One question I get a lot is “Who should I be asking for at the bank?”. The answer depends on a a few things 1) the size of the bank 2) what your offer is 3) your comfort level with the material of the discussion 4) your existing connections.
Sales experts will tell you that selling is a top down activity. Prospecting banks is no different. It doesn’t matter if you are prospecting for acquisitions or selling your services the approach is more or less the same. If the bank is a community or small regional bank call the president first. Wouldn’t you rather get bumped down to an SVP then get bumped up to a VP?
Tip: If you’re calling cold, get the name of the president from the website, call before or after regular bank hours, use the dial by name directory. Your connection rate will be north of 30%.
What are you offering? If you’re offering to steal property at ridiculously low prices don’t bother. If on the other hand you are offering to bring cash and provide liquidity to projects where you can reach a mutually beneficial arrangement… well then you have something to talk about. The difference between these offers is semantics.
If you don’t know what the bank’s problems are don’t call at the top. If you’re not going to speak the language and don’t know what the banks numbers are you are going to look silly.
At some point you are either going to get kicked down the line or if you’ve entered the account improperly and you’re moving from the bottom up then you are looking for people with titles like:
- Commercial Workout Officer
- Special Assets Group
- Special Situations
- Loss Mitigation groups
- Risk Officers at different levels
- REO Manager
If you can’t get a hold of the president call the head of commercial lending (assuming you’re looking for the good stuff) and when you get the secretary say “I’m not sure if I’m in the right place maybe you can help me. Who would I talk to if I have a commercial loan with you that is in trouble?” or something very similar. You’ll be headed in the right direction in no time.
