Political endorsements are a colossal waste of time. Who is influenced by such things? To us, give us a candidate that reduces taxes, has their economic head screwed on straight and can manage the foreign policy scene. If you give us that, we don't much care who is endorsing them. Here are a couple of ideas from the campaign trail that banks can put into action:
To catch some of Obama's mojo, be different. By constantly staying on the "change" message, new voters have been attracted to him like lobbyists to a fundraiser. Most voters don't even know where Obama stands on many issues, but they are somehow convinced that change is good. Unfortunately, all candidates are about change. This is so much the case that, for a change, we are waiting for a candidate to come out against change. While anti-change may not happen, Obama markets optimism better than anyone. Other candidates talk about change but Obama is the only one that has a culture of change built into the organization. In business, Apple also does change well, as do Google and Commerce Bank. It is not just about marketing something different, but is about having a different culture.
While that recommendation was admittedly a little fuzzy, so are most of the candidates. However, if you want something specific to improve bank performance, try this from Obama - get Linkedin. What Facebook is to teenagers, Linkedin is to professionals - 14mm of them to be exact. When Obama needed insight into business issues, he sent word out on Linkedin.com and received 200 responses in 3 hours. That is a new level of responsiveness, even for the online world. We hate getting those Linkedin "Update your Profile" messages, but if you work the site, you can build an instant professional network to help market your bank. Rather than having "friends," LinkedIn members have "connections" to other users. Members can see how connections were made, whether they were direct or through other connections and they can gain information by reviewing your profile. The old way to generate loan interest was by making calls and seeing prospects. This is still a great way to do business and our rough survey shows such methods yield about 10 contacts a day for a super diligent loan officer. However, through Linkedin, a good loan officer can get meaningful information out regarding movement in rates, interesting loan structures or economic thoughts to 500+ interested parties. They won't all do business with the bank, but Obama understands this new medium and uses it to aggressively spread his message.
Lastly, it is about the power of the word. Obama has displayed excellent word choice in his speeches. As much as we hate to listen, no other candidate seems to hold a candle to Obama's speaking ability. He mixes empathy with thoughtfulness and weaves in quality narrative. While other candidates are telling you what they will do, Obama is persuading you to come along for a ride. In 2008, many bank CEOs will stand or fall by their ability to frame a story and persuade customers, investors, analysts and employees to stay with them during this rough ride as we all work toward improved performance. If you are going to take one class or workshop this year, a refresher on public speaking may be just the ticket.
As for this Super Tuesday, our hope is that all the candidates end up in a delegate tie. We will miss not being able to say Mike Huckabee's name without laughing (it just sounds funny to us). We will miss the Billary show and we still haven't figured out if, at 110 years old, McCain is too old and cranky to be President. For that matter, we need more time to see whether Mitt was really modeled after a Ken doll action figure - happy voting.