Pub. 2 2014 Issue 3

www.uba.org 12 W hat does our industry need? In my opinion and based on the last few decades of working with financial institutions is…honestly…a revolution. Now I know that’s a big term to toss at you, but stay with me. The hard part about changing the way the world views something is often in getting it started. It’s creating that spark. But even then, the work isn’t done. Once the spark ignites and you begin to see smoke, you have to work even harder to create that one glowing ember. Because once you have that, it catches fire and you just keep feeding it so it burns and burns. The revolution that I’m talking about, the spark that banking desperately needs is to redefine the purpose of a bank. To change the way we are thinking about the ser- vices you really offer to your customers. For centuries, the primary and secondary purposes of a bank have been to function as a safe place to keep your dollars (if you have extra) and a good place to borrow dollars from (if you have a need). And in the eyes of most people – not much about the banking industry has changed. While this purpose is the essential func- tion of a bank, it too often drives the goals and actions of the marketing department: We have too much money so we run an auto loan promotion, or worse even--we just run one because it is that time of year. But this is what we need to reexamine. What business are we in? Are we a place that stashes away people’s treasures? Are we a place that helps people buy things? Maybe we aren’t even a place at all – maybe we are just an online banking screen that shows people their balances. What if our primary purpose wasn’t any of those things? What if we started something that would ignite a spark within our customers, something that would encourage them to come back to us again and again to stoke the flame? What if it was based on that very thing that nearly every bank on the claims as the thing that sets them apart from the competition: customer service, but we took that concept to a new level and really truly and meaningfully helped our customers to realize their financial goals. And the best part is—that in doing so, we would inevitably strengthen the bank and increase our bottom line. So let’s break it down into steps to achieve this: 1. Call your customer and tell them, “we want to share some ideas that we share with our best customers, when can you come visit us?” 2. Talk to the customer about their goals. • What do they have going on in their life? • What are their dreams? • What do they want to accomplish in life. 3. Create a plan for them to achieve their dreams with the help of your bank. It’s a simple change, but one that will change the way your customer looks at you, how the community looks at you, and will ultimately lead to how you can change your community. Here is the strategy behind the concept: • Make your customer feel like they are important to your bank. Let me allow that to sink in, ‘cause it sounds, simple in theory, but is the founda- tion for this. Making a customer feel that they are important to you is absolutely essential for creating a Who Will Start the Revolution? By Brett Jackson, CEO, Systemax Corporation