Amid so much financial uncertainty, is now the time for a bank to expand?
"We think so," said Dan Droege, market president of First Bank & Trust East Texas.
Kevin Green/News-Journal Photo |
Dan Droege market president of First Bank & Trust East Texas, talks about starting a new bank in a new area.
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The Diboll-based bank came to Longview a year and a half ago, and Droege expects to open a second local branch in the next nine to 12 months.
He offers advice for bankers considering a new location.
1. Know your market.
Decide what type of customer you want to attract, whether commercial, consumer or retail, Droege said.
"You have to look at your whole plan \— what do you want to achieve?" he said.
Droege's bank fits the "community banking" mold, he said, adding that he has tried to establish family-like bonds with his more than 300 customers.
"We want to know our customers," he said. "If it's somebody we don't know and won't get to know, we probably won't do the deal."
2. Find good employees.
"We knew that if we got the right people here, good customers would follow," he said.
Droege was president of Regions Bank, one of Longview's largest financial institutions, when he jumped ship in April 2007. He brought five of his Regions employees with him.
They, in turn, brought their loyal customers.
3. Count the traffic.
"Make sure people are driving by the location," he said. "See where the town is growing."
First Bank & Trust East Texas launched its first Longview branch on Green and Methvin streets, at an old Bank One location downtown.
The second location is being cleared at the corner of H.G. Mosley and Bill Owens parkways and will be under construction soon, Droege said.
Other banks might choose to follow the retail expansion along North Eastman Road north of Loop 281, but his new location is closer to his customers' homes in the Pine Tree and Spring Hill areas, he said.
"We are looking at transaction counts and customers' addresses to see if it would be beneficial to keep the downtown location or not once the new location is open," he said. "With online banking, ATMs and 'remote-capture' products, customers do not need to come into the bank every day like they used to."
4. Be seen.
"I believe that advertising and marketing are very important, especially when you are trying to establish a new bank to a community that has never heard of the bank before," Droege said. "I think it is very important that you get your name and logo out there so that people will recognize it and then call you when they have banking needs."
5. Build community ties.
It takes a while for customers to get used to a new bank and begin to trust it, Droege said. Join organizations and get involved in nonprofit efforts to better the community, he said.
Droege is a Spring Hill schools trustee and has established connections through the Longview Partnership over the past decade.
His strategy seems to be paying off. Deposits at First Bank & Trust East Texas have grown from about $380,000 a year ago to $13.5 million this year, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Droege expects the next expansion to continue the trend.
"Hopefully, the customers will take us a little more seriously and know we're here to stay," he said.
