Ask any executive to name their best employee, and you get an answer fast. It’s the loan officer who closes the most deals. The teller with perfect transaction accuracy. The wealth advisor who manages the largest portfolios. A lot of productivity metrics…and little financial services branding.
So, ask yourself: Are your “best” employees actually good at financial services branding?
Technical brilliance doesn’t automatically translate into brand advocacy. In fact, the employees you reward most highly might be the ones quietly undermining what your brand is trying to accomplish. Let’s talk about why that happens and what you can do about it.
The Ability-Values Gap
In “Traction,” Gino Wickman discusses how employees need to fit both the values of your organization and the seat they occupy. Think of it like seats on the bus. Are they in the right seat? Should they be on the bus at all? You can have someone who’s exceptional at their job but terrible for your culture. Or someone who embodies your values perfectly but can’t perform the role.
The problem? Some financial organizations promote and reward based almost exclusively on ability. The top producer gets the recognition, the raise, the corner office. But if that top producer doesn’t align with your brand values, you just made your worst brand representative your most visible one.
When consumers interact with employees who are technically proficient but culturally misaligned, they notice. Your brand might promise warmth and community, but if your highest performer treats people like account numbers, that’s the experience consumers remember.
Ability without values isn’t excellence. It’s a liability with a good performance review.
The Technical-Personable Gap
You know this person. They recite interest rates, explain complex financial products and navigate compliance requirements in their sleep. But put them in front of a consumer who just wants to feel heard? Crickets.
Technical competence matters (obviously). But financial services branding isn’t built on product knowledge alone. It’s built on relationships – the feeling consumers get when they walk through your door or call your contact center.
The employee who knows everything but connects with no one isn’t strengthening your brand. They merely create transactional interactions in a world where consumers crave relational ones.
The Knowledge-Passion Gap
Some employees are encyclopedias of financial services information. They know your products, your policies, your procedures. But do they care about your mission? Do they believe in your brand?
Knowledge without passion is just recitation. And consumers spot the difference immediately. The employee who goes through the motions, even perfectly, isn’t representing your brand. They’re tolerating it.
Your financial services branding needs ambassadors…not automations. It needs people who genuinely care about helping consumers achieve their goals…not just people who know which forms to fill out. Passion is what turns a transaction into a relationship and a consumer into an advocate.
Redefining Your Top Performers
So, what do you do? Fire your best employees? Of course not.
But you do need to redefine what “best” means. Start evaluating performance through the lens of brand alignment rather than productivity metrics alone. Recognize and reward employees who embody your values, connect authentically with consumers and bring genuine passion to their work. Because those are the people actually building your brand every single day.
Do you need help building your brand? Book a free consultation with On The Mark Strategies to start building a fresh financial services brand or training your employees on your current brand.
