S3 | E28: Data-Driven Growth: Empowering Frontline Teams with Actionable Insights

Community banks have always excelled at building relationships. But in a market driven by data, relationships alone aren’t enough. The next wave of growth in banking depends on turning customer insights into action. This means empowering marketing, sales, and frontline teams to collaborate smarter and deliver more personalized experiences.

In this episode of the Banking on Data Podcast, Edward Vincent, CEO of Lumio, sits down with Josh Barclay, Director of Growth Marketing at BusinessNext and host of the Banking on Experience podcast, to discuss how modern community financial institutions can use actionable data to align teams, break down silos, and drive meaningful growth. Their conversation explores how banks can empower their frontline with real-time, context-rich insights, why data quality and accessibility matter more than volume, and what the future of data-driven sales enablement looks like in community banking.

Breaking Down Silos Between Marketing and Sales

In today’s banking environment, the lines between marketing and sales are blurring. As Josh explained, customers no longer experience these functions as separate, they experience one unified relationship with their bank.

“When both teams operate from the same playbook, everyone wins,” Josh shared. “The customer, the bank, and the bottom line.”

By sharing data across departments, community banks can align on shared objectives, such as deepening customer relationships, identifying cross-sell opportunities, and improving retention. Marketing gains better visibility into what actually drives conversions, while sales gains the context needed to have more relevant, timely conversations.

When these two teams work from a common set of insights, the bank moves from information silos to coordinated growth, with data fueling decisions at every level.

Empowering the Frontline with Context-Rich Data

Frontline employees (tellers, branch staff, and relationship managers, etc.) represent the human face of community banking. They interact with customers every day, and often, the best opportunities to grow those relationships happen in real time. Josh shared examples of banks that are empowering their frontline teams with timely, actionable data integrated directly into their daily workflows.

“It’s about surfacing the right data at the right moment. When a banker sees that a customer’s CD is maturing soon or notices deposit patterns that signal business growth, that’s the moment to act.”

By connecting CRM, behavioral, and intent data, community banks and credit unions can equip staff to make smarter, more personalized recommendations, without needing to dig through reports or wait for quarterly updates. The result is a system of action, where every customer interaction becomes a chance to engage more deeply, cross-sell naturally, and deliver proactive service.

So What Makes Data “Actionable”?

Community Financial Institutions have no shortage of data. The real challenge lies in knowing what type of data matters. With information pouring in from CRMs, digital platforms, and third-party providers, teams can easily become overwhelmed by noise instead of guided by insight. Ed and Josh agreed that “actionable data” means prioritizing clarity over quantity.

“It’s not about collecting more data, It’s about making data usable - structured, timely, and aligned to what your teams can act on.” - Ed Vincent

When designed correctly, technology should simplify, not complicate how data flows through an organization. The right systems surface the most relevant insights at the moment they’re needed, empowering staff to act with confidence and precision. For community banks and credit unions, that means giving employees the context behind the numbers, not just raw metrics. A great CRM doesn’t just store data, it helps people see the story inside it.

Turning Insights into Growth

Looking ahead, the future of sales enablement will be fueled by intelligent data orchestration, like the ability to move from reporting on the past to anticipating the future. As predictive analytics and AI continue to evolve, banks will gain the ability to identify customer needs before they’re explicitly expressed. But that potential depends entirely on data governance, integration, and culture. Josh calls this evolution “data-informed growth.”

“When you give people access to the right data, they show up differently. They’re more confident, they ask better questions, and they build stronger relationships.”

In short, data doesn’t replace relationships... it enhances them. It gives bankers the tools to see their customers clearly and serve them better.

Best Practices to Empower Your Frontline with Actionable Insights

As Ed and Josh end their conversation, they emphasized that data-driven growth isn’t achieved through a single project or technology, it’s built through consistent execution. For CFIs, this means making data a shared resource and a daily habit across cross-functional teams. Ed summarizes the conversation and shares some of the best practices Josh talked about, including:

1. Create alignment: Bring marketing, sales, and frontline staff together around common goals and shared data
2. Empower the frontline: Equip customer-facing teams with context they can act on in the moment
3. Simplify decision-making: Focus on surfacing insights that are timely, relevant, and easy to use
4. Keep refining: Treat data strategy as an ongoing discipline, not a one-time initiative

By putting actionable insights into the hands of people closest to the customer, banks can strengthen relationships, uncover opportunities faster, and turn everyday interactions into measurable growth. Learn more by listening to the whole episode by clicking on the play button on the left hand side of your screen or watch the episode on YouTube.

For more episodes visit: LumioSolutions.io/podcast