SMARTBANK
Northeast Tennessee Regional President & Director of Treasury Management
Mike Honeycutt has a standard “elevator pitch” answer when people ask him what he does for a living. As he puts it, “I am a professional banker who has made a career out of helping business owners maximize their possibilities. SmartBank not only provides a world-class banking platform to help achieve those dreams, but, in addition, our core purpose is to provide a ‘wow’ client experience.”
Most of the time Honeycutt can be found working at his home base in Smart- Bank’s Bearden office, which serves as corporate headquarters, but on any given day, he will be out and about visiting his teams in Knox, Blount, Sevier or Hamblen counties. Visiting with and talking to team members as well as clients is one of his favorite aspects of his profession. “I have always been good with math and because of that, I was told to be an engineer at a fairly young age,” he explained, “but I also really enjoy working with people. Banking is one of the few professions that allows a person to be involved with in-depth analysis and have a consultative relationship with a client. It’s a perfect match for me.”
Honeycutt believes that with some companies, customer service starts and ends with a phone tree, without someone on the phone ever getting to speak to an actual person. This is something that he takes seriously and is why he likes SmartBank’s approach. “SmartBank is innovative and positive, and we reward our associates for demonstrating enthusiasm and accountability,” he said. “Our client service team is located in Pigeon Forge and actually answers the phone (or chat) when clients call.
They are fabulous. Everyone on our team and in the company looks for ways to say ‘yes’ to our clients. It is actually quite fun to say ‘yes.’”
Always appreciative, Honeycutt values the opportunities he has had to learn from great leaders in his career. As a result, he always tries to pay it forward whenever he can. “Coaching and empowering great people to make decisions are what create a powerful organization,” he stated. “I have been encouraged in my career to make decisions. I have learned to celebrate the good decisions and have learned to be willing to take honest feedback for the not-so-good ones. Banking, and the finance industry in general, is about achieving just the right balance between risk and return. Financial wisdom should be characterized as being ‘right’ more times than not. And experience is practically the only way to gain that.”