The trick to more sales is closer relationships with our customers and better service, the type of service that people tell others about. People travel far and stay long for exceptional service because that is what they care about the most. Customers that are made to feel special every time they enter the branch or call on the phone will rarely leave for a better rate or the latest checking account offer, and they will open more accounts.

Here is a checklist of how to make your customes feel so special that they will never leave:

• Greet them with a smile.
• Use their name.
• Talk about them, be interested in what they have to say.
• Treat complaints as lessons in how to provide better service; complaints are valuable!
• Listen for clues as to what products and services they would benefit from, and educate the customer about them.
• Take care of their business, and especially their problems quickly, efficiently, with no “red tape”, whether it’s over the phone or face-to-face. This involves your operations department.
• At every interaction, find ways to be exceptional, to differentiate yourself from the competition.
• Always close with a “Thank you, have a great day!” and mean it.

Why the struggle with acknowledging the people that mean the most to these organizations, and recommending appropriate products and services? Mostly because they were not originally hired as “sales associates” but as “tellers” or clerks. Traditionally the job requirements for tellers have required little more than the ability to process transactions accurately. As a teller, you could easily hide behind your window, remain smile-less, and speak as little as possible as long as you proved your work at the end of the day. “Personality” was not considered.

Current hiring practices should involve more than accuracy. Tellers should be renamed ”sales asscociates” or just “associates” to reflect their new role, and the requirements for the job should focus on personality, sales ability and sales experience. Handling work accurately can be easily trained with the newest transaction processing technology, but a bright, friendly and outgoing personality and a willingness to sell is a challenge to train.

This concept will hold true for the “back room” positions as well. The employees that have any contact at all with members/customers, should have great telephone personalities, and sales training. Many sales opportunities are lost by not having the right people on the phone, and existing business is lost because of less-than-professional experiences on the phone.

What to do if you know you don’t have exactly the right people in key positions right now? Create new job titles and new job requirements that reflect their new roles, educate and train. Give everyone a chance to adjust to their new job descriptions, shop, monitor, reward, and hold them accountable.

Having the right people for all member/customer contact positions in this economy is paramount to running a successful organization that will stand the test of time.

Yesterday morning I got a phone call from the bank that has had my business account for over fifteen years. It was “Linda” and she said that our account had a negative balance and there were two items being presented. She was unfriendly to say the least and said I had until 1 pm at the latest to straighten it out.

That account is closely managed so I knew something was wrong, but it is always possible that I made an error, so I ran to the bank to make a deposit, asked if Linda was there and to let her know (turned out Linda was the drive up teller), and asked for a printout so I could see what happened since the account was recently balanced.  The teller just kept her head down the entire time, obviously trying her best to avoid confrontation with me. I remained cheerful. 

There were people waiting behind me who heard the whole conversation.

Once back to the office I checked the printout which showed a deposit made on Sep 9 for $.02 instead of the correct amount of $500, and $60 in overdraft fees. We were able to get a copy of the front and back of the check and I took it in to the branch this morning.  I again had to approach the teller line because there was no one on the platform again (there was a woman in an office on a personal phone call, presumably the branch manager).  This time I had to endure “Patty”, who also treated me like a derelict and made a face when I explained the problem, again with a line behind me. She left her station to check on it, and finally came back to ask if she could research it and call me back. I told her that I made the deposit good yesterday, I only wanted the overdraft fees reversed. She said she’d check it out and call me and I said “Thank you, have a great day.”

She did call later on and finally apologized for the error. But, it’s too late. I’m in the process of taking my account someplace else, because even though I realize that everyone makes mistakes, it’s how they handled it that counts. Every customer must be made to feel appreciated and important even when there is an overdraft situation, or some other error, and it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. The bank should always give the benefit of doubt and apologize up front - it just makes the customer feel better. This approach does not alienate the customer, and gives the bank the opportunity to shine brightly and create a Fan for Life! And to have this kind of situation going on within hearing distance of other customers is just unacceptable. It was embarrassing. What is this bank thinking????

