Independent Banker - May 2021 - 57

" Community banks are the
ultimate Main Street business, and
they'll do better with post-COVID
customers if they keep their feet
firmly planted in the community,
because the bigger players just
can't do that as well. "
-Pamela Danziger, Unity Marketing, Inc.
you make them enforce policies across the board or
when you require them to ask for permission to do
the tiniest little thing for a customer, " she adds.
Emphasis on empathy
For high-performing companies, stellar customer
service isn't just nice to have. It has a measurable
impact on the bottom line.
" We've researched 40 different industry verticals,
and we have data showing that if you are able to
provide great customer service, customers will
stay with you longer, buy more from you and have
an increased lifetime value, " says Kate Leggett,
vice president and principal analyst for customer
relationship management (CRM) and customer
service at Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester
Research. " There is absolutely a clear correlation. "
With all that cross-industry experience, Leggett
offers insight to community banks looking to up
their customer service game. " We look to three
key principals as defining an exemplary customer
service experience: easy, effective and empathetic, "
she says. " In general, we've found that banks are
doing a good job with ease and effectiveness. Where
[some] fall short is in understanding customers
and their situations, and in becoming that trusted
advisor that customers want. They could use a
stronger focus on proactively, even preemptively,
serving up the right answer and the right product to
the customer at the time it's needed most. "
Expectations of the post-COVID-19 world
Technology was already a defining aspect of any
community bank's customer service experience. In
the wake of the pandemic, it has become even more
so, especially for younger customers.
" The effect of COVID is that it created a
clearinghouse for humanity, " Bliss says. " We've
No, the customer isn't always right
Virgin Group founder Richard Branson
has famously championed the idea that
customers do not come first-employees
do. " If you can put staff first, your
customer second and shareholders third,
effectively, in the end, the shareholders
do well, the customers do better, and you
yourself are happy, " he told Inc. in 2020.
So, how do high-performing companies
manage the issue of difficult customers,
and how do they help their front-line
employees deal with them?
Pamela Danziger, president of
Unity Marketing, Inc., a research firm
in Stevens, Pa., says, " First of all, it's
important for everyone to realize that
the customer's perception is your
business reality. Helping them shift that
perspective requires a couple things.
First, you need to hire 'people persons,'
because some of those soft skills can't be
taught, and you need a front line staffed
with friendly, understanding people who
have strong emotional intelligence. If you
have a good customer service experience
anywhere else, you should be on the
lookout and recruit those employees for
your bank. Next, you need to realize that
employee training is critical in dealing
with difficult people and situations. "
For Jeanne Bliss, it's a two-way street,
one that requires respect on both sides.
" Angry customers can't talk to your
people any way they want, and you can't
'give away the store,' " says Bliss, who
was the first vice president for customer
satisfaction and retention at the insurance
giant Allstate. " We trained people on
how to reject claims in ways that were
as empathetic as possible, and also to
include friendly reminder-type customer
coaching on how they might do things
differently next time. Doing things that
way means you don't leave the customer
feeling hollowed out but allow them to
keep their dignity intact and to leave with
the feeling that you are good people who
are trying to understand [them]. "
independentbanker.org Q 55
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Independent Banker - May 2021

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