Consulting
Services
Mark Arnold can “help mark your
business for success” through his consulting
services.
He has worked with fnancial institutions
and credit unions ranging in size from $32 million to
$1.8 billion. Not a mere consultant, Arnold partners with
businesses to help them achieve their desired strategic
goals. He can assist your organization with the following
areas:
Strategic
Planning
Successful businesses and credit unions need to conduct
long-range planning sessions on a regular basis.
Organizations that consistently plan well enjoy success
more frequently. As author Jim Collins notes in his
book Good to Great, “good is the enemy
of great.” LRP
sessions Mark conducts focus on how to ensure your
business does not settle for good, but strives
to be great.
Mark has conducted numerous planning
sessions for organizations all across the United States.
Using his strategic planning model, he brings facilitating,
training and team building skills to the planning environment.
With over 15 years experience,
Mark also provides a broad background
including marketing, loans, collections and management.
His long-range planning process
includes all or some of the following steps:
- Confidential, written
pre-session survey completed by participants prior
to the session (questions include situation analysis,
direction an organization should take, etc.).
- Team building
- SWOT analysis (strength,
weakness, opportunities, threats)
- Top issues
- Priority ranking (“If
you were ruler of the business for a day”)
- Tactics (action steps,
timelines, persons responsible, tentative budgets,
etc.)
With an ability to work with board
and management organizations and credit unions walk
away not only with a strategic focus, but tactical action
plans developed together during the planning session.
Branding
People
receive on average 3,000 advertising messages every
single day. Everywhere you turn, advertisers are promoting
their brands. How do you ensure your credit union stands
out in the crowd? With an effective brand. Embarking
on a branding program is a daunting task and Mark can
help.
Having led his financial institution
through a name change process, Mark can assist your organization
with its unique branding needs. Branding services offered
include developing a brand plan, brand training for staff,
brand market research and branding recommendations. A
brand plan would include essentials such as brand vision/mission/message,
brand target, brand training, brand elements, brand awareness
and brand timetable.
Sales and
Service Training
The most productive
businesses today are ones that focus their staff
on customer service. However, most employees
don’t naturally provide that “wow” service
to your members. They need practical training on
how best to meet your members’ needs.
Mark offers numerous sales and
service training options, including his unique generational
training, which helps employees improve their selling
skills by seeing members through a generational lens.
Other staff training options include traditional customer
service skills (knowing the member’s name, identifying
the member’s needs, matching the member’s
needs with the credit union’s products and wowing
the member). As author of “My Best Service Ever,” Mark
has unique instights for how to wow your customers.
Marketing
Planning
Marketing is not just about
brochure design and newsletter edits. Successful
marketing is about strategic marketing planning.
Every organization needs a marketing plan to help
it achieve its strategic goals. The marketing plan
serves as a compass in directing those efforts. Working
with your business, Mark can develop your marketing
plan. Your marketing plan is crafted to meet your
unique situation and includes
elements such as an executive summary, detailed situation
analysis, marketing objectives, marketing goals and
tactics, and a suggested budget. This service is
particularly useful for companies without a marketing
director or one that is relatively new to the organization.
Marketing
audits/reviews
Financial audits and
reviews are commonplace in financial institutions.
However, there are times when you need to know if
your marketing efforts are effective. It often helps
to have someone provide an unbiased, objective and
thorough review of your marketing
work.
With over 15 years of financial
institution, marketing, communication and public relations
experience, Mark can analyze your marketing strategies
and tactics. His audits include collateral material (brochures,
website, newsletters, inserts, etc.) review, staff
surveys, marketing calendar analysis and suggestions
for improvements. Both internal and external marketing
communication efforts are included.
Management/supervisory
training
Managers are sometimes thrust
into supervisory positions with which they are unprepared
to handle. They often struggle with performing their
day-to-day job duties while trying to oversee their
staff. Although people are their most important asset,
managers can struggle with how best to supervise
them.
Mark offers practical training
solutions to help transform your supervisors from managers
to leaders. He focuses on four key skills, including
coaching, motivation, feedback and conflict resolution.
With an intrinsic belief that your organization can
only succeed as far as your leaders are developed,
Mark gives a step-by-step approach for improving your
managers’ skill sets. |
