Have you ever walked up to a watermelon stand with over a hundred watermelons and wondered how to pick the right one? Have you ever looked at a watermelon and thought they are simply green on the outside with stripes and red on the inside?
Well, I thought so until I recently learned more about watermelons. I learned that darker stripes on a watermelon can mean the melon will be a deeper red on the inside. Sometimes the sweetest watermelons can be a deep solid green all over. Some varieties of watermelons have seeds and others don’t, and then it truly comes down to your preference because they taste the same. I had no idea.
What does choosing a watermelon have in common with choosing a bank? Think about what a watermelon looks like. Until you start getting to know varieties, you may think they are all the same. Think about a bank. All banks may seem the same until you start to see if they have stripes (personalities of the employees). Maybe they have seeds (specialized products and services). Maybe the meat of the melon is more filling (solutions the bank can provide).
How do you pick a bank during a pandemic? Maybe, instead of looking for dark stripes on a melon, you browse the bank’s website to see if it meets your needs. Maybe you look for good customer experience by calling a branch to see what the voice on the phone is like and if employees are helpful. Or, maybe you gauge your experience at the drive-up and see how friendly the staff treat you. You may look for technological options, such as mobile banking and interactive teller machines. Or, you might judge the organization’s values by observing how the bank is involved in the community.
We know there are unique challenges to finding a bank to build a relationship with in this day and age. Our hope is that having a welcome ambassador at our front doors makes our branches more inviting (and not off-putting with the masks). Using disposable pens at the drive-ups is one more way we can help keep you safe, and provide a little souvenir for your visit. Placing phone calls is another way we work to build relationships and help people Live Well, Bank Well.
Even though picking a bank is different during a pandemic, we know it’s the little things (the seeds, the juice, the sweetness) that matter most in today’s world when it comes to choosing the right bank. Thank you for allowing us to be your trusted financial partner in these challenging times.