A veteran in the senior living consultancy industry, David Ratchford knows a thing or two about planning. This was the topic of his special presentation on March 13th as he engaged dozens of Houston area seniors in asking them what they really planned to do for retirement. The presentation was hosted by TRPB client Brazos Towers at Bayou Manor, a senior living community with a 50-year history of service to Houston seniors, which is embarking on a $70 million expansion. TPRB has worked with Brazos Presbyterian Homes, the parent company, which operates the communities of Brazos Towers at Bayou Manor and The Hallmark, for nearly three years.

“David is extremely effective in speaking to seniors about topics that are not always comfortable for seniors, ‘What are your long term plans for your retirement, your lifestyle and your health?’ He puts the crowd at ease and gives them a healthy space to start answering questions about what they want, what they fear, and how they really view the next 10-25 years of their life,” says TPRB Advertising EVP Russell Brightwell. These are critical questions for seniors, and helping them plan now spares them from having to make crisis-based decisions later that may not align with their real wants. It was a privilege to attend his presentation.”

TPRB Advertising joined forces with Fifth Third Bank to host a series of successful community appreciation celebration events. The series kicked off this past February at branches in Fort Myers Florida, and featuring numerous event elements from a live DJ balloon artists and face painters, to mascots, cash grab booths and prize giveaways.

The events drew several hundred people apiece to the branch and created a successful sales environment, where the branch staff was able to connect with their neighbors, discuss their needs and form profitable new relationships and push product to a receptive market. The event series will last throughout 2013 and will include many variations, evolving with the needs and tastes of different communities throughout Florida, Mid South and Midwest regions where events will be held.

It’s understandable that many small businesses owners feel a bit like the girl so attractive that she can’t get a date for Saturday night, while at the same time financial institutions claim they can’t find enough good, profitable, small business customers to take to the prom.

So what’s the back story? It is accepted wisdom throughout the industry that small businesses represent banks’ best opportunity for higher spreads, improved fee income and superior relationship profitability. Yet we find that few banks are actually succeeding in doing what it takes to effectively penetrate this segment and unlock the profit potential.

It’s not for lack of trying. Many financial institutions put serious money behind their commitment to small business – primarily by staffing up on lenders and increasing marketing support.

And it is an exciting time to focus on the small business segment. Thanks to new channel advances and advanced analytics, banks have more to offer than ever, and small businesses have urgent banking needs that go unmet.

But to do so, they must re-think old assumptions about customer needs, channel preferences and marketing tactics.

Plumb the opportunity in different segments, different needs. There is a significant disconnect between customer needs and the services banks provide. Small companies are often too small to be effectively served by an expensive dedicated business banker, whose highest value is focusing on more complex credit needs. As a result, small businesses that are not borrowers, or which only have limited borrowing needs, tend to fall into a black hole somewhere between the branch, which focuses on consumers, and business bankers who are focused up-market.

Do the research. Approximately 10% of total U.S. households are small business owners, and they represent 21% of a typical bank’s consumer customers. Share of relationship tends to be low – in the 30% range – primarily because banks don’t have the data to identify these prospects, and have not implemented the operating rhythms needed for success.

But improved data and advanced analytics can unlock this puzzle. By putting specific marketing, sales and product initiatives in place one mid-sized bank was able to nearly double the profitability of their existing customers, without having to expend significant resources dedicated to new customer acquisition.

Leverage remote channels with personalized expertise. You probably have more of these customers in your market than you realize: small shop owners, working six days a week, no time to go to the bank, no place for the banker to visit them. One client met those needs by assembling centralized, small remote teams that kept extended hours.

“Remote” channels don’t have to be impersonal to be cost-effective. And if your customers don’t want to be served through the call center, relegating them there to save money is a false economy. Don’t save your creativity for products – be creative about resource staffing, too.

Align with your customers’ “Buy Channel” to improve marketing ROI. Small business customers, just like their consumer counterparts, have never found a delivery channel they didn’t like. They will transact by phone, mail, ATM, online, mobile, at the branch, and so on.

But deeper research shows that is not true when it comes to buying. Making the decision to buy and actually buying the product or service takes place in the channel of preference. Their “buy channel” is the one where they feel the most comfortable.

Customers’ channel choices won’t always seem logical, but we argue with their “buy channel” preference to our own detriment, and theirs. Marketing through the wrong delivery channel is money wasted.

Mr. Carey is a Director at Austin, Texas-based Peak Performance Consulting Group, and Mr. Kerstein is President. They specialize in retail, community, and small business banking, and can be reached at ric.carey@ppcgroup.com and dkerstein@ppcgroup.com.