TESTIMONIALS

The Emmerich Group

"The Emmerich Group are our most important business partners. Their team provides us with the insight, tools, and coaching that are transforming who we are and what we mean to our customers. They are #1 in my book."

—D. John,

President & CEO, Minnesota National Bank

Net Interest
Margin

Loan Growth

Core Deposit
Growth

Strategic Planning

Performance
Culture

Cross-Sales

Core Deposit Growth

Since 2015, we have gone from $6.2 million to over $8.18 million in assets per employee. Our profitability has gone up from about $357,000 in the first half of 2015 to $1.1 million in the first half of 2018. Core Deposits are up from $182 million to $263 million and assets have increased from $256 million to $422 million. Our non-interest-bearing deposits grew 34% in 2015, 36.8% in 2016, and 26% in 2017. This has exceeded even our lofty expectations!

—L. Harrison,

President & CEO, Virginia Partners Bank

“Before Roxanne, we had lost direction. We knew we needed growth and a culture shift. Since joining The Emmerich Group, our deposits are up 22%, our customer satisfaction rating is 9.90 out of 10, and we are experiencing our most profitable year on record. This is the best investment we’ve ever made.”

—J. Burnett

CEO,Libertyville Savings Bank

“We landed a $10 million loan, the biggest we’ve ever had! We’re focusing on our Top 100 and Top 1000 and we now know what they look like, smell like and feel like. It’s easier than ever to go after the people and companies that look just like our most profitable customers.”

—N. Grigsby

President, Farmers State Bank

“We set our goal to grow our core deposits by $1 million dollars a month, $12 million for the year, and through the first quarter of 2015 we are up $7 million. We believe what we are doing with The Emmerich Group is making a difference!”

—S. Jones

CEO, Home State BanK

“We assumed that high performance was for ‘the other guys.’ Then we found the Blueprint and we skyrocketed from a bank that was battling for average to a high level of performance we never dreamed possible. It was a miracle.

We had two individuals from our team who took the Accredited Banking Professional course and, while ‘practicing,’ brought in $20 million in deposits—$15 million of which were low-cost deposits.

And we are hitting every single metric every single quarter—something we never did before. I can’t imagine any bank that wouldn’t want to have this Blueprint. All of a sudden, we’re having a blast coming to work every day!”

—C. Holland

CEO, Farmers State Bank of Alto Pass
2022 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™ Award Winner

Before we worked with The Emmerich Group, we had tried many consultants and training programs with little or no improvement. Within 30 days of our Kick-Butt Kick-Off®, we grew more than we had in the previous 10 years combined—35% annualized in 30 days! The growth of deposits and loans can only be described as a miracle and the profits were up 44%. Ongoing growth has soared from there. The systems keep taking us further.

—P. Steele

 President & CEO, First Volunteer Bank

“Our focus on the sales process has led to growth in our core deposits, adding significant value to our organization in the long run. Twenty-six of our twenty-nine banks are in excess of their target levels.”

—M. Scheopner

Chief Executive Officer,
Landmark National Bank

Performance Culture

In just 18 months, we improved our ROA from 1.35 to 2.6 and our efficiency ratio from 73% to 56% – far exceeding the utopian goals we set. We never would have thought we could have come so far in so little time. And our people are on fire – we have the best culture we’ve ever had.

—J. Jones

President & CEO, First National Bank of Layton

Before The Emmerich Group, we had great people, but we didn’t have an accountability culture. Now, 79% of our employees are at target or above on their critical drivers.

—B. Monts

President & CEO , Hoosier
Heartland State Bank

Before TEG, we knew had to go somewhere, but we weren’t sure where that was or how to get there. TEG helped the bank focus its energies and learn how to do things/build accountability. Roxanne brings human nature and the systems piece to management that takes you from good to great. We have increased focus on who the best customers are. TEG is like a franchise for banks that helps you know what to change—culture, sales, profitability—and success follows.

—D. Davies

 Chief Financial Officer, OSB Community Bank

We’ve always had a good culture but especially the last few years it’s been wonderful and people have wanted to come to work for us because they hear the good things we’re doing, and we have Roxanne and her approach to culture transformation to thank for that. We’ve got 10,000 customers. Knowing that those 100 or 150 best customers are really providing 100% of our net income, we’ve focused on them and on getting more people like them. That’s helped us stay focused on profit-growth, not just account growth.

