How Good Is Your Service? Community Bank of the Future: A Continuing Series
2010; American Bankers Association; Volume: 102; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0194-5947
Autores Tópico(s)Microfinance and Financial Inclusion
ResumoBY STEVE COCHEO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Michelle Gula makes her living serving community banks, and she's horrified. She personally mystery shops branches and she thinks some CEOs would be equally horrified to see what she sometimes sees. Everyone considers community banks to have good says Gula, head of M.rae Associates. But just being a community bank doesn't mean you automatically have good Gula has found some community banks offering little better than the big-bank brethren they typically crow about competing with on the basis of service. Face it, she says, differentiation continues to be the key to community bank success. It's hard to come up with a product that just your institution has, adds Gula. Further, large banks, with their ability to be first out with new products, have also been stressing service. First Niagara and PNC are two examples Gula cites. We community bankers think that our employees provide the best says Brian Constable, executive vice-president and chief commercial banking officer at $700 million-assets Sunwest Bank, Tustin, Calif. But just I believe that, doesn't mean it's so. risks are huge. bad teller talks to 50 clients a day, says Constable. you lose five clients a month, he says, that's catastrophic. More than ever, community bank leaders recognize the need for premiere customer service. But, as community banker Jeff Smith said months ago, in the comment that sparked this entire series, what will mean to the new generation that hardly visits bank offices? Another question bankers are asking: Is the definition of service expanding for all customers? so, how do we get there? urgency is real, counterforces keep building. Case in point: Dodd-Frank. People stare at their computers when they deal with customers now, says Gula, because they spend so much time checking boxes to stay in compliance. Meanings far beyond smiles N.J. banker Cindy Munley says community banks often confuse being polite, knowing the customer's name, and dispensing lollipops to the kids, with good service. That's just expected, says Munley, vice-president, marketing, First Hope Bank, N.A., $416 million-assets, Hope, N.J. We've got to move beyond that. Seattle banker Laurie Stewart has her definition: Satisfying a client's needs before they knew they had the need. The executives of community banks may have missed the fact that standards have changed, says Stewart. What was considered good ten years ago is just basic now. Stewart, president and CEO of $345.8 million-assets Sound Community Bank, gives an example. One of her branches has been calling clients who show up on the overdraft list. Employees let the customer know they are overdrawn and offer assistance. Customers appreciate this. Sometimes, such efforts have led to extraordinary results. One such call connected with a customer stuck on line at Starbucks with no money behind his debit card. A Sound Community branch was nearby, so a banker shot over to the coffee house with $5 to get the customer out of hot water (it was a joint account). [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] That is an all-star-service branch, says Stewart proudly. Texan Mike Mauldin, mulling the definition for service, says friendly branch atmosphere is certainly important, as is accuracy. Yet, he continues, he personally deals as much with machines as people, and for banking by technology, the key factors are availability, accuracy again, safety, and reliability. So Mauldin, president and CEO of $152 million-assets First Financial Bank, Hereford, comes down to a single word: Expectations. He elaborates: If I were on the other side of the desk or the ATM, what would I expect? Alabama banker Bob Jones, president and CEO of $481 million-assets United Bank, Atmore, builds on the concept. …
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