Episode 117 - What a Concession Stand Taught Me About Sales for Your Financial Institution

Great sales is not about being pushy. It is about being present, helpful, and creating meaningful connections. In this episode of the Hit Record Podcast, Meredith Olmstead and Danielle Fancher discuss an unexpected source of sales inspiration: a concession stand at a youth baseball tournament. Their conversation explores how simple service principles like acknowledgement, thoughtful upselling, and teamwork can dramatically improve the member experience at banks and credit unions.

Key Takeaways:

• 1. Acknowledgement Builds Trust. One of the simplest yet most overlooked sales skills is making people feel seen. Whether in a branch, over the phone, or through digital channels, acknowledging members with genuine attention, eye contact, and authentic conversation helps create stronger relationships and more positive experiences.

• 2. Good Sales Is Really Service.  Cross-selling and upselling should never feel transactional. When employees understand products and services well enough to identify opportunities that genuinely benefit members, sales conversations become helpful recommendations rather than uncomfortable pitches.

• Sales Success Is a Team Sport. Exceptional member experiences are created through operational excellence behind the scenes. From frontline staff to support teams, every role contributes to the overall experience. Strong communication, collaboration, and a willingness to help one another are critical to long-term success.

Transcription:

Meredith Olmstead:
Hi, there. I'm Meredith Olmstead, CEO and founder of FI GROW Solutions. We are a digital marketing and sales consulting agency. We work exclusively with credit unions and community banks, and I am here with our sales director, Danielle Fancher. Say hi, Danielle.

Danielle Fancher:
Hello.

Meredith Olmstead:
Danielle has a really funny topic that we wanted to discuss today. She was just recently... Well, no, she's always doing this, actually. She was at baseball a couple weeks ago, but at this baseball tournament, she was working for three days straight at a concession stand. I guess it was your local baseball tournament that you were hosting. Is that right, Danielle?

Danielle Fancher:
Yes. Yeah, we were hosting it as a fundraiser.

Meredith Olmstead:
Gotcha. Danielle said she learned a lot. Or it reminded her of being back on the front lines at a branch for a credit union or a bank. We were talking about it, and I was like, "Let's hit record and talk about what..." She said what a concession stand taught her about sales and specifically about sales for your credit union or your community bank. First thing, what was the first thing that jumped out at you as you were back in the front lines, like you're back as a teller, really?

Danielle Fancher:
Yeah. It was really fun because all the moms got to be in the concession stand together, and it made me just realize, oh my gosh, this is all the stuff I used to love whenever I was a teller. Because used to branches were so, so busy. Not so much anymore. We had hundreds and hundreds of people there. But it really brought me back to my teller days.

I think one of the very first things I recognized was the power of acknowledgement and how important it is to make eye contact with people and to greet them. It just matters a lot more than what we think. This is something that whenever you work in a sales and service environment, you do recognize this type of thing anywhere that you go, whether it's a coffee shop, grocery store. But working behind the counter in the concession stand, it really made me realize how important it was to make eye contact with people, calling them up as they were standing there, just being present and engaging with them.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. It's funny, too. It reminds me of you and I talking about trying to make a personal connection with people as you're going through that sales process before you just dive right in, too. It's not just about even just looking people in the eye, but also acknowledging them as a human. You know what I mean? Because we're all so caught up in this digital age that sometimes we just dive right in and we forget, oh, how was your weekend? Or how are your kids? Or what'd you do last night? Or what did you do on Sunday? Or whatever it is.

Something where you can really connect with people and then build a little bit of rapport. It helps build trust and that relationship that a lot of us are really lacking because we're so digitally focused now with so many of our interactions. So yeah, I think acknowledging people, both with eye contact and also with just a really authentic hello and greeting and what's been going on with you, kind of thing, can be a big impact around acknowledging.

Danielle Fancher:
Yeah. Sometimes I feel like people really struggle with making that connection, but whenever you're at a baseball tournament, you already know that you have something in common, baseball. Your kids are there for baseball. When people are in your branches or they're calling into your bank or credit union, you know that you have something in common. You're both familiar with your bank or credit union. So, I think just keeping it simple and realizing it doesn't have to be some difficult intense interaction with people. It really just is about simple acknowledgement and making people feel seen.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. And what can I do to help you today? You know?

Danielle Fancher:
Yes.

Meredith Olmstead:
I'm here to help. This is why I'm here. This is why I answered the phone. This is why I'm looking at you, or why I'm on this live chat or whatever it might be. How can I help you?

Danielle Fancher:
Yeah.

Meredith Olmstead:
Awesome. What else did you figure out in your concession stand experience?

