By Art Gillis

A previous blog here reported there are 130 large banks in the U.S. - the obvious commercial banks, 9 s&ls, 2 credit unions, and a few near-banks. “Large” starts with Citigroup and bottoms out at 13 $8 billion banks. What I didn’t tell you is that only 15% of that group outsources its core processing. But looking closer, a sharp eye can see a pattern. Within a group of 45 banks ($14 billion to $48 billion), 33% outsource core. Why does that group like outsourcing? I have no idea, but if that’s the best outsource group, why not go after the other 30 banks? Perhaps the best- suited vendors for these prospects are asleep at the switch. So here’s the solution - two salespeople, working for each of the top bank outsource companies. Following is my idea of a recruiting spec for these guys.

Work history:
• A former partner at Accenture, BearingPoint, KPMG or Deloitte
• A thorough hands-on person who knows banking applications as an insider
• A business-case oriented tech expert

Personal situation:
• A sensible, mature person who would never have dreamt that his successful career would end as a peddler
• A three-time loser in love and marriage
• A guy who knows the smell and insider’s look of a gym
• A guy who wants to make a last hurrah and retire at 50
• A guy whose 401K bellied up
• A self-sufficient type who doesn’t need the sales support staff of his employer
• A guy who has the unique personality of expertise and humility to overcome the absence of expertise and humility of the CIO he’s trying to sell

Terms and conditions:
• A sales territory of 15 banks, coast to coast
• A huge commission plus reimbursable expenses
• Your quota will be based on what the 30 banks now spend on IT - $1.974 billion
• Unless your name is Allan Woods, you won’t sell all 15 banks in your territory, so a realistic quota is $65.8 million per year
• A five year endurance contract with no extensions regardless of success or failure

An open note to the CEOs of FNIS, Fiserv, Metavante and Jack Henry:
Get past my sarcasm and go hire these two guys. Nothing else you do will pay off as much as this action. And your boss (Wall Street) is waiting to see at least a concerted action for that thing called organic growth.

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