KQ Article

Sales and mergers and government-imposed regulations have many consumers concerned about their financial institution’s stability. As we move into 2010, every bank or credit union must create customer relationships that foster trust and ameliorate fear.
 
In spite of what is happening in our industry, it is our employees who can have the most significant and direct impact on customer loyalty. We must first have financial products that are competitive in the marketplace — not necessarily in price, but definitely in choice and quality.

Add in a great service experience and we are getting close. However, it takes one more important ingredient to create loyalty: confidence. I’ve created a simple formula to express this notion:

GREAT PRODUCTS AND SERVICE + CONSUMER CONFIDENCE = LOYALTY

When all goes well, your customers and members become your evangelists. They are more than loyal. They give you unsolicited testimonials and referrals, acting as a highly effective extension of your marketing and sales efforts. But this level of loyalty will no longer emerge without confidence.

Your bank or credit union is run by people. People do business with people — not a building or the name of a financial institution. Here are 10 ways to foster customer or member confidence at your financial institution, all of which occur at the level of face-to-face interaction

1. Act with integrity. You are dealing with people’s money, and integrity is not an option. There is a cliché that people want to do business with people they know, they like and they trust. That said, I don’t have to know you, or even like you, to do business with you. But if I don’t feel that I can trust you, we’ll never do business together.
2. Do what you say you will do. The smallest commitment that is broken will erode confidence. So if you promise to do something, always do it.
3. Be accountable. Don’t blame others, even if it is not your fault. If a customer approaches you with a problem or question, you own it. While you can pass the person to someone else in your organization you must never make the customer/ member feel like, “This is not my department.”
4. Be respectful. I know it sounds elementary, but many fail to do it: always say “please” and “thank you,” and take every opportunity to express your appreciation for your customers’ and members’ business.
5. Practice proactive service. Think of the waiter at a restaurant that fills your water glass before you have to ask. I once made an error on a deposit. Before I had a chance to catch it myself on my monthly statement, the bank representative called me that afternoon. This simple action made me feel confident that my bank had my back.
6. Become the trusted advisor. This has become a much-used term, but it is an important idea. Basically, your customers and members give you their business because they trust you. One way you know you are becoming a trusted advisor is when consumers start asking about financial products that you have not yet provided them. Why would they ask if they didn’t trust you to provide sound advice?
7. Set expectations to be exceeded. In other words, under-promise and over-deliver. First, have the financial products that your customers and members need. Next, go beyond what is expected by surrounding those offerings with stellar service levels.
8. Treat every individual individually. Customers and members aren’t accounts. They are people. Don’t ever make anybody feel like a number.
9. Educate. Help customers understand all financial matters at all levels of complexity — whether it involves investment strategies or reading monthly statements. This will help build their self-confidence, which also builds their confidence in you.
10. Be consistent. All of the above must happen all of the time for a customer or member to build total confidence in your financial institution. Train and equip every employee to execute all of these strategies.
    The bottom line is this: you must first make your customers or members a promise, and then your people must deliver on that promise, every day and with every single interaction. Only then will you be developing the consumer confidence that it takes to foster long-term loyalty.