Managing Moments of Truth

Denise Wymore, Creative Abandon
May 19, 2005

Moments of truth are those things I see, feel, hear, and experience when I walk in your branch. Empty bins, pens that don’t work, Scotch-taped signs, dirty desks, no one to greet people – those little details are everything in a relationship. Your product is service, and it’s manufactured with the customer/member present. And you never get a second chance at a first impression.

Managing moments of truth means keeping on top of all those details that affect a customer/member’s experience. For example, someone in the branch has to be responsible for turning on the lamps every day and replacing the burnt-out bulbs. Branch managers should own these details at the branch just like they would in their own home. After all, they spend more hours in the branch than in their own homes—why not take pride in how the branches look and feel?

Successful Relationships Are Built with Service

Giving employees incentives and quotas related to sales is buying temporary compliance, not building a relationship. When you give incentives, employees will often sell things the customer/member doesn’t need. The customer/member will wake up to that eventually.

The most successful relationships are built with service. Financial institutions basically have two products – deposits and loans—neither of which is a complicated sell. Rather, it’s more about getting to know the person, just like you would talk to a friend. We should know all the products and services and how they best work. Passing along that knowledge is service, not sales.

Many financial institutions set sales goals for the staff. If the goal is to get so many checking accounts on the books, employees will sell like crazy that month to get the reward. As soon as the carrot goes away, checking accounts aren’t sold anymore.

Remember: Every customer/member who walks in is an opportunity to educate about the services and how best to use them. If, however, you have specific goals around specific products, you can’t have that conversation—you become a product pusher rather than a relationship builder.

Few people walk into a financial institution and expect to be “wowed.” But giving people that kind of experience sells more products than any incentive program. Nothing generates positive word-of-mouth more than a positive service experience.

Five Important Truths

To deliver “wow” levels of service, address these five truths:

Banking is an errand, not an experience. Customers don’t go to the bank or credit union because they want to, but because they have to. Once you accept that banking is an errand, anything you can do to make that more pleasant for the customer/member is a bonus.

The only reason customers/members are satisfied is because in banking our expectations are so low. Here’s a great quote from Ken Blanchard’s book Raving Fans: “Your customers are only satisfied because their expectations are so low and no one else is doing better.”

When I visit a new branch, I pose as a customer to see what kind of service I get. I walk in and want to be greeted. Nine times out of 10 I am not wowed.

There is a HUGE opportunity for financial institutions to differentiate themselves through service. We know that but we don’t embrace it. A commitment to service has to come from the top. The CEO and senior managers need to visit the branches. But they shouldn’t come out like the police with a clipboard—instead they should visit and talk with the staff, and experience the branch.

There’s a huge difference between top management supporting service, or driving it. Driving service means the CEO speaks service and lives service. The CEO come down on the floor and walks through the lobby, greets customer/members, and greets employees. A CEO I know who drives his organization has a sign that says, “We provide legendary service.”

“I treat my employees like family and with respect,” he says. “I ask them to do the same for our members. Because of that, our members think of us first. We get to know them and all we can ask is that when they’re in the market, they think about us.”

People who walk through the door aren’t necessarily in the mood to buy a car. But if you build trust with people in their daily errands, however, they will come to you first when they are in the market for a car loan.

Do planned acts of “wow” instead of random acts of kindness. If your parents raised you right, random acts of kindness are natural behaviors. The difference between random acts of kindness and planned acts of “wow” is the choreography. A planned act will be consistent.

If a teller buys dog biscuits for drive-through customers with her own money, it’s a random act of kindness. A planned act of “wow” is the institution budgeting for dog biscuits, paying for them, ordering, and keeping them in stock – that’s managing moments of truth.

Planned acts of “wow” should be part of your process and procedure. Make a big deal about things like a closed mortgage loan. Leave the customer/member with something that makes the person feel good.

Saturn is a great example. I’ve owned Saturns for 11 years and, with every interaction, I’ve been wowed. I picked up my car from an oil change recently and they had washed the car and put two red roses on the front seat! When picking up the last car I bought, it was decorated with yellow balloons and a sign that said “Denise’s car.” Wow!

Other examples of planned acts of “wow” are:

§ Customers/members often do their banking errands on lunch or break time, so they may not have time to pick up food. Provide coffee in the lobby and a bowl of fresh fruit.

§ Give dog treats as people come through the drive-up window. It means a lot and doesn’t cost much.

§ Present customers/members with their change on black lacquered trays with a piece of foil-wrapped chocolate.

§ Get small bottles of water, put your logo on them, and keep them chilled in a bowl of ice for customers/members to pick up.

Create the right “stage” for the performance. Your branch is the stage for performing service. What does the branch look like? What would be my first impression when I walk in? Here’s a good exercise: Take photographs and study them. Examine the teller line, wait area, play area, loan office, etc. Ask yourself, “Is this the experience I’m trying to achieve?”

Denise Wymore is brand manager for Creative Abandon in Portland, Oregon. She consults with financial institutions throughout the United States on marketing and branding issues. Contact her at 1-503-805-4424 or me@denisewymore.com. Reprinted with permission from Branch Manager’s Letter www.BranchManagersLetter.com.