Investing in customer or member satisfaction is an important part of any retention and loyalty program. It’s important to spend time building positive relationships with your customers or members, and National Ag Day is a great excuse to focus on your agriculture loan relationships.
National Agriculture Day is coming up, so if a large focus of your loan growth depends on agricultural lending, be sure to show your ag relationships how much you value their business.
Here are a few ideas of how you can demonstrate customer or member appreciation while promoting your ag lending products in the process.
Host a Breakfast or Luncheon
Send out an email or postcard and invite all of your ag customers or members to come in for breakfast or lunch. You can consider hosting it at a local restaurant or host it at your branch as a way to drive branch traffic and get some face-time with your ag relationships to ask about current financial needs. One great idea for engaging your ag relationships could be to feature farm-to-table foods that come from some of your current customers or members. This is a great way to not only drive branch traffic and focus on customer or member appreciation but also give you an opportunity to discuss any current or future financial needs.
Host a Workshop
Send out an email or postcard invitation asking all of your ag loan relationships to an Agriculture workshop. Invite one or two guest speakers from the area to talk about new technologies, the current state of agriculture, and other relevant topics. Feature a section on financing and best practices for managing loans and borrowing for agricultural needs. This is a great way to provide some financial education and networking opportunities for your ag loan relationships. This would also be an optimal time to invite other farmers from the area to join and be a way to possibly attract new relationships to your financial institution.
Give Away Free Gifts for Stopping by the Branch
Looking to drive branch traffic as part of your relationship engagement and expansion efforts? Send out an email or postcard to all of your ag lending customers or members thanking them for their continued business and that you look forward to “Growing Together.” Invite them to stop by the branch on Ag Day for a free gift and opportunity to discuss any current or upcoming financial need. There are lots of great promotional items that would be perfect for your farmers on Ag Day. Some ideas include branded lunch coolers, leather working gloves, outside thermometers, or thermoses. These items are inexpensive and have been widely successful for many financial institutions.
Ag Day Email
If you don’t currently have the time or budget to spend on an event, you can always execute a simple email campaign going out to all of your ag loan relationships reminding them that they are a valued part of your financial family and that you are there to service their financial needs.
This would be also be a good opportunity to survey these customers and find out how they are enjoying their current service and inquire about any current or upcoming financial needs.
Finding meaningful reasons to communicate with your relationships is a great best practice for establishing brand loyalty and driving customer retention.
Focusing specifically on your ag loan relationships, especially if ag lending is a large part of your business, is an easy way to engage relationships and build lasting partnerships.
Ag Day lends itself as the perfect opportunity to do just that. For more ideas on promoting Ag Day, visit AgDay.org.