No customer hugging going on here, and it’s too bad, because this is one of the few independent community banks existing in our marketplace.

This client is a community-oriented financial institution, in a sea of regional banks and much larger institutions. Their goal is to stand out from the crowd by delivering uncommon levels of service, insuring that every experience the customer has with the insitution is a positively memorable one.

I found the treasure I was looking for. Several tellers demonstrated a level of passion for every customer that visited their window, and an ability to converse with each one, finding that common ground that caused the customer to willingly participate in the conversation. At the end of each encounter, the customer knew that the teller was really tuned into their needs, and it was obvious that they felt a connection with the teller.

I witnessed many customers waiting on line emotionless, not expecting any special treatment, or to feel as if they are cared about, or the least bit interesting to the financial institution. However, as they approached these particular tellers, thier faces changed. They lit up as their names were used, they were greeted, and friendly conversation began.

It is true that not every teller is outgoing by nature, and most take their jobs very seriously, which is a good thing for a teller responsible for processing accurate transactions every day, then balancing their cash drawers. And it is true that the best tellers in terms of establishing those critical personal relationships with their customers are confident, they have an intrinsic desire to help people, and they feel good about it. 

I had a great time visiting with the tellers,  I like all of them, and had nice conversations with them, not about being a teller, but about themselves. They were willing to share a bit of their personal lives with me because I was genuinely interested in them. In retrospect I did this unconsciously, and now realize that this behavior is what the tellers I considered exceptional were doing with their customers.

In the final analysis, here is what I observed the exceptional tellers do that was different from the rest:

• When a customer entered the branch, they looked up, smiled and greeted the customer by name, as if the customer was a family member or friend. Their face lit up, and caused the customer’s face to light up in return. So nice to see. Made me smile too!
• They said “good morning” with enthusiasm and made eye contact, as if they were welcoming a guest to their home.
• They said “May I help you?”
• They asked “How are you today?” and proceeded with the transaction for the customer and while doing so, chatted about different things. The most talented tellers led the path to educate the customer on a product or service they thought would benefit the customer, and some sales were made! Yeah!
• At the end they said “Thanks Tom, have a nice day.” with enthusiasm. Their customers left with a smile.
• These tellers are passionate and serious about their jobs, and have the ability to process their transactions accurately, while demonstrating a warm, lighthearted but genuine approach in dealing with their customers.

Now the challenge is finding ways to draw that same passion from every teller in the organization!

Email Karen Miller about Fans for Life, a breakthrough, self-directed program for community oriented financial institutions that insures uncommon, exceptional, and unforgettable levels of service, leading the way to higher sales and better customer retention.

I think that generally, the people that work at car dealers get it. They understand what their job is: to impress, to know their product inside out, and to treat everyone as if they were the most important person on earth, so they have the best shot at getting the sale.

At the first dealer we visited, we wandered around a little until someone asked if we needed help. Odd question I thought, since my husband and I were in the showroom dressed in our business suits, looking at cars. Finally a young woman found us, dressed as if it was her day off, but she was pleasant enough. Unfortunately she did not know her product very well, because she could not answer some of our  basic questions, but, she did have the model we were looking at with a manual transmission, which we wanted, and offered to go get a plate and let us take it for a test drive. After our test drive we got a price, but there was no car in the color we wanted with a manual transmission. We left with the brochure she gave us, which was not the model we wanted, and her hand-written business card….

A few days later we visited another dealer. As soon as we walked in the door, a gentleman got right up from his desk, impeccably dressed and groomed, smiled and introduced himself. He asked if he could help or answer any questions. He was not pushy in any way, asked us a couple of questions, and answered our questions like an expert. He knew everything about the car. When we told him what we were looking for, particularly the manual transmission, which was not available as a leftover 2009, he simply asked if I had ever driven the automatic version. He suggested that I take a test drive just to see if I liked it. He was right - I did like it, alot, and had he not suggested it, I would have had to wait four months for a 2010, and paid thousands more for the car. We left with the correct brochure, his business card, and had already met with the business manager, who also gave us his card. We took delivery of the car just a couple of days later.

