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A Monthly E-Newsletter for Bank Star Employees
®
EXPRESS
March 2015
Hometown: Vienna, MO
Married to: Linda, one daughter (Joann), two grandkids
Work History: Retired Credit Union Executive, 32 years
Years as Bank Director: 8 years
Education: B.S. Degree from Sterling College, Sterling KS.
Military Service: Colonel (retired), Army National Guard; graduate of the Command & Staff College, Leavenworth, KS.
Community Service: Lake Ozark Rotary Club; Presiding Trustee, Village of Four Seasons; past Church Council Secretary of Our Lady of the Lake Church.
Most Rewarding Aspect of Being a Bank Director: Being involved in lending decisions that benefit community economic growth.
Hobbies: Traveling, fishing, community involvement
Greatest Accomplishment: Senior level manager in my professional career & military commander at the battalion level.
Arnold Sandbothe
Meet Arnold Sandbothe, Director at Bank Star One
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As you know, banks are a vital part of our communities. We safeguard deposits, make it convenient to make purchases with checks, debit and credit cards, and transfers. We help customers build wealth, we help businesses grow, and we help consumers realize their dreams of home ownership. We also offer jobs, financial support and volunteers to help make our communities strong.
No doubt each of you is part of this critical chain. All aspects of our business are important, but there are two components that I would like to focus on in this message: Collections and Expense Control.
Extraordinary effort is made by our lenders and processors to ensure that loans can be repaid and in a timely manner. The Five “C’s” of Credit apply today just as much as they have for decades, although they have been modified for today’s world: credit history, capacity to repay, collateral, capital, and character.
A case could also be made to add a sixth “C”: Collection. Under most circumstances, collection is routine. A customer’s payment is due on a certain date and the customer makes the payment. But on occasion, customers run into difficulty making a payment. That’s when we focus time, energy, and money to get their payments back on schedule and in some cases, reclaim all that is owed to us. This is the area of greatest risk in our business, but is also where we generate our greatest revenue.
Another key component to the profitability of our banks is Expense Control. We look carefully at what we refer to as our Efficiency Ratio, which measures the cost of generating an additional dollar of revenue. To put it simply, if our efficiency ratio is 69%, it costs us 69 cents for every additional dollar of revenue we generate.
Joseph C. Stewart III, Chairman & CEO, BancStar, Inc.
Collections, Expense Control — Vital Components of our Business
If we can get that ratio down to 50%, we’ve added more to the bottom line of the bank. That makes us a healthier, more profitable bank. This is a number we can all contribute to by watching our expenses and staying within our respective budgets.
Collections and Expense Control go hand in hand toward profitability. Good collection practices cut bank losses on loans and add to the bottom line. Good expense control keeps costs down in relation to revenue, which also adds to the bottom line. We do an excellent job of generating revenue. Let’s do an excellent job in collecting and watching expenses.
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Stories:Extraordinary Experiences and Tales from the Front Lines
All Bank Star branches have added two types of American Express credit cards to our product portfolio: The American Express Cash Rewards Card and the American Express Travel Rewards Card. Both cards will be offered through Elan Financial Services, which also includes our various Visa Credit Card products.
Here are the features and benefits of the new American Express Cards: Cash Rewards Card • No annual fee• Ability to Purchase Tickets to Concerts• No limit on points earned• 2500 first purchase bonus points• 3% cash back on gas up to $6000 annually• 2% cash back on supermarket purchases• 1% cash back on all other purchases• Cash back in statement credit or into checking or savings accounts• 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers
Travel Rewards Card• 7500 first purchase bonus points• 3X points on airline purchases• 2X points on hotel stays and restaurants• 1X points on all other purchases• Flexible rewards redemption options• No foreign transaction fees• No limits on points earned• Travel benefits; Entertainment access• $95 annual fee• 0% introductory APR on purchases and balance transfers
The Elan Client Resource Center has additional training materials and information, as well as applications for the American Express and Visa Credit Cards. Also, in Shoretel Conferencing, there is a training module on “Understanding the Features & Benefits of Bank Star’s Credit Card Programs.”
