When I was a private banker in the late ‘90s in Wilmington, North Carolina, I found a successful niche prospecting law firms. There were a couple of things I learned first-hand about attorneys that I believe contributed to my success:

As a private banker, you are tasked with understanding the “big picture” of your clients’ finances–everything from their checking account to their invested assets. And as more and more banks bring financial planning services in-house, odds are, it’s more important than ever to your own financial goals to have an understanding of how...

When I was a banker calling on businesses, company owners frequently would ask me, "What's going on with the economy? Is it growing? Should I be worried? What are you hearing out there?" It struck me that they were looking to me, their banker, to be a “mini-economist” of sorts.

During my 13 years in the business banking world, I came to realize that almost all bankers want to think they know their customers. Several years ago, my manager shared a story about a time he “knew” his business banking customer…or so he thought.

Knowing a little bit about a lot of things increases your odds of winning at Trivia Night, but if you are a business banker, being a generalist does very little to win over new client relationships.

Missed the 17th Annual Small Business Banking Conference in Nashville and felt out of tune ever since? Well, don’t fret!