Publications & Resources

May/June 2010
Leadership & People

Engage Your Staff & Optimize Your Branch Performance

By Robert Turner

It seems as though many banks make a big deal about having great service and the best people. Seriously? Is that a demonstrable fact or simple wishful thinking?

I’ve visited a lot of bank branches in my time. While most of those experiences were ok…fine, even, very few were great and even fewer still qualified as WOW. The simple fact is, banks miss the mark because they don’t capitalize on their biggest assets: their branch staff and the environment they work in.

Despite “anytime, everywhere” access, the branch is still the #1 channel of choice for customers when they want to conduct serious business. Why? Because while simple transactions can be conducted anywhere, trusting relationships can only be built when people meet face-to-face in the branch.

So if the branch is the cornerstone of an effective, multi-channel management plan, how do we make it better? By doing more with what we already have.

Let’s face it: banking is a chore

Studies have shown that consumers actually view it in the same light as going to the dentist. Not exactly a great perception.

The good news about having an image like that though is that any little positive change will make a big difference. Starting to think like a traditional retailer is a good place to start.

Take jewelry stores. Perfect lighting. Products beautifully displayed on velvet. The “ahhhh” factor when a diamond is taken out of the display case. The staff is trained to bring the jewelry to life. Customers can’t help but be engaged in the drama.

Airlines even offer good lessons. A Southwest flight is almost pleasant now (minus the cramped legs and getting stuck in the middle seat, that is). They don’t charge for a checked bag, offer reasonable rates, and the flight staff goes above and beyond to be pleasant and accommodating. Flying is still a drag, but Southwest customers walk off the plane with a smile on their face.

Good stuff, right? Lots to learn from in those examples, most importantly that the best customer experiences are never accidents. If you want customers to keep coming back, you must choreograph every detail of their visit. Leave nothing to chance and decide well in advance how you want customers to feel about their experience, especially their personal interactions with staff.

Look at Apple. Go into an Apple store and you can feel it: they have the people. Staff is friendly and knowledgeable (they’re excited power users themselves), and so are the customers. It’s like a love fest of enthusiastic Apple fans all trying things out and asking questions, learning from each other, interacting, engaging.

And bingo, there’s the magic word that will transform your branch: engaging.

Engaged customers stick around longer, they spend more money, and they’re your best brand ambassadors, telling everyone they know how great you are.

Allegiance, an industry-leader in helping organizations drive growth and increase
profitability through improved customer loyalty and engagement, defines engagement simply:

Engagement is the emotional bond of attachment a customer develops during the repeated and ongoing interactions accumulated as a satisfied, loyal, and influencing customer.

Basically, it’s the difference between just offering free coffee in your branch and asking a customer if they’d like a cup. It’s an actual science that really exists. Key authorities and academics like Allegiance, J.D. Power & Associates, and the Peppers & Rogers Group have been studying it for decades.

Is there a tangible ROI with engagement? YES!

Allegiance’s studies clearly show:

For a bank with 1 million customers, increasing customer engagement by just 1% resulted in a total benefit ROI of $5,237,740 in the first year alone. This isn’t just some lofty, undefinable goal. Engagement has a definition, a process, and, if done correctly, it has clearly measurable results.

Here are the facts. Banks that leverage engagement enjoy:

Higher levels of employee and customer loyalty.
Positive word of mouth.
Reduced turnover and training costs.
Higher premiums for products and services.
Greater share of wallet and cross-selling capabilities.

These are real-world results you could count on. Engagement is great but it’s useless unless you have a dynamic selling environment to support it. It isn’t enough for your branch to just look nice. To drive profitability, every single detail of your branch environment must have a purpose. Remember, the best customer experiences are never accidents – the branch environment shouldn’t be either.

So how do you put this to use?

Take a step back from your environment and view it objectively. Where are the engagement opportunities?

Create a Branch Engagement Blueprint, a detailed plan that lays out all points in a customer’s journey in the branch. This will not only help you make the most of obvious engagement opportunities, but will also highlight many you never even thought about before.

A Staff Engagement Plan is also a necessity. Even the most enthusiastic staff will let you down if they don’t know how to use the tools you’ve given them. Explain the unique selling features of the space and help them understand the purpose of everything. Establish service-specific staff choreographies and conversation tools to get them started.

And there’s the nickel tour to out-banking the competition.

If your business plan is centered around remembering that staff and customers are your most important asset, and you dedicate time and resources to putting them in an environment they can actually use, big results will naturally follow.

Robert Turner is senior vice president, strategy and design, for BrandPartners. He can be reached at 917-749-5569 or rlturner@brandpartners.com.