You had a productive meeting with a business prospect. They described challenges your Treasury Management services could help solve. They asked good questions, seemed interested, and requested more information. You sent it promptly.
Then things got quiet.
You followed up a week later. No response. Another email went out the following week. Eventually, the opportunity settled into that familiar category: “Still interested. Waiting to hear back.”
What happened? The prospect may have competing priorities, unanswered questions, or concerns about changing banks. But it is also worth asking whether the conversation ended with a clear agreement about what would happen next.
Closing more Treasury Management deals starts with managing those next steps consistently.
Give Every Conversation a Destination
“I’ll send you some information” leaves the next move uncertain. You have committed to sending something, but the prospect has made no commitment to review it or continue the conversation.
A more useful ending sounds like this: “I’ll send you an overview of our ACH services tomorrow. Can we schedule 20 minutes next Thursday with your payroll manager to discuss how the process would work?”
Now there is a purpose, a person, and a date. The prospect knows what to expect, and you know what you are working toward.
The next step should fit the opportunity. It might be reviewing an Account Analysis statement, arranging a demonstration, involving another decision-maker, or discussing implementation. What matters is that both parties understand and agree to it.
Put the Next Action in Your CRM
A CRM becomes more useful when it helps you decide what to do next. Recording that a meeting occurred preserves history. Recording the business need, an unresolved concern, and a follow-up task helps you manage the opportunity.
Consider the difference between “Discussed Positive Pay. Sent brochure” and “Controller spends two hours reviewing checks each morning. Wants to understand exception handling. Schedule demonstration with controller and accounts payable lead.”
The second entry gives you a reason for the next conversation. Add an owner and a due date, and you have an actionable task.
This discipline also helps when a lender, another TMO, or a manager participates in the relationship. The team can see where things stand and coordinate the next contact.
Make Follow-Up Useful
“Just checking in” puts the work back on the prospect. They must remember the conversation, determine what remains unresolved, and decide how to respond.
Make that easier. Refer to something specific they told you and help them take the next step.
For example: “You mentioned concern about training your staff on ACH origination. Our implementation team can walk through the training process with you. Would Tuesday or Wednesday work for a short conversation?”
Useful follow-up answers a question, addresses a concern, or helps the prospect evaluate a decision. Each contact should have a purpose.
Review Progress Along With Activity
Calls, emails, and meetings deserve attention. They show whether your team is consistently doing the work required to develop business. Pair those measures with questions about progress: Did we identify the decision-maker? Did we clarify the business need? Is there an agreed next step?
When an opportunity repeatedly stalls, have a direct conversation about timing and interest. Some prospects need a later follow-up date. Others should come out of the active pipeline so your team can focus its attention.
This month, review your open Treasury Management opportunities. For each one, identify the next action, who owns it, and when it is due. Where those answers are missing, start there.
- Marci and Tim
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Recent Blog Postings
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Business customers depend on Treasury Management services to manage important daily activities, from paying employees to monitoring account activity. Yet customer training often consists of a brief implementation meeting, a few PDF guides, and instructions to call the bank with questions. Read more on the blog...
Aligning Treasury Management Technology Investments
A Treasury Management technology investment should have a clear business purpose and a realistic path to client use. Purchasing a platform creates capability. Producing deposit relationships and fee income also requires an offering clients value and a team prepared to sell, implement, and support it. Read more on the blog...
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