Sample Case Studies

First Commonwealth Financial – Indiana, Pennsylvania

With almost 2,000 employees in over 100 locations, First Commonwealth began a transformation of their sales culture by contracting with us to conduct a corporate-wide sales practices assessment. Our recommendations led to restructuring their branch sales centers, job roles, performance metrics and sales compensation plans resulting in first year cost savings of $2,000,000.

Following their implementation of our sales training and hiring assessments over three years, sales per banker doubled, pre-tax income per FTE increased from $64,000 to $75,900 and turnover decreased from 20% to 12%.

ESL Federal Credit Union – Rochester, NY

ESL undertook a series of coordinated initiatives to rapidly expand their community branches and acquire new members so they would be better insulated from the fortunes of Kodak, their primary sponsoring organization.

Their action plan included a company-wide sales initiative, relationship pricing and risk-based pricing, product development, a proprietary sales automation and CRM system, a product and member profitability system, work process improvements and a sales and service quality improvement process. All the various initiatives were communicated to employees and members under the umbrella phrase “Member Focus.”

Schneider assisted ESL with development of their Preferred Way of Selling®, a customized sales training and coaching curriculum, sales management processes, new sales incentive and recognition programs, and sales and service metrics. Schneider also worked closely with ESL on identifying functionality requirements and capabilities for their proprietary CRM system.

Overall sales increased by 40% in the first two years of the initiative, while member satisfaction scores increased from 85.7% to 97.1%. In less than four years, total assets grew from $1.4 billion to $2.5 billion, and total membership increased from 164,700 to 265,000.

Wright-Patt Credit Union – Fairborn, Ohio

In an effort to become more member-focused, Wright-Patt mobilized employees around their sales initiative. Schneider began with a company-wide assessment to identify performance gaps and the best opportunities to increase sales and member satisfaction.

Schneider then worked with Wright-Patt to complete a branch reorganization, redefine job roles, develop their Preferred Way of Selling®, provide customized sales training and coaching curriculum, develop sales management processes, and create new sales incentive and recognition programs. Schneider also helped the credit union design its branch manager and district manager outside calling program (Community Development program), and assisted RSM McGladrey with a plan to increase the effectiveness of the credit union’s SEG business development program.

Overall sales increased by 28% in the eighteen months of the initiative, while member satisfaction scores increased from 88% to 95%. Over the ensuing 2½ years, total assets increased from $595 million to $950 million and ROA averaged 23 basis points above the credit union’s peer group.