Why banks’ trusted-advisor pitch isn’t landing with SMBs right now
- For small business owners, banks still have a long way to go: just 7% view their bank as a true strategic partner, according to Grasshopper Bank’s recent survey.
- A major problem, says Grasshopper's Danielle Kane, is that many banks still see small-business banking as a product category rather than an operating environment with distinct needs.
7% of small business owners consider their bank a true strategic partner, according to a recent Beyond Small survey by Grasshopper Bank. Meanwhile, 65% see their bank primarily as a utility, and confidence in banks as drivers of business growth sits at just 5 out of 10.
Banks have spent years talking about becoming trusted advisors to their customers. The problem is that many still operate like utilities. That disconnect matters more now that running a small business increasingly requires decisions that don’t fit neatly into a banking product: whether to hire, expand, preserve cash, invest in infrastructure, or navigate uneven demand.
The question for banks, then, is whether they are equipped to play the role of advisor in an AI-driven financial landscape.
Danielle Kane, SVP and Head of Small Business Banking at Grasshopper, thinks the problem starts with how banks have defined the client relationship. “It is fundamentally an engagement problem that has eroded trust over time,” she says.
She argues that banks have too often equated advice with cross-selling. “When a traditional banker reaches out to a small business owner, the owner instinctively braces for a pitch about a new credit card or a line of credit.”
This makes it difficult to build the kind of relationship banks say they want.
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