Find a niche
Haligowski says he had a competitiveadvantage entering the CEO role as abusiness manager with significant salesexperience, because he viewed opportunities through the eyes of a marketer,not a banker. After making initial overhead reductions of 35 to 40 percent andeliminating the thrift’s commercialbanking services, resources weresparse. Generating new revenue was theonly road to growth and profitability,but the larger competition was formidable. After assessing the competition,Haligowski found a weakness in theenemy’s front line, and simultaneously,the bank’s niche market and a newgrowth strategy were born.
“Nobody has a crystal ball,” Haligowskisays. “I completed a thorough opportunity analysis by being involved in the marketplace and not sitting behind the desk.The bank had limited resources, and wecouldn’t really compete against the bigger commercial banks. It was a classicDavid versus Goliath situation.”
He identified an underserved market inthe commercial lending space, writingloans for real estate entrepreneurs, andhe saw an opportunity to exploit theniche through better sales techniques.
Haligowski concluded that many banking industry lending officers were reallyorder takers in disguise, and they wereleaving midsized commercial loanopportunities on the table. He took a riskand dedicated 25 percent of the bank’sresources toward the niche lending market composed of entrepreneurial ventures, such as multifamily real estate andconstruction loans ranging from$250,000 to $7 million. He attacked themarket with financially motivated salesrepresentatives, who outmuscled andouthustled the competition.
“To exploit a niche, you survey theadvancing army and look for breachesin the line,” Haligowski says. “Thenyou test the market to see if it’s receptive to your pricing and service. Whenyou see that it’s yielding, you want topower into the market and run as fastas you can. Timing is critical when youhave limited resources. We’re a smallcommercial bank; our advantage isthat we can move quickly. We’re like aPT boat: We can zig and zag becausewe are nimble and we can turn on adime, but we’re not an aircraft carrier,so we can’t survive the Battle ofMidway.”