—B. Grimstad

CEO, Decorah Bank and Trust

Since working with TEG our culture scores have improved and we’ve had tremendous success with commercial loans (over 60% since last year) without having to change our rates.

—J. Rios

Chief Financial Officer, FNB Syracuse

Thriving through challenges like those we face today is exactly why we have this long-term relationship. The Emmerich Group is all about culture, and they have helped us establish systems, processes, and people development so that we can differentiate BY our culture.

—K. Knudsen

 Chief Executive Officer, Security Bank, 2017 Extraordinary Bank of the Year Award Recipient

One of the key phrases of our strategic plan is: “Do more with less.” We’ve done just that. That shows up in our culture scores, and it shows up in our productivity, based on the amount of assets under management per employee. And because we’re doing more with less, we have higher-paid people.

—N. Grigsby

President, Farmers State Bank

Today, profits have increased 44% over last year! All this in a market with many tough competitors. All because we decided to change our culture.

—P. Steele

President & CEO, First Volunteer Bank

We have been partners with TEG for 6 months and employee engagement has increased thanks to implementing morning huddles and bank wide celebrations. We really exceeded expectations on the impact to our culture.

—T. Rudy

EVP, Citizens and Northern Bank

“Our focus on the sales process has led to growth in our core deposits, adding significant value to our organization in the long run. Twenty-six of our twenty-nine banks are in excess of their target levels.”

—T. Etcheson

Chairman, Hoosier Heartland State Bank

Loan Growth

In the last three years, the ‘Blueprint’ has helped us have a breakthrough we never dreamed possible. Assets have grown 44%, loan growth is up 64%, net income has doubled, AND we were ranked #2 by SNL for banks under $1 billion. Best of all, we were named the 2019 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™, and our clients are all thrilled to see what our bank in our small community has accomplished!

—C. Floyd,

President & CEO, First National Bank of Syracuse, #2 on 2016 SNL Top 100 under $1 Billion, 2019 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™, 2022 Best Banks in America™ Hall of Fame Inductee

Roxanne showed us how to double our growth. We hit our loan growth goal for the year by the end of June…in our first year with Roxanne Emmerich’s help! We’ve had employees in banking for 20 to 30 years who say they wish they’d started this program 20 years ago.

—C. Floyd

President & CEO, First National Bank of Syracuse, #2 on 2016 SNL Top 100 under $1 Billion, 2019 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™, 2022 Best Banks in America™ Hall of Fame Inductee

Our loan growth was up $100 million in less than five months during the heart of a recession while we improved loan quality. Return on equity increased from 7.18% to 10.44% in a year. Net interest margin increased from 3.63 to 3.95% in a year.

—J. Marcuccilli

Chief Executive Officer, Star Financial Bank

In two years, loans are up 34%, assets are up 21%, and we’ve added 60 basis points to Net Interest Margin, but the really dramatic change is our cross-sales. We tripled cross-sales, from 2.9 to 8.4, on average across the bank—we view this as the ultimate vote of trust from our customers.

It’s unbelievable, but very real.

—K. Knudsen

Chief Executive Officer, Security Bank,
2017 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™

Since working with TEG our culture scores have improved and we’ve had tremendous success with commercial loans (over 60% since last year) without having to change our rates.

—J. Rios

Chief Financial Officer, FNB Syracuse

Net Interest Margin

The real progress on the margin is on the deposit side. We have the second lowest cost of funds of any community bank in Utah. And even though rates have moved up, we’ve managed to keep customers.

—J. Jones

 President & CEO, First National Bank of Layton

We increased net interest margin by about 100 basis points in just one year. It’s just like you said – the A+ credits now bring in A+ credits…and they don’t expect us to match pricing.

—K. Beckmeyer

President & CEO, Legence Bank

Over the last decade as an Emmerich Group client, we have more than doubled assets while becoming very profitable. We look like we’ll end the year with a 5 NIM and a 2 ROA. We had a record year for earnings and growth.

—P. Steele

President & CEO, First Volunteer Bank

We increased net interest margin from the 27th to 82nd percentile in the time we have been working with you. We drew the line in the sand about matching rates—that was huge. We drove our deposit costs down. I don’t think we could have come out of those tough couple of years without The Emmerich Group.

