April 9, 2016     Clarity President Nick Miller led a panel, “Choosing the Challenges,” focused on the challenges of transitioning branches to a “universal associate” model.  Panelists  David Kerstein (President, Peak Performance Consulting Group),  Jimmy Allen (Group EVP and Director of Retail Banking, Broadway Bank), and Duane Duck (Senior Vice President, Sales Strategy Manager, Bank of the West) discussed challenges and successful strategies for transitioning branch sales teams from traditional, functional roles to universal roles.  Key points about the benefits of the transition, cited by the panelists,  included:

• Decreased need for specialized roles for monetary transactions and routine service
• Refocus branch staff away from declining transactions and toward sales growth
• Changes in branch use requires staffing flexibility, not role rigidity
• Sales and revenue will improve when combined with the right marketing and sales/service process