The money that banks have poured into technology may be squandered unless employees are trained to use customer data bases, a consultant told a conference here.
Robert E. Hall, chief executive officer of Actionsystems Inc. of Dallas, said that despite heavy investment in these data bases many banks are botching their chance to use them.
Banks now know a lot more about their customers' habits and demographics, he said, but they are failing to teach employees how to retain customers.
Mr. Hall predicted that the resulting revenue loss would be "painful."
"Banks went to Wall Street two to three years ago and said, 'We're spending a lot of money, but look what we're going to be able to do,'" Mr. Hall said in an interview. "What we're seeing is, a lot of them invested heavily in technology but not in the people."
The danger, Mr. Hall said, is that banks can "oversolicit" good customers through mail, telephone, or even appeals at the branches-turning people off through repetition. Every interaction with a customer can either help build a relationship or destroy one, he told the conference of about 60 financial services sales executives.
Some banking companies do a better job, Mr. Hall said. Companies that closely monitor customer feedback have a better shot at building relationships.
Wachovia Corp. of Winston-Salem, N.C., began an extensive monitoring of customer behavior last year, said senior vice president David L. Pope.
Wachovia bankers use customer data to generate leads, he said. No sales goals are set for these bankers, and the emphasis is not on heavy selling. Rather, the bankers try to build relationships that they hope will pay off later. "This is not dialing for dollars," Mr. Pope said. "This is not how many calls you can make in one day."
Though the program is only a year old, Wachovia has slightly improved customer retention and had some deposit growth, Mr. Pope said.
Wachovia "is one of the few companies to put all the pieces together," said Donald E. McNees, a director for the financial services practice at Towers Perrin. Overall, the banking industry's effort to sell and market itself "is under construction," he said.