—J. Burnett

 Chief Executive Officer, Libertyville Savings
Bank

Our net interest margin is now over 5.0—an increase of over 40 basis points in the past year. We realized our three-year goal for net income in the first year working with The Emmerich Group.

—C. Floyd,

President & CEO, First National Bank of Syracuse, #2 on 2016 SNL Top 100 under $1 Billion, 2019 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™, 2022 Best Banks in America™ Hall of Fame Inductee

Strategic Planning

Historically, the leadership team would spend months—plus two days together in-person—struggling over a 50+ page annual strategic plan. Once we finalized it, the board would approve it and everyone would put the doggone thing in a folder until the next strategic planning time the following summer. Today, it’s a one-pager. And we’re now a working, functioning leadership team that is very engaged in the strategic direction we are following.

We know what to focus on.

—B. Koopman

Senior Vice President, MetaBank

The process [taught during Strategic Planning Think Tank] removes barriers in the executive management team and empowers all of us to create strategy. The structure encourages us to stay on a path to design strategy. We are energized to continue.

—C. Holland

CEO, Farmers State Bank of Alto Pass
2022 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™ Award Winner

The focus time dedicated to the strategic planning process is second to none. Having Roxanne and her team at your side for two days keeps the focus and keeps you out of the weeds.

—B. Monts

President, Hoosier Heartland State Bank

[Strategic Planning] Think Tank allows you to get laser focus and walk away with clarity on what is going to be important for the bank moving forward the next several years. It allows you to walk away with a plan.

—C. Adams

 Senior Vice President, SouthEast Bank

For the first time in 25 years, we really have a strategic plan with a purpose and a roadmap.

—R.C. Burson

Chief Executive Officer, Valley Bank of
Commerce

This has been, by far, the best strategic planning session we have ever done. We are leaving with a concise, well-defined strategic plan in a single page.

—T. Schueler

 President & Chief Executive Officer,
Cleveland State Bank

Hands down the best education for successful community bank strategy and learning how to differentiate your business.

—H. Wirtz

Chief Experience Officer, Richwood
Bank

Cross-Sales

The real progress on the margin is on the deposit side. We have the second lowest cost of funds of any community bank in Utah. And even though rates have moved up, we’ve managed to keep customers.

—J. Jones

President & CEO, First National Bank of
Layton

This has been incredible. [After talking about doing it for decades]… now, in two months, we improved our mystery shopping scores from 7.5 to 9.3, and we increased our average cross-sales ratio in 7 weeks from 2.9 to 5.1. One of our CSRs is now averaging over 7 cross-sales for each new customer. The best part is that we are creating a sustainable system that [will] keep our scores up year after year.

—K. Knudsen

Chief Executive Officer, Security Bank,
2017 Extraordinary Bank of the Year™

Our cross-sales number started at 2.84 and now we’re at 7.4. We’re focused on the right target markets and our Top 100 most profitable customers are really making an impact on asset quality.

—T. Etcheson

 Chairman, Hoosier Heartland State Bank

We have seen a significant increase in our cross-sales since implementing your proven Retails Sales process. We have increased from a team-wide average of less than 3 to finishing 2020 at 5.91. We have also seen individual teammates grow from being fearful of “sales” to routinely building customer trust resulting in individual cross-sales of +10! Utilizing weekly huddles, our leaders follow the Retail Sales process with precision, leading to a deeper understanding that these are win-win interactions.

—D. John

President & CEO, Minnesota National Bank

When we started with The Emmerich Group, cross-sales were in the 2s, and now we’re in excess of 5 on average across the company, with some banks well in excess of 7.

—M. Scheopner

Chief Executive Officer, Landmark
National Bank

For a team that didn’t ever think about sales before a year and a half ago, that’s wonderful. We’ve hit a 6.7 average for cross-sales for our whole team and have had individuals as high as 12!

—S. Jones

 CEO, Home State Bank

We’ve worked with The Emmerich Group for a little over a year now. In the past, we had tried implementing a sales program and didn’t get the results we wanted. Now, we’re taking the approach of identifying what the customer needs and then providing that to them. And, we see that as something of service to our customers, and the customers appreciate that approach. A year ago, we averaged 2.7 cross-sales per new account. Now we expect to finish out the current month averaging just under 7 – more than double… in a year!

—S. Lewis

President & CEO, Thomaston Savings Bank