When you're Colorado's largest locally-owned bank with nearly six decades of community trust, how do you ensure your customer development team can compete beyond just interest rates?

That was the challenge facing FirstBank Colorado as they sought to transform their loan officers’ sales approach from transactional order-taking to building more meaningful customer relationships.

Through sales training focused on outcome-based selling and relationship building, FirstBank is helping its teams achieve a projected 5% win lift in their West and Northwest markets – meaning millions in new loans and hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual profit.

Here's how they made the transformation from rate-focused conversations to value-based partnerships:

About FirstBank Colorado

Today, FirstBank operates around 95 branches and employs approximately 3,000 people as of 2025. The bank has played a crucial role in Colorado's development, including opening the first branch in the fledgling resort town of Vail and maintaining nearly half of the area's banking business decades later.

FirstBank emphasizes employee culture as a cornerstone asset, fostering a collaborative environment that's highly rated by staff members. This strong internal culture has been key to their success but also presented unique challenges when optimizing for sales performance.

The Interest Rate Trap: Breaking Free from the Rate Race

During initial conversations with FirstBank's leadership team, several critical challenges emerged that were hurting their loan officers’ sales results and competitiveness:

🚩 Cultural Strengths Creating Sales Gaps: FirstBank's unique culture and collaborative staffing approach, while beneficial for employee satisfaction, didn't always support strong sales results. The team of loan officers needed to balance their community-focused values with a more intentional sales approach.

🚩 Inconsistent Skill Levels Across the Team: Team members had varying levels of business acumen and sales expressiveness, particularly junior customer development team members who often operated as transactional order-takers rather than strategic advisors.

🚩 Disadvantaged by Rate-First Conversations: In the current market environment, most customers focused intensely on interest rates when making banking decisions. When conversations started with rates, FirstBank found themselves at a competitive disadvantage, unable to showcase their true value proposition and community-focused advantages.

Without a systematic approach to differentiate from other banks and demonstrate value beyond rates, the loan officers were missing opportunities to capture their fair share of the market.

The Solution: Good Banking with Great Outcomes

Recognizing the need for a sales approach overhaul, FirstBank brought in Pitch Lab to transform their loan officers’ customer development approach. The engagement focused on shifting the team from reactive, rate-focused interactions to proactive, value-driven consultations.

Pitch Lab designed and delivered a customized training program that addressed FirstBank's specific challenges while preserving their community-focused culture:

Build Rapport Quickly >>

Implemented a simple LinkedIn research process to help team members quickly identify common ground and build genuine rapport with prospects
Trained the team on using shared connections to create immediate trust during initial customer interactions
Developed professional approaches to uncovering shared interests, backgrounds, and experiences that strengthen customer relationships

Set Expectations Up Front >>

Created a three-step framework for setting clear expectations that positions FirstBank as different from competitors
Taught team members how to take control of sales conversations while maintaining a consultative, helpful approach
Implemented scripts and techniques that shift prospects from rate-focused inquiries to value-based discussions

Communicate Our Value >>

Trained the team to sell business, personal, and emotional outcomes rather than just banking products and services
Equipped loan officers with powerful discovery questions to uncover customers' true motivations and goals
Developed frameworks for demonstrating FirstBank's unique value proposition in terms of growth, efficiency, and peace of mind

Differentiate from Other Banks >>

Created specific messaging around FirstBank's competitive advantages including speed to close, flexible down payments, in-person support, and in-house underwriting capabilities
Taught team members how to help prospects ask the right questions of competitor banks to highlight FirstBank's differentiators
Positioned the team as trusted advisors who guide customers toward informed decisions rather than just pushing products

Checking the Balance: Millions in New Business Potential

FirstBank's investment in systematic sales training set them up for major financial gains and long-term competitive advantages:

✅ Projected 5% Win Lift in Target Markets: The training program is designed to deliver a 5% improvement in win rates across FirstBank's West and Northwest markets, meaning millions of dollars in new loans.

✅ Hundreds of Thousands in Annual Profit: Even this modest improvement in sales effectiveness represents hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional annual profit for the bank.

✅ Long-Term Relationship Value: Beyond immediate financial gains, the enhanced skills and consultative approach will drive stronger client relationships, increased referrals, and improved team retention as employees feel more confident and successful in their roles.

Account Statement: What FirstBank Says About Pitch Lab

"Our team at FirstBank had an absolute blast at the sales workshop with Jay Mays and Pitch Lab! The sessions were fun, interactive, and gave us a whole new way to think about 'sales.'

Jay really took the time to customize the content and breakout sessions, so they hit home for our team. He also provided us with actionable takeaways that we could use that very day. He did a great job in preparing us to build rapport faster, stand out from other banks, and sell the real value we bring.

Big thanks to Jay for making the workshop engaging, meaningful, and 100% worth the time and investment!"

— John Ricotta, Executive Vice President @ FirstBank

Key Takeaways for Financial Services Leaders

FirstBank's transformation offers valuable insights for banks and credit unions looking to enhance their competitive positioning:

✅ Culture and Sales Performance Can Coexist: Strong employee culture doesn't mean you have to sacrifice sales results. The right training approach can enhance sales skills while preserving organizational values.

✅ Process Control Beats Rate Competition: Teaching teams to control the sales conversation and set proper expectations lets them compete on value instead of just rates.

✅ Relationship Building Is Systematic: Authentic rapport can be built through structured approaches like LinkedIn research and similarity identification, making it scalable across the entire team.

✅ Small Improvements, Big Returns: Even modest improvements in win rates translate to significant financial gains, making sales training one of the highest-ROI investments financial institutions can make.

Ready to transform your financial services sales approach? Discover how Pitch Lab can help your team move beyond competing on price.

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How FirstBank Transformed Rate-Focused Sales into Million-Dollar Deposits