Meet Loy Sheflott, the President of Consumer Financial Service Corporation, a firm that specializes in developing marketing strategies for leading financial institutions.
Loy’s career trajectory didn’t start with the goal of launching a company, but rather with a passion for understanding how consumers and business owners interact with financial products. Over the past three decades, she has accumulated a wealth of knowledge, having worked on thousands of projects for a wide variety of clients. Loy’s deep insight into the impact of financial practices on people’s lives informs her company’s work, delivering value to both clients and their customers. Beyond the indisputable success of Consumer Financial Service Corporation, Loy’s resilience and adaptability have shone through as she led her team through challenges such as the 2008 economic downturn and the Covid-19 pandemic. Her advice to her younger self reflects the wisdom gained over the years: “Don’t sweat the small stuff” and embrace the power of strong relationships to achieve exceptional results.
We asked Loy about what makes Consumer Financial Service Corporation different from other organizations in the industry, how she’s navigated self doubt as an entrepreneur, and how her definition of success has evolved throughout her journey as founder.
Q: What problem does Consumer Financial Service Corporation solve?
A: My firm develops marketing strategies for leading financial institutions. Since 1994, we’ve completed thousands of engagements for banks, card issuers, specialty lenders, payment firms, fintechs, and wealth management firms. Our work includes a wide range of activities—from high-level planning, competitive research, market analysis, compliance verification, and product development to detailed design and management of marketing programs. Each project is united by its focus on consumers and business owners, and how they perceive, evaluate, and purchase financial products.
Q: What makes Consumer Financial Service Corporation different from other similar organizations?
A: Team members with more than 30 years of experience do hands-on project work—as do I. One of my favorite parts of owning Consumer Financial is being able to have a leadership role and also stay close to the work. All the more experienced team members share that commitment to direct client-facing work, driven by the fact that we care a great deal about the outcome.
Q: Did you always know that you wanted to be an entrepreneur?
A: Honestly, no. It’s been a great fit for me and I’ve never seen a job I’d give it up for, but I didn’t start out with the goal of starting a company. Long story short, I needed work and I wound up starting a company that did the kind of work I wanted to do.
I specialize in understanding how consumers and business owners relate to the financial products and services they use. My extensive experience—more than 5,000 projects for over 50 clients—has given me a comprehensive knowledge of the strategies and tactics employed to sell and deliver financial services to consumers and business owners in many communities and market segments, from ultra-high net worth and affluent to nonprime, underbanked, and unbanked segments. As a result of these experiences, I am acutely aware of the ways in which financial practices impact people’s lives and use this insight to inform our work to deliver for both our clients and their customers.
Q: What’s one thing you wish you had known before starting Consumer Financial Service Corporation?
A: Building and maintaining strong relationships with people is incredibly important. Part of that is related to client engagements—learning what a client needs from a project, understanding how things are done in their organization, and so on—but a lot of it goes beyond that. It’s about taking the time to listen to what’s important to people; to catch up on how they’re doing; to be there for people in good times and bad.
In other words, doing a great job on the work itself isn’t enough. No matter how good you are at getting the right answer, designing a successful campaign, or running an effective meeting, there are going to be things that don’t go the way you expect. And at that point, you need good communications and strong relationships with your clients and your colleagues to get things back on track.
Q: Have you struggled with self doubt as an entrepreneur? How do you navigate this?
A: We’ve been around for almost 30 years, so I’ve led the business through multiple recessions, including the 2008 downturn, and some big social shocks. So I’ve had some doubts. With experience, you learn what makes for an effective response. For me, a lot of that is, again, about relationships.
So when Covid-19 hit, we focused on supporting each other and our clients, reaching out, staying connected, sharing humor, information, and pep talks, helping to make sure that people didn’t feel alone, and encouraging confidence that things would be okay. Part of how we’ve stayed connected as a team during remote work is by having a weekly all-hands video call that starts with a “rose” and “thorn” exercise where everyone shares one good thing and one bad thing from the past week. That opener really helps me get a sense of how everyone is doing, and it helps people get to know each other, especially for people who joined the team during Covid-19.
Q: Has your definition of success evolved throughout your journey as a founder?
A: When I started, I was hyper-focused on our financials—first being able to pay my bills, and then getting the business stable and profitable. Of course, the financials are still important. But as the business has grown, the way that I think about success has broadened.
Today, some of the things I think about as part of success are having flexibility, being able to extend that to the team, being comfortable enough as a leader to apologize and fix problems, and knowing that whatever happens, we can deal with it as a team. It’s not just me and I don’t have to fix it all myself.
Q: What would you tell your younger self if you were to start your entrepreneurial journey all over again?
A: I’d tell her not to sweat the small stuff. I know it’s kind of a cliché at this point, but that’s because it’s true. Not everything that is imperfect is a disaster, and not everything that isn’t exactly what I would do is imperfect. Part of the benefit of having a team is that we can do a great job for our clients in areas that go beyond my strengths, and that comes from letting go of doing everything exactly my way.
Loy is a member of Dreamers & Doers, an award-winning community that amplifies extraordinary women entrepreneurs and leaders by securing PR opportunities, forging authentic connections, and curating high-impact resources. Learn more about Dreamers & Doers and get involved here.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
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Gesche Haas
Gesche Haas is the Founder/CEO of Dreamers & Doers, a private collective that amplifies the entrepreneurial pursuits of extraordinary women through visibility opportunities, resource exchange, and collective support.
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