Toting wireless laptops and backed up by automatic cash dispensers, the branch staff at Amplify Federal Credit Union in Austin is free to roam.
It is just one of the ways that financial institutions are carving out more time for their employees to spend with customers. The issue itself is not new, but some of the strategies to address it are.
One challenge, banks and industry experts say, is to squeeze more selling into the amount of time already spent with consumers.
That mindset represents a step back from trying to speed people in and out of the branch. Instead, bankers are trying to capitalize on each moment of a customer's visit, using things such as branch design, training, technology, and props aimed at spurring financial conversations.
Giving them reasons to stay in the branch longer creates additional opportunity to dangle new products before their eyes, said Kevin Blair, the president and chief operating officer of NewGround, a Chicago retail design and services firm for financial companies. "Just [as] in the retail industry, if a customer comes and stays in a store longer, they have a tendency to shop longer, and they also have a higher propensity to buy products," he said.
The ongoing (and, in some cases, longtime) efforts to change the role of the front-line staff illustrate the current philosophy.
Bankers know they need to "stop hiring people to count cash," Mr. Blair said. "They need people who can build relationships and let the machines count money."
High-Tech Time Savers
Technology like Amplify's wireless laptops and automated cash counters helps tellers concentrate on things like pitching products, according to bankers and industry consultants. At the same time, companies are realizing that customers do not mind pitches so long as the product bears some relation to a need.
"It's not necessarily a turnoff," said Genie Driskill, the chief operating officer at Synergistics Research Corp., an industry research firm in Atlanta.
Technology also can efficiently speed a bank's tellers through the sales pitch.
The New York consulting firm Novantas produces "dialogue management" software, called MindSwift, that suggests questions tellers can ask of customers while they are interacting, said Richard Spitler, a managing director there.
"The intent is to make sure that the time you do have with [customers] is spent as effectively as possible and [that you can] extend the time if you need to," he said.
Extra support for tellers is crucial, given the increased time management demands on frontline staff, Mr. Spitler added. "As self-service takes away the easy jobs," he said, "people end up having much more complex jobs at the point of sale, and it's a bit of a train wreck because there's also high turnover."
The ability of financial specialists to sell efficiently is enhanced by technology, agreed Gregory Redden, a retail banking executive in Wachovia Corp.'s Middle Atlantic region. Every Wachovia customer has an online profile, called a customer needs assessment, that can quickly alert specialists to sales opportunities — once tellers update the profiles with what they learn during routine transactions.
"Rather than the teller having to have a discussion with the financial specialist or write things down, it is automated," said Jennifer Rasmussen, the Charlotte company's retail service job strategy manager.
At Fulton Financial Corp. in Lancaster, Pa., technology is encouraging tellers to expand customer-facing time by asking questions that once might have made them uncomfortable, said David Hostetter, the executive vice president for marketing at the $14.9 billion-asset banking company. Fulton's bankers traditionally feared being pushy in discussing customers' financial lives, Mr. Hostetter said, but research has shown customers do not mind being approached about products that fit their lives, and customer relationship management software helps bank employees figure out what customers need.
The software might show a customer with a longstanding checking account but no overdraft protection. Or it might show a customer who has not tried online banking.
In either case the teller could promptly ask the customer about the product they lack.
Relay Race
Quickly passing the baton also frees up frontline staff to work with more customers walking in the door.
The handoff of customers is an integral part of streamlining sales at Wachovia, according to executives there. The company has nearly 3,400 branches nationwide and $707 billion of assets.
Near the entrance of most Wachovia branches sits a financial center manager, the equivalent of a branch manager. He or she fields incoming requests, separating account-based demands from sales opportunities, said Mr. Redden. Designated service bankers handle the former, and financial specialists the latter, he said.
This arrangement frees up the specialists from being tied down on service calls and missing chances to sell.
In addition, each Wachovia branch maintains its own "book of business," an online system for storing information about that branch's customers. Tellers can peruse the "book" in their spare time and, for example, pick out customers who do not have loans with Wachovia, Ms. Rasmussen said.
