7 Keys to Setting Your Bank Branch for Sales and Service Success
More than 1.9 billion people are conducting banking operations through digital channels. This number is projected to increase in the next few years, but the truth is, branches still play a pivotal role for customers. Therefore, bank branches shouldn’t be perceived as a costly overhead but as an important channel to yield higher revenue and enhance customer relationships. This article is about 7 keys to setting your bank branch for sales and service success .
7 Keys to Setting Your Bank Branch for Sales and Service Success
Bank managers should seize the opportunity that the shift in customers’ preferences creates and work to evolve branches to meet the new demands. Setting your branch for success is easier than ever if you leverage the right strategies. Read on to uncover the 7 keys to branch sales and service success.
7 Keys to Setting Your Bank Branch for Sales and Service Success
Make Client Security a Priority
Data is an invaluable resource, but its security is a topic of concern in banking. You need to instill trust in your customers by ensuring their data is safe. To do that, it’s wise to have a dedicated team that will keep up with security technologies. Additionally, you should implement forefront data security protocols like encryption, multifactor authentication, and transparent privacy policies.
Moreover, it’s also essential to provide data security training to customers to protect their data. This practice will not only reinforce data protection but will also present an opportunity to build customer relationships.
Train Employees to Serve Clients Better
To boost branch sales, the front-line staff should be good at capturing overall customer potential. Building a customer-centric team is the first and most important step. Assess potential hires with a focus on financial services sales aptitude. Then, train employees in sales interactions. Focus on getting them to be better at discovering and meeting the needs of the customers and building loyalty.
Consider encouraging customers to complete a relationship profile. This arms the salespeople with the needed information to deepen the discussion, provide contextual offers, and the right financial advice and guidance.
Reconsider the Service Delivery
If customers need to wait in queues for hours every time they visit your branch, they will eventually consider going to a competitor. Understanding wait time, lead time, interaction, and branch capacity can provide valuable insight in planning for peak time.
Consumer data can help you evaluate the amount of time spent in a customer-driven activity and adequately schedule staff. Consider tracking this information through an integrated queue and appointment system or video-based analytics.
Know Which Products Customers Like Most
Defining which products resonate best with your customers and focusing on cross-selling those is a great strategy to boost branch sales and service success. Pay special attention to the products and services that are unique to your institution and differentiate you from the competitors. Then, try to optimize sales strategies around them.
Additionally, you can start reaching out to customers to highlight these services and explain why and how they can be helpful.
Listen to Your Customers
Digital banking allows customers to open a new account or check their balance with just a few clicks. However, customers still go to physical branches and look for face-to-face meetings, especially for important life events and significant purchases.
With this in mind, you should focus on providing convenience to build loyalty and gain lifelong customers. To successfully do this, first-line workers should actively listen to what customers desire. According to recent data, people generally want convenient branch locations, ease of resolving problems, lower deposit interest rates, and a robust ATM network.
Leverage Technology
You can use technology to amplify customer engagement and satisfaction. You shouldn’t overlook the next-generation customer engagement systems. They can help you offer digital-first experiences for branch staff, along with more flexible processes. Additionally, consider deploying intelligent automation to relieve staff from doing repetitive tasks.
Moreover, technologies like machine learning can detect new patterns and offer valuable insight so that employees can understand customers’ needs with unprecedented depth. Last but not least, you can provide appointment scheduling to optimize the branch performance.
Create Targeted Campaigns
By tracking and evaluating customer data, you can understand the life stage of each customer and adequately inform messaging and ads placement. For instance, Gen Z-ers are just opening their first accounts and might soon need a debit or credit card. On the other hand, Millennials might need loans to buy their first homes or get married. Thanks to the advances in technologies, you now have great opportunities to create targeted campaigns to reach new customers.
In Conclusion
By empowering your branch with data, you can enhance customer satisfaction and boost sales and service success. That being said, be sure to review required activities on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. This will help you get valuable insight and tweak your strategies to continually get the expected results.
Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.