You Loved Me When I Was A Prospect But Now…

A friend recently told me about their experience in refinancing their mortgage

When You’re A Prospect

with a large bank.

His story reminded me of a joke I once heard.

A man died and was at the gates of heaven.  St. Peter stood at the gate and asked him if he wanted to go to heaven or hell.  The man said, “Heaven, of course”. 

St. Peter told him that before he made a final decision, he could have a tour of both places.  The man agreed.

He got on an elevator and was soon greeted by Satan in Hell. The man was shocked! Satan was dressed in a tuxedo, drinking a martini and offered the man a drink.  He led him into a beautiful casino where everyone won every game.  Satan took him outside and showed him the gardens and the endless rounds of golf that could be played at the course there.

The man left and went back to St. Peter for his tour of Heaven.  It was very nice…beautiful music playing, quiet places to rest, peaceful and lovely.   He thought it was very pleasant, but nothing like the exciting fun times he had seen in Hell.

He told St. Peter, “I’ve made up my mind.  I’m going to go to Hell”.  He went into the elevator and descended to Hell.  When the doors opened and he stepped off, there was fire and brimstone and terrible things happening all around him.  He saw Satan and asked, “What happened to all the wonderful things you promised me when I was here earlier?”.

Satan replied, “Earlier you were a prospect…Now you’re customer!”

…..My friend’s experience had some similarities.

During his “Heavenly” prospect stage

The Loan Officer was so nice.  The lender called back, quickly responded to questions, promised that everything would be taken care of for him.  The bank was eager for his business.  The Loan Officer would even come to his work or home to discuss and help with documents. Given his financial situation, he was told the refinance should be a “piece of cake”.  My friend agreed to begin the process.

Then he entered Customer “Hell”

He never heard directly from the Loan Officer again.  He had filled out endless amounts of papers, signed documents and jumped through the financial hoops needed for the deal, despite being promised “easy” process.  The online process-tracking that customers could view on the bank website showed multiple errors: 15 documents still needed, although 12 of them had been mailed to the Loan Officer.  One document being requested was about child support or alimony received as income used in the qualifying even though he had told the Loan officer there was no such income.

He emailed the Loan Processor and was told that “everything was fine…don’t worry”.  A week later a threatening letter saying “you better send us these documents or else” arrived.

My friend had had enough.  He emailed the bank parties involved and wrote that he was ready to cancel everything.  Within minutes of sending the email, he received a call from the processor apologizing. Suddenly there was great service and smiles from all involved. The website information was correctly updated and initial approval for the loan was received.

The bank was lucky that my friend was willing to give them the chance to fix things. It’s too easy for our customers to move on and look for someone else who will treat them well both as a prospect and when they are a customer.

Ask your sales and service teams…Are we making our customers feel valued or just focused on bringing in the new business?

Poor Communication = Poor Banking Customer Experience: Part II

In Part I of my article on communication breakdowns, I focused on

Use Familiar Language:  avoiding jargon that can be confusing or may seem misleading
Create a Conversation: ask questions and interact instead of lecturing the customer
Show You Care:  showing Empathy and interest to build trust and value

In addition to these verbal interaction points, there are more opportunities to successfully create a wonderful Customer/ Member Experiences.

More Than Words

While the words we choose are important, we can’t forget about nonverbal aspects of communication, especially in a branch setting. Face-to-face interactions bring the added challenge of body language, which can drastically alter the meaning of what we say. Are your representatives sending the right signals? These may include:

• Greeting customers as they enter

• Making eye contact during conversations

• Using positive facial expressions

• Avoiding negative gestures: sighs, yawns, shrugs

Lobbies and offices are communicating with customers too. Does your waiting area welcome customers, or does it order them to line up? Do tellers call out “next,” or offer a personal greeting? Can customers smell the burnt microwave popcorn in the break room?