The day after delivery, our “client advisor” (salesman) called us to see how we liked the car and if everything was OK. We talked about how beautiful the car was, how much we liked it, and the fact that it was just sitting in the driveway that day, in the rain, waiting to be driven!

The day after that, I got an email from the service manager, introducing himself and giving me his phone number, saying he was looking forward to meeting us, and not to hesitate to call him.

Car dealers get it - they must impress to survive, and those who do it as well as dealer #2 will. Financial institutions could certainly learn a lesson or two from some of the car dealers:

• Tellers and CSRs need to smile and aknowledge every customer that walks in the door.
• They must dress to impress.
• They must know their products.
• They must know when and how to make suggestions for products and services that fit a need.

Follow up must be done for every new account; a new customer needs the assurance that the bank or credit union really cares about them. And they need to know who to call with questions.

I don’t know what will happennext with my new car dealer, but I am looking forward to a great relatioship!

It has been proven over and over again that customers want to feel good when they walk into any business, not just banks and credit unions. Tellers must be educated on how to make every customer they come in contact with feel important, all the time, every day. They must also know when and how to ask questions that enable them to provide even higher levels of service, and how to educate customers about products or services that would benefit a particular customer. It’s almost an art.  

What happens when the tellers are tuned in to every customer’s needs? Sales!

See Fans for Life, a breakthrough program for community banks and credit unions that insures every employee is focused on the customer.

Email Karen.

Do you think your products make you unique? They might be a little different, but most consumers can’t tell which product or service is better, unless it is based soley on the interest rate. You must offer competitive products and services, but standing out in the crowd has more to do with customer service than it does products. It really doesn’t matter how great your products are if you can’t provide extraordinary service.

Why do I keep emphasizing service? Because the majority of the decisions that we make as human beings are based more on emotion than any other factor. That includes where we do our banking, the restaurants we frequent, even the dry cleaners we use. Given choices, we do business with the establishments that make us feel good, that give us great service all the time. Even one bad experience with one person can cause us to switch.

It’s your level of customer service that will set you apart from the competition. Outstanding customer service leads to outstanding sales, and better customer retention.

I have made several calls over the past couple of weeks to clients and prospects to introduce Fans for Life™ I am playing telephone tag with one client and the last time I returned his call the receptionist asked if I wanted his voice mail since he was not at his desk. I explained that we were playing phone tag and I really didn’t want to leave another message, if she could just let him know I called and I would try again, I’d appreciate it. Her response to me was “If I see him I’ll let him know, but I can’t guarantee anything.” Holy cow, I was stunned. She didn’t know if I was a customer, a family member, an examiner, or someone else that might have been important. Not that it matters, because every call coming into a bank or credit union is an opportunity to impress. I wasn’t. This is a clear illustration of why the new Fans for Life program is so important for most community-oriented financial institutions.

I had the privelege of training as a teller there when I was 18 years old, so I spent a lot of time at my teller window, able to observe everything that was going on in the lobby. What struck me most then was the number of people my father knew, and how very friendly he was with everyone. He knew their names, their kids’ names, their relatives, their businesses, and he probably knew their dogs’ names too. He was personally involved.

He served as the president, so he had a very nice presidential office on one side of the building, but he rarely used it except to conduct occasional private business with a customer. His “real” desk was on the platform, in full view of every customer that walked in. He greeted everyone, and everyone greeted him. He mingled when there were lines, and made everyone feel important and appreciated, because they were. His laugh was infectious, and could be heard all day long. He seemed to always be happily doing something for someone. 

He was the original “hugger”. He lived the “personal approach to achieving astounding results”.

My dad is still as sharp as a tack, is more advanced than most people I know that are half his age on the computer, and still has many useful comments, ideas, and thoughts for his daughter, especially since I chose banking as my career and now have banks and credit unions as clients. He was curious about the “Hugs & Kisses” project I mentioned in the last blog post, and after a little chuckle (and I’m sure he raised an eyebrow too) he asked me for more details.

