Customer service and satisfaction have grown in importance in the financial services industry in recent years. That is borne out in the 2002 Account Managers’ Report Card, which shows employees are generally pleased with the emphasis service receives from their employers.
Many non-bank firms have made headway against the banks by touting their own superior and personal service and producing competitive products. In Investment Executive‘s Planners’ Report Card in June, for instance, advisors cited the banks as their best allies because defections to their camp are often triggered by poor service. Indeed, as one TD Canada Trust employee put it, “The competition is targeting our customers, playing to our vulnerabilities.”
But the banks seem to have got the message. The average mark for customer service is a healthy 7.4 out of 10 points.
“What competition?” laughs a CIBC account manager, who says his bank’s public image is good, even though it rated at the bottom of the list with a score of 6.4 points.
While sheer size created many reasons for horror stories about poor bank service, it also allowed the banks to create a vast array of options and attractive price considerations to hold onto clients.
“The only non-banks that have had a big impact and a sustained impact in terms of taking business in Canada and financial services are some of the banks like ING who don’t have branches,” says Ron Laursen, Bank of Nova Scotia’s senior vice president, small business and day-to-day banking.
The banks have countered service threats by creating systems to track customer perceptions. CIBC spokeswoman Mary Lou Fraser says the bank watches for changes in customer patterns. Scotiabank, TD Canada Trust, Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal say they use extensive customer
surveys.
TD has been updating its “voice of the customer” research since 1997. Chris Armstrong, TD’s chief marketing officer, and Michael Beckerman, BMO’s senior vice president of corporate marketing, say their banks place great emphasis on such data.
BMO strives to better understand the link between employees and the overall customer experience, and plans to invest even further in customer relationship management. It is already working to streamline its service “so our front-line employees can spend more time dialoguing with customers and less time doing administrative work,” he says.
In addition to regular surveys, top-ranked Royal Bank recently began surveying targeted customers to trace specific experiences from start to finish. “We actually zeroed in on a few of those things we think are absolutely critical to our customer loyalties,” says Jennifer Tory, senior vice president, sales effectiveness. She says research was also used to develop a problem-management database to track the rate of incidents through all of the different banking channels so remedies can be found.
Armstrong says TD’s customer service data is directly linked to compensation. “We narrow performance down to the branch level or the operating level, and report that performance back on a monthly basis,” says Armstrong. Where possible and where required, he says, the company takes action to improve performance based on the scores. “Employees get paid more for better scores.”
BMO, Royal and Scotiabank representatives all say they are working to manage the amount of administrative work employees do in front of customers. At Scotiabank “we really tried to take almost all the administration away so we can focus on needs assessment,” says Laursen. The goal is to identify what the customer needs to get ahead financially. “It’s been very successful.”
He says it is the main reason behind a high ranking given to the bank by Market Facts in a recent Customer Service Index, which rates institutions on several categories including customer service. With a price-tag of more than $32,000, the study is not widely available. Both Scotiabank and TD claim to hold the top place on the index. They score second and sixth, respectively, in the IE survey.
Credit unions generally have a better reputation for service, but they don’t have a high profile and tend to be community-based.
Royal Bank managers appear most confident about overall service. They like the branding of financial products, but say their image with the public still leaves something to be desired. Royal Bank had the highest mark when managers were asked to rate the urgency with which the bank should focus on products and services. IE