Mr. John Stumpf, If Only

If only Mr. Stumpf would've heeded my warning from the field, he might've still retained his position today.

When I accepted the banker position, I assumed it would be like that of Schwab, from earlier in my career, where the customer was valued and co-workers were helpful. After a 3-week training period In Woodland Hills, CA, that included how to approach customers at the ATM to cross-sell Wells Fargo products, I introduced myself to my assigned Camarillo, CA Branch Manager.

The Branch Manager was determined to adhere to the 8 sales per day per associate mandate from upper management. With 5 associates per branch, and 5 branches in my market, I quickly did the math. That's 200 sales a day. A sales is a credit card, instant wire sends to a foreign country (known as the "low hanging fruit" sale), checking account, savings account, a custodial account, debit card, online access, credit monitoring service, direct deposit, and other compensation-related items such as referrals to the mortgage team or referrals to the stock brokerage team known as Wells Fargo Advisors. With 312+ potential workdays (remember, the bank is open on Saturdays and in some markets and stores, even Sundays), that's up to 200 sales per day x say 300 working days, allowing for holidays and vacations, or 60,000 "sales" otherwise known as "solutions", per year in the city of Camarillo, CA. And forget about the "Jump Into January" sales goals which were upped to 12 per day for the month of January with a Wells Fargo stuffed pony toy as a lure for new accounts, to start the year with gr8 numbers.

If you add every man, woman, and child in the city in which I once worked, the total population per the US Census Bureau was 65,201 (https://censusviewer.com/city/CA/Camarillo/2010).

The sales numbers of 60,000 would be for every year, year in and year out. In a saturated market, it would be impossible to complete such sales goals without each eligible populous having multiple Wells Fargo accounts and services. Let alone all the competing banks and their sales goals for the same populous. After accepting the challenge with trepidation, I created my own system called https://www.6Jars.com and applied it to those that wanted complete financial planning. I.E. 80-hour per week hospital workers who had no time to manage their money appreciated a direct deposit and automatic categorization to multiple financial categories. My sales were organic and addressed a need without a "one size fits all".

My parallel positioned colleague within an earshot of me would race towards the door upon a walk-in and get them to sit at his desk. If a checking account need was uncovered, this was his goldmine. After one such interaction, I saw 7 checkbooks get tossed in the trash and an 8th checkbook was presented to the customer that had entered the branch. I asked, "why throw away the checkbooks?" The reply was: "old people don't look at their statements. I gave him the checkbook that he will use with the deposit." He just made his 8 sales for the day and was recognized as a sales leader during many a morning "team huddle".

The bank promised him sponsorship for the "Series 7 exam" should he keep up his sales pace for one year so he could apply to become a "licensed banker" with an increase in pay. During my start, it was near the end of his one-year period. The promise of sponsorship never materialized and he moved on to a non-banking industry after the lure of a higher position never materialized.

The checkbooks that were discarded opened accounts without the customers' knowledge, they soon began accruing fees as each opened account had deposit minimums to avoid fees. The account would then go to a negative balance once the fees kicked in and then they'd be reported to collections. Once the client received a collections call, they'd then be alerted to the false accounts.

A popular phrase used by some of the seasoned associates after a customer left the branch after interacting with one of the associates was: "What did ya get out of them?" meaning, how many sales/"solutions" did you get.

Another banker that the manager recruited was a recognized sales leader as well. He was recruited to "show us the way." After several interactions with customers, it was not apparent how he "got his numbers". After hours one day, he showed several of the bankers what he did. He changed the Gold ATM cards to Platinum ATM cards and the system counted this as a "sale". He'd randomly click on accounts that didn't have Platinum and would just order one. There was no charge to the customer so no harm no foul he thought. Until the remaining bankers had to explain which account the ATM card belonged to once the customer came in the branch to make an inquiry and some of them canceled their non-requested cards.

Since these sales goals were tied to a major portion of banker compensation, and since the culture of fraudulent accounts was embedded at least from where I was positioned and after witnessing but not believing the blatant, accepted, appreciated, recognized-for-sales excellence, fraudulent behavior, I wrote a letter to the top executive of the company. The letter made the rounds to some senior managers eventually landed on the desk of my then Regional Manager. I knew that I could no longer associate myself with at least this section of the bank and requested a leave of absence when my observations voiced to management did little to change the pervasive culture.

I was called in for several rounds of questioning. In one infamous meeting at the Regional Wells Fargo Camarillo, CA office, the Regional Manager asked: "Are you trying to save Wells Fargo?" to which I replied, "What would you do if you witnessed blatant fraudulent behavior day in and day out? What would you do if you were looking forward to a career at the bank and you saw this behavior?" He asked me, "Who's doing this?" I told him that I wasn't going to do his job for him. I followed with "Just run the numbers on the established accounts month over month and see which ones are funded and which ones have a $0 balance with minimum balance fees." It would be easy to decipher who's perpetrating the fraud. But he too had a mandate for regional level sales. And my letter fell on deaf ears as he was part of the bigger problem - the embedded fraudulent culture at the bank. Something about a cockroach in the kitchen uttered by a famous Wells Fargo shareholder prompted me to write this article. When you see one cockroach, it's probably not the only one.