I explained, and later that night he kindly sent along some valuable insight and food for thought……

During the first three months of each year I visit the bank a couple of times a week making deposits of our members’ annual assessment fees.

Each time I visit, be it in the lobby or the drive-in, I get the exact same greeting; first a pleasant “Hello Jack” and after the transactions are completed, “Thanks Jack is there anything else we can do for you today?” Sometimes they’ll mention a particular product like a CD or something else.

I really do appreciate their friendliness but the same thing occurring time after time really gets boring. And I don’t really know how you overcome the repetitiveness. But what the heck else can they say? It isn’t as though you can have a tet-a-tet with them; they have the next customer to take care of and you want to get going.

The manager and I are also on a first name basis because if he doesn’t have a customer in his office, he is standing out  in the lobby greeting them. (this is a very recent change in his routine, he was always closeted in his office up until a couple of weeks ago) SunTrust bank has obviously learned some salesmanship lessons from you.

That is one failing I think on the part of most banks and CU’s, the manager is in his/her office all the time. He should have a desk as we did, on the platform where he/she can meet, greet and assist customers when not conducting private business for a customer. (I hate to say it but in today’s economic situation by doing the “two desk” method, many institutions could probably cut down their staff by one)

I think that sort of thing demonstrates a stronger feeling of friendliness than anything else they can do because he or she is not always isolated and apart from the “regular” folks.

I think a big opportunity to get new business overlooked by most banks and CU’s is their numerous opportunities to support or sponsor (financially or by their employees actively participating in) community events.

Today so many people are interested in “health” events like walkathons etc. in support of various charitable causes.

 I remember a couple of years ago when Kris was involved in a run or walk, I believe it was one of the college’s health benefits companies that provided  the pedometers for those participating in the event. I’m sure it didn’t cost the company a fortune but it’s little things like that that people remember. (in fact it was blue Cross/Blue Shield, I’m looking at the one Kris gave to me, and it has their logos on it but no name, that’s confidence!)

Another source of potential new business could be the teaching of customers on how to do their banking/investing on the Internet. I think there are a lot of people out here who would like to learn but are afraid to ask someone and would probably rather have a “disinterested” person teach them anyway. Group classes or even one on one seems to me like a good potential source for new business.

Classes on how to keep ones check book might be another possibility which could lead also to educating the student about how to handle their money and finances in a responsible manner. None of these subjects are taught in schools today.

Well, I’m out of ideas for the moment.

The chatter about “banks” on Twitter is that the service is pitiful. One person characterized her bank as a “hard sell” place to stay away from. The chatter about “credit unions” seems to indicate that they are better than banks, and perhaps more consumers might be making the switch. Here lies opportunity for both types of financial institutions to modify their approach to service and sales to take advantage of their markets.

Tellers, Customer Service Reps, and even Branch Managers all express their distaste for “sales” because, before they are re-indoctrinated to a softer, more effective approach, they don’t want to pressure anyone. They don’t want to seem like they are trying to sell something; they just want to service their customer as quickly as possible, and call it a day. Apparently there are still many banks and perhaps credit unions who still pressure their customers into buying products instead of identifying needs, and educating the customer about appropriate products and services that they would benefit from. Additionally, the level of customer service everywhere has declined. We all have heard story after story about the deplorable service at a restaurant, super market, or electronics store, and yes, still a bank or two.

So, the way to kill two birds with one stone for my clients is to 1) insure that the customer’s experience in dealing with them is consistently over-the-top, and 2) that  everyone understands that it’s their job to educate customers about products and services that are appropriate for that customer, and to act by making a referral. No pressuring allowed. No pushing allowed. They learn how to market their services by having meaningful conversations with their customers, and making every customer encounter a positively memorable one. It’s more about staging a customer experience  and promoting education, than it is sales training, but it’s a whole lot more effective at increasing sales.

The Hugs & Kisses project was designed to address the customer experience aspect of selling, and the educational aspect of selling. Enthusiastic employee committees are being formed at two separate non-competing financial institution clients, and you can keep up with their progress right here.