The teller might know which customers are good prospects and refer them to a financial specialist, using selling time more efficiently. If the loan is made, the teller gets a bonus.
Creating Face Time
At First Financial Bank, employees may use an idle moment to chat up customers eyeing Honda motorcycles.
The $3.3 billion-asset Hamilton, Ohio, bank is displaying three bikes in its Crown Point, Ind., branch, part of an effort to pull people into the facility and spark sales, said Cheryl Lipp, a first vice president and marketing director at First Financial. It has 83 branches in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Rotating every two weeks or less, the displays have included cars, snowmobiles, and floral arrangements.
The bank has the displays only at its Crown Point branch but is considering an expansion of the program, Ms. Lipp said. "It really gives some common ground to engage the client in conversation and look for opportunities to gain some additional business," she said.
So far, the evidence that the approach is working has been anecdotal, she added. One person who came in for a program about expanding a business ended up opening a commercial account on the spot. The same person opened a personal account later in the week, she said.
At Amplify, the Texas credit union, tellers, known as account management professionals, or AMPs, can spend quality time with members outdoors in the parking lot or inside at a large, open island called the "Smart Bar." They can join members sitting at tables in the branch's café-style setting or usher them into private offices for confidential discussions.
The atmosphere encourages members to linger, said Kent White, the vice president of marketing for Amplify, which has four branches and $413.3 million of assets. It also promotes conversations that could lead to better sales opportunities, Mr. White said. "There's just a different feel when you're talking to someone who's behind a big counter and glass than there is when you're sitting at a table with someone," he said. "It really gives you an opportunity to stop and think a minute about what you want to do next with your money."
The staff is trained to be flexible, able to handle most transactions other than mortgages or investments, said Denise Hart, the credit union's human resources director. Members do not have to waste time repeating their stories because the first person they met couldn't help them, she said.
From Talk to Sales
But after hearing feedback from customers, executives have taken extra steps to ensure that casual conversation turns toward banking.
In the last few years, banks have invested extensive time and money in turning branches into destination points. However, bankers are finding they need to do more to turn browsers into buyers. Employees must be ready and able to capitalize on their time with customers.
For example, in Lancaster, Pa., Union National Financial Corp. has been improving the use of time spent with customers at its two branches that double as cafes operating under a separate brand, Gold Café. Though the concept is not new, bank employees have been trained to initiate sales-oriented conversations with customers — not just serve beverages.
According to Michael Mohn, the chief synergy officer at Union National, the bank worked with various retail-service consultants to hone an approach that wouldn't irritate customers. Mr. Mohn said that the bank, a $511 million-asset company with 10 branches, also was cautious as to prevent the coffee shop from seeming like just another marketing gimmick.
"We spent a lot of time on that," Mr. Mohn stressed.
Additional props are part of the more assertive customer approach. Signboards at the entrance advertise products, including certificates of deposit. Employees hand out menus featuring bank products. In addition, the bank lengthened the time allotted to its own ads on plasma television screens around the cafés. (Click
Not every effort to grab customers' attention and get them interested in products works. United Bancorp Inc., a $750 million-asset company in Tecumseh, Mich., opened a home center inside a branch seven years ago, said Bob Chapman, the company's president and chief executive officer. But it never took off, in part because people could do most of their research on the Internet, he said. "It's not a very positive experience," he said, "if you go someplace and somebody's trying to sell you something that you're not interested in."
Now the bank is looking for better ways to train employees to promptly identify customer desires, he said.
Executives at Orrstown Bank in Shippensburg, Pa., said they believe they have found a way to rapidly determine such needs. After a growth spurt, the $700 million-asset bank took steps in early 2006 to ensure a pleasant and inviting experience for customers, said Bob Gentry, Orrstown's vice president of marketing. But in addition to basic gestures such as friendly greetings, he said, appropriate follow-up comments are encouraged in order to make the sale. Customers might mention their retirement plans or talk about their grandchildren, and tellers could respond by asking about IRAs or 529 college savings plans — maximizing each moment.
Mr. Berg is a freelance writer in York, Pa.