Danielle Fancher:
Okay. This is what started to get me a little bit excited about it because something I always loved about being on the frontline or being in the credit union or the bank was cross-selling and upselling. I always just found it as a little bit of a challenge, and it makes it fun. This is something that I coach people on all of the time. We're not just order takers, right? I mean, every job you can be an order taker if you want. But if you think about your experiences and the places that do it very, very well, they are figuring out what you want and then they're figuring out ways to upsell you.

We all can recognize this from McDonald's years and years ago. Would you like to supersize that? Oftentimes, we'd say yes. It brought me back to whenever someone would order a hot dog or just a hamburger, I'd ask them, "Hey, do you want to make that a basket for just a couple dollars more? It comes with a drink, and it comes with chips." Almost every single time people said, "Oh yeah, thank you." They thanked me whenever I'm the one upselling them. But when you make it about saving them money or offering them additional products or services, chips and a drink, it's about them now. It's not about me. It's not about me making money, it's about them.

We were rotating in groups of different areas that we were working in the concession stand, and whenever it was my turn to do some of the backfilling, I was watching some of the other moms, and I noticed that someone would say, "I want a hot dog." They'd say, "Okay, $2." "I want chips." "Okay, $3." Whereas for me, it was so much fun because I'm like, "Let's make it a basket. Do you want chips? Do you want drinks? Do you want candy?" Almost every single time, people were saying yes.
I think sales is about awareness and confidence, and I think that it's so important to know your products and services and what you do have to offer. Because if you don't offer, you're making the decision for your member or customer. And so, I think it's super important you're not being pushy. You're being helpful.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I love how you always say good sales is really just service. It's actually reminding people of products potentially that they might not even know about or know that you offer, and then showing them the value of them, why they're in their best interest, why they would be helpful or potentially save them money down the road, be a good fit, and then bringing those to the table in those right moments. Excellent example. A third lesson I think you said... Well, you said when you're rotating. So, what about the rotating? And you're obviously working on this as a team.

Danielle Fancher:
Yeah. Sales success, it's not individual. It's operational. I mentioned earlier that we were working in rotations, so we had people at the counter, and then we had people that were getting the food ready, and then we had people that were handing products and services or the different food and beverage items to the front counter, so they could really focus on what they were doing. It's really important that you incorporate that type of environment inside of your branches as well. It really is operational. It's important that every single person on your team understands what their role is, and sometimes that means not doing the fun task.

After we left that tournament, I said I never wanted to see another hotdog or hamburger again. But I realized that it was important to make sure that the hotdogs and hamburgers were ready, so when people ordered them, that they were there, available, and ready to go. You can compare that to loading cash dispensers, and auditing teller drawers, and making sure that you have no outages. Those are not the fun jobs, but they are the important roles that have to be filled to ensure that the frontline can do their job as well, so-

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. I mean, just working the concession stand in general for your team is huge, right? It's an essential fundraiser for your team to help your team be able to go to tournaments throughout the entire season, so if you just skip the whole thing, it would be disastrous for your team, and for the kids, and for the whole season.

Danielle Fancher:
Absolutely.

Meredith Olmstead:
So, it's really important for the business and, in your case, the team as a whole. Any last things that you can think of when you were in this experience that you remembered from your time in branches?

Danielle Fancher:
Just remembering how important it is to acknowledge people. People come in, and they stand around, and it's really important to make eye contact with people, regardless of if you're in a branch, on a phone. It even comes through greeting people over the phone as well. But it's so, so important to make sure that you're acknowledging people, that you're using intentional language with them, and that everyone's working as a team. The fundamentals haven't changed. We've just gotten distracted from them.

Meredith Olmstead:
Yeah. I think it's also really important to have an owner's mentality about your area of responsibility, but also be ready to jump in when needed. Because as a team, you can't have that like, oh, this is not my job kind of mentality, right?

Danielle Fancher:
Yeah.

Meredith Olmstead:
If somebody's out or if somebody's struggling or whatever, you've got to be ready to jump in and help when necessary to make sure that somebody's getting a great experience. Or if somebody on the team is struggling, that you can step in and help pick up the slack. Same thing in a financial institution. You always want to make sure that you're there for your team members and helping when necessary.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Danielle, for the quick little sales tips around concession stand volunteering. Glad everything went so well with the team fundraiser. If you're interested in learning more about sales for your financial institution, please visit us at FIGROW.com. We have lots of other podcasts. We have lots of case studies. You can visit us there and learn more at FIGROW.com. Otherwise, let's just all get out there and make it happen.