Beware Mixed Messages

Lastly, consider how your organizational language compares with your interpersonal language. What will customers think if your brochures describe product features that aren’t on your website? Or if a representative answers a customer’s question with, “I don’t know anything about that. We’re the last to know.” (Yes, one actually said that to me). Inconsistent communication is as bad as no communication. All channels need to deliver the same messages. For example:

• Use clear, easy-to-understand content (no jargon) for website, email and customer communications

• Avoid “copy and paste” emails that do not address a customer’s specific question

• Maintain a knowledge base for employees that is updated regularly

Lead By Example

We must also ensure that our communication style and word choices are the same ones we want employees to emulate. It’s all part of getting everyone in your institution to communicate well. The challenge is a big one. But when customers get the right messages, their responses will be well worth it.

This post originally appeared in my article for Deluxe Knowledge Quarterly publication December 2012.

Poor Communication = Poor Banking Customer Experience: Part I

The words we choose — and how we deliver them — speak volumes to valued customers.

According to the 2012 American Express® Global Customer Service Barometer, nine out of ten Americans (93%) say that companies fail to exceed their service expectations. What’s more, more than half (55%) recently walked away from a purchase because of poor service. When asked to name what irritates them most, consumers blamed an insensitive or unresponsive representative.

Communication is the biggest part of the customer experiences we create. Can you blame consumers for walking away if the message they receive is that the retailer doesn’t care about them or their needs?

When I monitor service centers and bank branches, I often see missed opportunities to tell customers they are valued, and that the bank or credit union wants to help them. Communication is the key. It’s language and much more. Everything the customer sees, hears, feels and yes, even smells, is sending a message. Here are some strategies institutions can use to ensure clear, consistent, customer-focused communication.

Use Familiar Language

Many tellers, service representatives and lenders use industry jargon. Some may assume the customer already understands these terms and their implications. Others may lack experience, and are simply repeating official definitions they may not know very well themselves. Either way, customers will likely nod their heads even if they don’t understand jargon, because they don’t want to appear ignorant.

In contact centers, I often hear a customer finish with an agent who used jargon — and then call back immediately to ask a different agent the same question. The reason? “I didn’t understand what she was talking about.”

To make sure this doesn’t happen, employees can follow up any financial term with a simple “which means…” and then explain the product, service or issue in layman’s language, emphasizing the benefit to the customer or a key point of difference. Common terms that may confuse customers include:

• Account balance vs. Available balance

• APR vs. APY

• Billing cycle vs. Billing date

 

Create a Conversation

Explaining products to customers is a necessary part of the sales process. Too often, however, it becomes a one-way experience composed strictly of “telling.” Without real interaction, financial institutions send a message that the customer’s opinions don’t matter. To build the back-and-forth, it is important to:

• Ask more questions

• Avoid pushing the promotion of the month, regardless of the customer’s situation

• Offer choices and see what the customer thinks

• Avoid cold, canned phrases such as, “Our policy states…”

 

Show You Care

How we communicate is just as important as what we say. To feel valued, customers expect your empathy and interest. It sounds simple enough, but many struggle to make it work. The failure often occurs when representatives are more concerned with process than the customer’s needs or attitudes. Are you watching for signs that your front-line representatives are communicating disinterest? Some of these include:

• Flat, tired or bored tone of voice

• Not listening to the customer’s question

• Cutting off the customer in mid-sentence

• Scripted apologies: “I understand how you feel…”

In Part II of this article, I’ll discuss Body Language, Mixed Messages and Leadership

This post originally appeared in my article for Deluxe Knowledge Quarterly publication December 2012.

I’m Guest Blogging on Deluxe Knowledge Exchange this month!

The Deluxe Knowledge Exchange^SM is an ongoing complimentary online resource designed to help banks and credit unions work together to find solutions to shared business challenges.

The title is: ” Processes that Create Work for Our Customers” and focuses on how financial institution processes can undermine Customer Experience.

My blog post on their site is HERE