 Troy’s population was 555.
Frank Brock’s bank had 6,000 active accounts.
He had customers in 45 states, and around the
world as distant as Pago Pago and American Samoa.
Frank Brock knew precisely what business he
was in. "I am in the business of providing financial services for my
customers—from cradle to grave.”
Brock’s Very Personal Approach
Brock
knew virtually all his customers by their first names. His day was spent on the
phone with customers, clipping newspapers and dealing with correspondence.
Whenever a customer married, died, moved away, gave birth, etc., Brock sent a
personal remembrance.
The current buzz phrase for this: “Continuous
Event Marketing.”
Acquiring New
Customers
When a customer’s child reached age seven the
family was invited for a personal tour of the bank where Brock met them at the
door. (The vault was a favorite.)
At the teller’s window Brock presented the kid
with a crisp new $1 bill. The child gave it to the teller who created a savings account passbook. The teller gave it to Brock who—with a
flourish—presented the child with the passbook.
Customers for Life
In high school the kid opened a checking
account. Later at college... in the Army... after discharge with a job in a distant town or another country... he always kept his accounts
at the First Bank of Troy.
Hey, he knew the president.
• If he needed cash, it immediately would
be wired to him anywhere in the world, no questions asked.
• A mortgage application was slam-dunk.
• Wherever that kid was in the world, Frank
Brock was his personal banker.
• When a customer came upon hard times, Brock
did not send threatening dunning notices, nor pile on interest. Brock's people
always worked out the problem.
What Happened
Frank Brock died in 1975 at age 74.
In the mid-1980s former teller Bob Hemmings
phoned the bank and reached the chief cashier with whom he had once
worked. By then the bank had been acquired by a larger bank.
"Is the new president still going over
the customer lists the way Frank used to?" Hemmings asked.
"Aw, no. We're so busy with paperwork and
dealing with the computer, nobody has time for customers anymore," the
cashier said.
He added, "But, you know, maybe we should."
He added, "But, you know, maybe we should."
In 1988 the bank was acquired by Key Bank and
designated inactive.
American banks, banking and bankers have never been the same
since.
###
Word Count: 403
An early iteration of my Frank Brock story ran in a marketing magazine many years ago. A dozen years later a reader stumbled across it and sent me the following e-mail. —DH
ReplyDeleteAn Email from Mrs. Littleton
I was so glad to see this article that you posted about the Bank of Troy. I went to jr. high, high school and college at Moscow, Idaho. I just thought I would add to your story.
I certainly would like to see this kind of attention return to the business world! I know it was what my father taught as the Dean of the College of Business at the U of I.
Here's another story ... when we moved to Moscow, Idaho in 1971, it was recommended that we go to the Bank of Troy for the mortgage of our new house. I remember walking in with my parents and we were introduced to the president of the bank. After a friendly exchange, my father shook his hand, and we had the money for our house. No papers were signed at that time ... unheard of now. My parents kept their account there nearly their whole rest of their lives.
And another interesting note — we traveled on vacation from Idaho to Pennsylvania, I believe in the early '80's. My mother loved antiques, so when we spotted an interesting store, we stopped. After shopping a while she acquired a couple hundred dollars worth of antiques, but when she pulled out her check book the business owner said he didn't take checks ... and then jokingly added, "unless you bank with the Bank of Troy because that is my bank."
My mother exclaimed, "We wouldn't bank anywhere else!" and he cheerfully took our check with no questions!
So yes, I can believe, and know first hand, of people who had accounts that didn't live there. I sure wish we could still have some local community banks like that again. I know my father said that we never had any trouble with our accounts because of the two little old ladies who were the bank's accountants "never had any trouble until things started being handled by computers!"
Keep up the good work!
—Mrs. Littleton
"Back in the day" I built a business based on RELATIONSHIPS FIRST. In our profession we had "thee reputation" and were at a minimum 5 times bigger than our largest competitor.
ReplyDeleteIn a weak moment, I agreed to sell it to a multi-national Fortune 100 company. That was the end of RELATIONSHIPS FIRST, and my beloved company has now dwindled to be among the masses in the profession.
PEOPLE MATTER.
Will,
DeleteGreat hearing from you.
Alas, the techie Millennials are living in the hope that Artificial Intelligence and Automatic Marketing will replace RELATIONSHIPS so the future of work will be lolling on white beaches and collecting royalty/residual checks. Cheers!
Denny,
ReplyDelete6000 accounts out of a population of 555 might seem like an amazing feat...but Wells Fargo could do it -- with the right sales incentives for the tellers!
Seriously, this is what most community banks were like before the money center banks metastasized in the 80s. I remember when our local bookstore closed its record department -- "vinyl" for the Millennials among us -- the manager walked down the street into the old Westport Bank & Trust, and she got a loan to open her own freestanding store with zero collateral, no business plan or even a financial statement. The store, "Sally's Place," continued in business well into the Internet era, until Sally finally retired in 2013.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Peter.
DeleteGreat add-on to my post. Cheers.
Recognition is what people crave most. Everyone listens to their favorite radio station, WII.FM (What's In It For Me) According to a old business survey, the most important thing to an employee is full appreciation for work done. BTW, wages were #4. This bank story is kind of the same thing, Recognition.
ReplyDeleteGreat article, Denny! Cherishing the customer is one 'commandment' we need to hear daily. Love your stories!
ReplyDeleteFrom long time client and curling colleague, Dave Garber (with his permission to run this:
ReplyDeleteDenny,
I can’t figger out how to comment (no idea what “select profile” is or means) so here is a comment by email:
I set up an account at a local bank perhaps 40 years ago. That bank was local, with local staff everyone knew, teller to president. In 40 years, I was never overdrawn, never any problem whatsoever. Then the bank was sold. Twice. Now part of a national chain.
One day about a year ago, I went to get $400 cash to have on a trip. I had known the teller for decades. After the teller looked up my account, I was told, “There is a hold on your account—wait for the supervisor.”
This was in front of other customers. Very annoying. I was too pissed to be embarrassed.
In a few minutes the supervisor, a young person who looked 23 came out. No explanation about the hold. No apology for the delay. (Never did get an explanation or an apology.) I did get my $400 cash.
That very day, I opened a new checking account at a small local bank. Transferred money, and the contents of our safe deposit box (at half the rental). The new checking account had a minimum limit (cash in account before a fee was charged) of 75% of the old account. And the fee, if incurred, was half of that charged by the now big bank.
I felt some satisfaction that I made the change to the small bank, and sadness at the state of affairs in big banking.
I’ll betcha the bigwigs at the big bank are enjoying gargantuan annual bonuses, no mind to my little problem and subsequent loss of their account.
My new small bank is like Cheers—everyone knows my name. The VP is in my Lions Club. (40 years ago, businesses encouraged and paid for service club memberships.)
David
Absolutely wonderful piece and reminiscent of being taken by my father to 'our' bank (The First National Whatever) to meet the manager and get a passbook with a five dollar balance which I was promised would grow and grow and grow.
ReplyDeleteNow service is so personal you only have to wait 45 minutes for your 'banking executive' who knows little more than how to switch you to a more senior banking executive who knows little more than the first one.
But for Skype or What'sApp, we'd all be broke by now.
The good 'ole days had a lot to recommend them.