Increase your offerings without increasing your staff.
The ability to provide integrated offerings does not mean financial institutions need to add more staff, start in-house ad agencies or develop proprietary software. In fact, FIs can expand their service offerings without incurring any additional overhead or hiring new staff by partnering with trusted, established providers who have experience serving financial institutions and their small business account holders.
It works like this: A financial institution vets and chooses a partner
who offers a range of small businesses services that meet its account holders needs. The financial institution then adds those services to its product lineup, bundling them into consolidated packages that cater to its account holder base. Financial institution staff members then educate account holders about its products and sell through to its partner provider. The financial institution’s partner handles fulfillment in a “white label” capacity; in other words, it does the work while empowering the financial institution to profit from its own expanded – and branded – service offering.
It’s important for FIs to select the right partner. They should seek attributes such as:
- Experience working with financial institutions and small business account holders
- Established reputation of quality and reliability
- Proven expertise in product delivery and fulfillment
- Product range that matches SBO needs
- Accessible account holder support and resources
- Cultural fit and shared values
FIs would be wise to research multiple providers and thoroughly vet
each with a weighted scorecard. They should seek references and speak to representatives to assess their industry knowledge, past experience, available functionality and account holder service. They should also examine costs and forecast profit potential before they enter into provider agreements.
With due diligence, financial institutions can identify and select partners who can help them:
- Quickly expand their service offerings
- Gain competitive advantages to compete (and win) against fintech and traditional financial institutioning competitors
- Build relationships and foster long-term account holder loyalty
Together, those advantages empower financial institutions to leverage their trusted advisor status to position integrated offerings to small business account holders who consistently yield revenue growth.
