It’s your month to shine, or not
The month of April is “Community Banking Month”! FYI… It’s also National Humor Month, National Facial Protection Month (that’s an odd one), and Stress Awareness Month to name just a few of the more than twenty causes that claim April as their month. We’re not knocking it. There’s nothing wrong with a particular cause or industry claiming a month to bring awareness to what they represent. In fact, more community banks than not need the publicity because during the other 11 months of the year, they tend to get lost in the shadow of other financial institutions. That’s actually kind of sad. If you really want your community bank to be something more than just the typical bank, consider taking these three steps this month as a springboard to making this your community banking year.
Ditch the customer appreciation day
You read that correctly. There’s no doubt that many community banks will come up with the unique idea of having a customer appreciation day this month. BBQ some burgers and hotdogs, give away a few bank pens (maybe a hat to the lucky few), and let your employees wear jeans and a bank t-shirt for the day. Here are some of the problems… You just might be providing free BBQ to the guy that’s going to rob your branch the next day. The day doesn’t represent anything special to your best customers. Banks fail to track the new business gained from doing this special day. Although it is hard to track something that doesn’t exist. If you feel the irresistible urge to have some kind of special “day”, try calling it Community Appreciation Day. Then organize a separate, invitation only, event for your best customers, your advocates.
Do what you say
Special months claiming you love your community are quite laughable if you’re not providing a customer experience far above the service received at your average big bank. Just because your brand says you’re great or the month of April is proclaimed to be your month, doesn’t mean the customer is experiencing what you’re saying. We conduct phone shops on hundreds of community banks each year and have found that over 90% of community banks fail to meet the standard that this Community Banking Month represents. Make this the month that your bank sets a standard of excellence for the branch customer service experience and the phone experience. Make this the month that you hold your people accountable to that standard. Make this the month that you show your best customers how much you appreciate them and treat them like the best customers they are.
Idea… Instead of new money rates, how about old money rates? Think about it. Show that you appreciate customer loyalty.
Track what you do
The downside to tracking something is the possibility that one might have to take responsibility for results not meeting expectations. When setting standards that we discussed in the previous point, you must track the implementation of those standards. Phone shops are one of the most basic and effective ways to track your customer service experience. Over 60% of the community banks we shop each year, underperform their big bank competitors. Unfortunately, most of those banks don’t even know it or maybe they don’t want to know it. Instead they try every new call program, deposit or loan acquisition program and end up at the same dead end. The problem… They’re failing to track the most basic standard. Also, try tracking customer referrals sent to your bank. This is your customers’ way of expressing what they really think of your service.
Customer focused every day, month, and year
Enjoy and embrace the Community Banking Month. There’s nothing wrong with it and if you take the right steps by showing your customers and your employees why community banks matter and how we consistently out service and outperform our larger competitors, this month can be the turning point to a great year for your bank, your customers, and your employees.
