This is the fourth post in our six-part blog series on “How Vertical IQ Supports the Sales Process,” featuring simple, concrete ways to incorporate economic and Industry Intelligence during each stage of the sales cycle.
Step 1: Determining which industries to call on | Step 2: Meeting the right people & networking | Step 3: Call Preparation
When you’re meeting with a business client, your goal isn’t just to gather information; it’s to uncover opportunity. Every conversation with that business owner should help you better understand where the company stands today, what challenges it faces, and where it’s headed next. But to do that effectively, you need to enter those discussions informed about the unique nuances of their industry.
Vertical IQ’s economic and Industry Intelligence equips bankers and business advisors with the industry-focused context and insights needed to assess prospective opportunities with confidence. It helps you connect the dots between what an owner says and what’s happening across their industry so you can quickly identify where your solutions can make an impact.
Evaluating risk and alignment through industry insight
When it comes to lending, one of your top priorities when assessing a new deal is to uncover and manage potential risks to the bank. That’s why every Vertical IQ Industry Profile includes a chapter on Credit Underwriting and Risks. Featuring a proprietary risk rating tool, this chapter highlights the typical financial pressures, operational challenges, and strategic priorities that businesses in that industry face.
Reviewing this information ensures you are informed of the risks inherent in the industry. Then, as you talk with the business owner, you can mentally compare what they describe against the potential challenges outlined. Are they facing the same cash flow or margin pressures as their peers? Are their top concerns in line with what’s happening across the industry?
If their pain points align closely with common industry risks, it gives you a foundation upon which you can connect those challenges to your bank’s solutions. If the business owner’s experiences differ substantively from industry norms, that’s an opportunity to dig deeper and uncover what makes their business unique. In either case, you’re assessing opportunity through a lens of informed context rather than assumption.
For example, let’s say a manufacturer mentions rising input costs and delivery delays as a key issue they face. You can tie those comments to the supply chain risks noted in the Industry Profile, and discuss how treasury or working capital solutions might help them stay resilient.
Identifying the business life cycle stage
Every business moves through predictable stages — start-up, growth, maturity, and succession — and each stage presents distinct financial needs. The Financial Insight and Banking Insight content within the Industry Profile covers these life cycle phases, providing bankers with a simple yet powerful framework for assessing where a business is today and what it may need tomorrow.
This is why it’s crucial to recognize the current stage of a business and tailor your approach accordingly. For instance, a start-up might be focused on securing credit lines or managing early cash flow. A growing company could be thinking about equipment financing or hiring challenges. A mature firm might be considering expansion, acquisition, or efficiency improvements. And when a business owner starts discussing transition planning, that’s a clear cue to introduce wealth transfer or business continuity planning services.
By mapping your conversation to the business life cycle, you can pinpoint opportunities that are both relevant and timely today … and down the road. After all, it’s not about selling every product; it’s about offering the right solution at the right moment.
Using financial benchmarks to measure potential
Vertical IQ’s Financial Benchmarks provide access to real-world averages for profitability, liquidity, leverage, and efficiency across an industry. Reviewing these benchmarks before a call, and revisiting them afterward, helps you assess how that business stacks up against its industry peers — turning conversations into clarity.
As an example, if the company’s margins are well below industry averages, that could signal potential credit risk … or a possible opportunity to provide advisory support to strengthen performance. Conversely, if they’re outperforming their peers, you can explore how to help them capitalize on that strength, perhaps through investment or expansion financing.
Ask smarter questions to reveal opportunity
Preparation and data only go so far. You still need to ask the right questions. The most effective discovery happens when you approach conversations with curiosity and purpose.
To put a finer point on the topic of benchmark data: Apples-to-apples comparisons help you shift from reactive questioning (e.g., “How’s business?”) to proactive guidance (such as, “I’ve noticed firms in your sector are seeing margin compression this year. How are you maintaining profitability?”). It’s a consultative, data-driven approach to business development that builds trust and uncovers real opportunity.
Vertical IQ’s Call Prep Questions are another valuable resource, specifically designed to help bankers and business advisors probe deeper when talking with clients and prospects. Call Prep Questions transform general discussions into targeted, opportunity-driven dialogues. For example:
- “Many businesses in your industry are investing in technology. How are you approaching that?”
- “Companies like yours often face working capital crunches in Q3. Has that been true for you?”
Industry-specific questions like these do more than gather information; they also provide valuable insights. They show that you understand the business owner’s world. They also open the door to solutions-focused conversations about financing, cash management, and strategic growth planning in a way that feels consultative, natural, and relevant.
The goal isn’t to ask every question on the list; it’s to select two or three that align with the conversation’s purpose and the insights you’ve already gathered from Vertical IQ or prior communications with the owner. That resulting intentionality helps you guide the discussion, uncover actual needs, and identify where your bank’s solutions fit.
From preparation to partnership
Assessing an opportunity shouldn’t be about pitching products. Rather, the focus should be on understanding potential. When you use Vertical IQ to frame your preparation and guide your assessment, you will walk into the meeting with the knowledge and context to calculate that potential accurately.
In today’s competitive marketplace, your expertise is your greatest differentiator. Vertical IQ helps you showcase it from the very first conversation. You know the risks to explore, the benchmarks to reference, the questions to ask, and the solutions that make sense for each stage of the business’s journey.
That preparation projects both confidence and competence to a business owner, which in turn builds credibility. And if the assessed needs are a good fit for your book and your bank, that credibility is what will earn you the right to become not only their banker but a trusted advisor — someone who doesn’t simply sell financial products and services, but helps their business thrive.
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