Banks are under great pressure to recoup some of the pennies that could momentarily redress their dire financial situations. I say momentarily, because with the wave of acquisitions and toxic asset re-evaluations, write-offs are mounting like stalactites on serious speed.
So, banks are forcing businesses and consumers in any way they can to cough up the goods. At all risk. It is like they have been given clear instructions to get funds no-matter what. People who have up til now had gleaming credit scores with few loans and no defaults, are being treated like criminals. Like absolute dirt. Why? Because they have been caught out when the hyper-inflated credit bubble burst. One of the most heart-felt and honest recordings of bully tactics used by some of the world’s financial institutions have been logged at http://creditcrunchersdiary.blogspot.com/.
In today’s competitive world, negative customer service experience opens the door to your competition. Customers are savvy, they know what they want and will easily walk away if their requirements are not met.
In these difficult times, there are few people that have not felt the pinch. So, I would, like the author of the http://creditcrunchersdiary.blogspot.com/ blog Paola Bassenesse, believe that banks should be out to support, delight, enthuse customers and thus achieve recurring business by offering irresistible service.
I believe, like with all diversity training I deliver, it is important to see things from the customer’s point of view. Stand in their shoes (or stilettos), and try to understand and feel what they may be going through.
Consider the last time when you, as a consumer of a product, got on the phone to speak to your bank. What is it you wanted in relation to your specific problem? Were you looking for someone to read a script back at you and tell you that there is no way to look into a solution to that given problem? How did you feel?
So, my question is, why do companies insist on doing that: speaking to us like we are sorry scum for inconveniencing them?
For those companies that want to avoid this pitfall, here are some tips to consider:
1. Understand Customer Motivators
Identify what customers want from the relationship with you at that specific moment. My guess is that it is likely to revolve around options to make something happen or avoid something else occurring. In the credit card repayment scenario an example could be payments of part of that which is owed, even to the amount of £1… best to get £1 a week for a few months than a disgruntled customer.
We invite the staff to consider that customers may not have chosen to get into such financial difficulties. Nor have they chosen to have to tell a complete stranger that things are financially dire for them. Having faced the personal blow of losing a business and all my money with it, I can tell you, it is hard.
2. Listen, listen, listen!
Listen to what your customer is saying and reassure them! Repeat what the customer has said to you, using their own language. Ignore the little voice in your head that is telling you how unreasonable the customer is being. But repeat what they have said, such as “So, you would like us to freeze your overdraft charges and remove them completely? ” This goes hand in hand with the next point…
3. Use a gentle, understanding tone of voice and language of empathy
It does not hurt to say the words “I understand, it must be difficult, Mrs Ioannidis, we will look into what we can do for you”.
Even if you have to resort to a no. at least then the customer has felt that he has been listened to, rather than out rightly ignored. Empathy is key.
4. Empower customer service staff
Allow flexibility in your company processes and empower customer service assistants to use their discretion in solving customer service issues. Unfortunately, this is an anathema for most companies. However, it is critical to be able to support changes to company processes for the benefit for keeping a seriously disgruntled customer.
A great example of this is a personal experience where I received a phone call from what I believed was my mobile phone provider. I was offered to buy mobile insurance following a mobile upgrade. I signed up, and asked the persistent woman on the phone to send me the paperwork. Two weeks later. I had not heard from the company nor received the policy in the post, so I called my mobile provider, Carphone Warehouse. After a lengthy conversation, I was told that they had not contacted me, that it must have been one of the rogue companies that pass themselves as Carphone Warehouse in order to get client account details. I was shocked – I had been unaware that any such companies existed. But the most astonishing fact is, is that when I said I still wanted to sign up for the insurance, I was told that I was over the 14 days in which to do so, and that they could not do anything about it. I wanted to buy the service, but was told I could not! Inflexibility ruled their processes, so they have jeopardised my relationship with them. What a waste.
5. Keep Marketing informed of Customer Service Issues and Remedies
The Marketing and Customer Services departments should be on the look-out for specific trends that could lead to a new service or proposition that could help gain customer loyalty in the short term.
How about a credit card freeze, where yes, interest may be charged, but the customer only needs to pay that £1 per month minimum payment? Or a payment holiday? These are now commonplace in the mortgage market.
In a time like this, any bank or institution that was seen to behave in a humane way would reap the benefits – yes, this involves a certain financial investment; however, they would then have earned their customers’ loyalty and the positive word-of-mouth which would, in the long-term, compensate their short-term exposure.
But perhaps that is where the deep-rooted problem is – the apparent inability to consider the long-term implications of actions taken on real people, their customers and stakeholders. This has been the great determinant for banks and financial institutions being in the mess they are in in the first place…..
We hope that the lesson has been learnt and ask the business world at large: So how exactly are you delighting your customers today?