Paraphrasing what Elizabeth Warren said in testimony with Mr. Stumpf in his presence, the "Going for Gr8" was only a thing since it rhymed with 8. At the branch stores, not only was it a goal to have every customer have 8 or more products but to make 8 or more sales per associate per day per branch. Often these goals were raised from already unattainable levels to ridiculously unattainable levels. With the system of fraud in place, it illustrated to management, that no matter how high the goal was set, somehow, the established sales associates were obtaining their sales quotas which proved to management that these goals were possible, only to raise the bar each January.

I took my leave to search for another position. I was granted an unpaid leave of absence and allowed to seek opportunities elsewhere within the bank. I eventually found my niche for a period of time in the Builder Division of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. I'm glad my banker days are behind me and again, I say, if only my warning from the trenches would've been taken more seriously, perhaps Mr. Stumpf would've departed in a more graceful manner.

Enclosed is my then FedExed letter to the former CEO of Wells Fargo, Mr. John Stumpf:

"August 2, 2009

John Stumpf, President and CEO Wells Fargo 420 Montgomery Street San Francisco, CA 94104-1205

Dean Sumer 490 Fallbrook Ave Newbury Park, CA 91320-4929

RE: Wells Fargo practices and policies needing review

Dear Mr. Stumpf:

As a recently included Wells Fargo Premier Banker - Community Banking Team Member in Camarillo, CA, I am writing to bring to your attention certain practices and policies that are being implemented daily at my local Wells Fargo store and others. I believe you will agree that they do not represent the ‘Visions & Values’ outlined in our company brochure. I also think it’s important for you to know what is going on at ‘ground zero’ in your own company.

I am a former recipient of the Charles Schwab & Co. ‘Excellence in Service Award’ during my decade-long former stockbroker and Schwab career, as well as founder and owner of the #1 real estate appraisal company in California during the height of the real estate boom. I am experienced in the importance of 'big picture' objectives. I treat this business as if it were my own. I believe we share that viewpoint.

The current daily focus at many of our local Wells Fargo stores is exclusively on obtaining a ‘solutions quota’, regardless of a customer’s needs, situation, or expressed interests. This narrow, shortsighted focus is not in the customer’s best interest, or the company’s. It also creates a frenzied, competitive ‘sales’ environment among the team members (who should be working as just that, a TEAM), as they attempt to maximize potential daily ‘solutions’ at the expense of customer’s comfort, needs, and ultimate service. The very policies, which are intended to prohibit employee ‘gaming’ (i.e., manipulating data to get on board for ‘solutions quotas’), actually perpetuate the potential situation, as desperate team members resort to any extremes just to make their daily ‘solutions quotas’. The actual needs and desires of the customer are often less prioritized.

As a result of these convoluted practices, Wells Fargo, at some levels, is, unfortunately, creating an image as a bloodthirsty, ‘drive-thru’ banking operation, wherein some of our customers are intimidated and manipulated, contrary to the goals of our multi-million dollar ad campaigns. I’ve had feedback from friends and customers who are so turned off by the perceived aggressive sales approach that they no longer even want to set foot in a Wells Fargo store.

Our ‘Visions & Values’ brochure states: “First, we want to be advocates for our customers. We want to put them at the center of everything we do.” But the daily reality at the store level is quite the opposite: the customer’s needs are treated as incidental to the daily ‘solutions quota’ objective. Is it any wonder our Gallup survey results reflect the need for policy improvement? Does the customer really need 8 laddered CDs, or is the Personal Banker merely attempting to meet his or her ‘solutions quota’ for the day? Does the customer really need 2 more savings accounts, or merely need their monthly statement explained? Is value-added financial advice through education our priority, or is moving customers through at a fast pace the real objective? Does Wells Fargo benefit long-term from an hour spent with an elderly customer explaining their investment options, or is the company better off and time better spent discounting that customer or giving them a cursory financial review if there are no immediate and obvious ‘solutions’ to be had?

Since I started at Wells Fargo, my daily activities have focused on the actual needs of customers. I have garnered 'Top Box’ reviews from satisfied customers during my first month in the store. However, my feedback from management has been mixed, with emphasis mainly on meeting daily ‘solutions quotas’. Comments from management such as, “You’re spending too much time with customers,” and “Do you really want this job?” are not only demoralizing and counterproductive but are actually steering me away from “putting the customer at the center of everything we do.” Establishing sincere rapport and enhancing the level of first-class customer service characterizes a fine Wells Fargo tradition. I say, let’s not lose sight of that as we grow.

At this point in my financial career, I have many creative ideas and much experience to bring to the Wells Fargo team. I feel that the stated objectives of our company are not being translated into actual practices at the store level. My potential contribution, as well as the contributions of other team members similarly thwarted by questionable policies, is being restricted. I believe that Personal Banker performance evaluations should include a balanced measure of customer rapport building, financial advice by educating, and outstanding service where “Going for Gr-Eight” for each customer becomes a natural outcome.

Mr. Stumpf, please review the heavily-weighted ‘solutions quota’ approach of Personal Banking at the store level as the primary criteria of team member performance and incentive compensation to ensure that it becomes consistent with the ‘Visions & Values’ of Wells Fargo. These are my observations and constructive suggestions from the trenches to help improve the level of service to sales at Wells Fargo stores nationwide and to help us go from a good financial services company to becoming a great one.

Respectfully,

Dean Sumer Employee ID#: 339629"

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