For additional details, contact Dave Creel at 573-723-7928 or [email protected].
Bank Star Now Offers American Express Cards
Marketing Tip: Engage Customers Regularly for Better RetentionMaking customers feel important by maintaining a regular dialogue with them is critical to building good customer retention. With new customers, using the “222” method of engagement can pay big relationship dividends.
222 means
A) You call your customer 2 days after they’ve opened their account to make sure their debit card works, update them on check orders, answer any questions they may have.
B) Contact your customer in 2 weeks to make sure they’ve received checks, etc.
C) Contact them in 2 months to answer questions and cross-sell them on another service.
You’ll be amazed at the positive response you receive and you’ll be well on your way to building a lasting relationship with your customer. With all the tools available to us today—phone, mail, email—continuing that regular contact with customers beyond two months is also recommended. There are many opportunities to talk to a customer: information about their account, holidays, new services, birthday, special anniversary and so on.
Remember: happy customer, happy bank.
Pacific: Joyce Gray received a gracious note from a satisfied customer for “great customer service.”
Fulton: Arlin Kettle, who is a longtime customer of the Bank, sent a special thank you card to Tim Wilkerson for taking him out to lunch and for the good service provided him by the bank through the years. He speaks highly of Bank Star One whenever he can.
New Bloomfield: Customer John Cave presented the bank with a flag flown on the USS Nassau. The flag was presented to Mr. Cave by his grandson Aaron Doty, Major, U.S. Marine Corps, currently stationed in Virginia. The bank plans to fly the flag at the bank and then display it in the bank lobby.
Steele: Shelia Barnard cooks up a bountiful feast for fellow Bank Star of the BootHeel employees because, as Melba Guthrie puts it “she’s just a nice person who enjoys doing things for her fellow employees.”
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2016 Calendar Photo Contest
We’re looking for a few good photos to grace the monthly pages of our popular Bank Star calendar for 2016. All employees are invited to participate. The theme will be “Show Me Missouri.” It would be especially nice to get representation from all markets: Fulton/New Bloomfield, BootHeel, Pacific, and the Lake. Here are the rules:
• Photos must have been taken by employees (not by other family members or friends).
• Photos must be original photos and of high quality in digital format.
• Photos may be color or black and white with no special effects or editing, Photoshop, etc.
• Photos must be taken in the State of Missouri and identified by location (town, county, area) The photos can be of scenery, nature, animals, structures, people, whatever--but they must be representative of something in Missouri.
• Photos can be close-ups, wide angle or anything in between.
• Employees can submit as many photos as they like, but no more than 5 for any one employee will be chosen.
• A minimum of 12 photos will be selected.
• If your photo is selected, your name and bank branch will be credited in the calendar and the employee will receive a $25 MasterCard Gift Card.
• Judges will come from a Missouri university or college or an accredited photographer (to be determined).
• Submit all photos to Dave Creel at [email protected] no later than September 1, 2015.
Branch News...
Dori Shirley, Branch Manager/Deposit Operations Manager for Fulton/New Bloomfield, Bank Star One, receives the Star Performer Award for the 4th Quarter from Brad Badgley, Board Chairman; Joseph C. Stewart III, CEO; Rodney Bax, President.
A Star is BornMary Catherine Baragary, loan officer, belted out a 10-minute rendition of “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” by Meatloaf at the recent Pianos for a Purpose fund raising event in Pacific. Proceeds benefitted the Pacific Senior Center.
Breast Friends Event Raises Nearly $6200
BancStar, Inc. employees Mary Mason (standing right) and Pat Pressley (standing 4th from right) recently participated in a Mardi Gras fund raiser for American Cancer Society at the St. Francois County Relay for Life.
Brittany Guthrie, granddaughter of Melba Guthrie, displays a check presented Girls State from Bank Star of the BootHeel.
Photo Credit: Tracie Wagner, Steele.
