Shake your tree

by. Tom Picciano

I unexpectedly picked apples the other day.  It was just after a hard frost when I visited friends out in the country. I got much more than I anticipated on this trip. There was some damaged fruit, and I was invited to take whatever I wanted.

The apples on the ground were close to applesauce. I reached for a few marginal ones under my feet. When I asked what kind they were, the only answer I got is “really sweet”.  I couldn’t pass it up. But the best fruit was still on the trees.

Now the problem—how to reach the apples? I remembered what an elderly uncle taught me when I was a kid.   Just shake the branches! The effort yielded a dozen apples that may not look perfect, but certainly will make a good pie.

My uncle was a very wise man. Why don’t we think like that in our business? We often fail to shake the branches of our own tree.  Consider all the consumers who may have loans and accounts elsewhere.  They could move all their business to your institution…but they’ve never been asked.