When Common Sense Should Prevail

I recently spent a couple of days in the hospital. Nothing serious…just needed a small tune-up. One of the things I’ve really focused on in recent years is the simple act of observation. Not so much on observing things and beautiful scenery, although I do try to do that, but on observing people.

So as I tuned and turned the volume up on my listening rod those couple of days, I observed that many patients had not figured out one simple hospital fact: Be VERY nice to the nurses and techs! Don’t worry so much about the doctors who come around sporadically. They are important, but the nurses and techs are the ones who do the heavy lifting with patient care and service 24/7. They are often the unrecognized heroines and heros  of our society!!! Show and tell them you genuinely appreciate everything they do, and the great care they give. Three interesting things happen when you do: THEY feel better, you get even BETTER service from them, and YOU feel better when you’ve made THEM feel better! It’s definitely WIN, WIN, WIN.

How does this apply to banking? Well, even more than your board and senior management group, your staff, from the newest to the most veteran contact and non-contact staffers all across your bank, is the group that is really your nurses and tech group. They take care of easy customer situations, difficult customer situations, winey customer situations, appreciative and unappreciative customer situations, happy and unhappy customers, and on and on. They provide your customers with the service they want and need to remain customers, and as a result of doing that, they put food on your table, and a roof over your head. What a group! Are they special? Absolutely! Should you show and tell them you appreciate them? At every opportunity, and minus an opportunity, create one! They’ll be happier, your customers will get the service they want to be happy, and you’ll be happier too! It’s WIN, WIN, WIN for sure!

Banking Moments of Truth, Session 2

Moments of Truth. Moments which may seem like small moments, but which can positively or negatively influence big decisions. In my last message I briefly referenced a Moment of Truth that happened to my wife and myself at a restaurant. Today I’ll throw out another Moment of Truth in the first of a series of Moments of Truth which happen every day in banking.

Someone calls the bank or a department in the bank, and asks to speak to (name). The telephone response from some bank employees is to simply ask, “Who’s calling?” What does that response mean to the customer or prospect calling the bank? Research tells us that many people have little or no positive or negative response. It also tells us that more than a small percentage of callers have the mental response that, “ If I’m the right person calling, I’ll get to speak to (name), if I’m not, I won’t get to speak to him/her.” Should the caller have that somewhat negative reaction to the bank staffer’s response? Probably not. Do many of them have it? Absolutely! It’s a Moment of Truth.

So what should the telephone responder say when the caller asks to speak to someone. Research tells us that the simple response, “ May I tell (name) who’s calling?”rarely evokes a negative response, and often evokes a positive one. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it’s a positive Moment of Truth.