Is it Spring Yet??

Greetings...

By the calendar, it is March and spring should be right around the corner. However, if you ask those on the east coast (the recipients of 8-12 inches of snow yesterday) they would swear it is mid-winter! Baseball is beginning and the temperatures just are not cooperating!

The point? Ahh, yes. The point is that "shifts" are happening everywhere. Shifts in the weather, shifts in the competition, and shifts in the economy. Some are slow to occur, some are swift and breathtaking, others occur and we only realize it after the fact! We need to have our customer contact points ready to act and react to the shifts and secure confidence from our customers!

Last week, we conducted 7 focus groups and 26 competitive shops for a client. The one word to describe the banking situation. WOW....and not in a good way! 50% of the 26 competitors did not even respond to our phone request for information, another 20% simply referred us to their website. I thought the in person shops would be better....not the case. In 70% of the shops, we were simply handed a brochure with no questions other than "what type of account are you interested in", 90% of the checking account discussions started and ended with Free checking!

With spring around the corner (hopefully) and the economy struggling, customers needing help, and money in motion everywhere...I think it is time for a Spring Inspection! Take a day and:

• visit ALL of your branches
• call your call center
• scour your website
• review all materials that are mailed from the institution

Do each of these with your "customer eyes" on...does your call center convey competence? Is your website truly easy to navigate, are your branches user friendly and promoting confidence in the bank/cu?

I think you may be surprised what you find! However, if YOU find it...and correct it...then it won't impact the customer negatively. Do a Spring Inspection THIS WEEK.

You will be surprised what you find...and you may also be pleasantly surprised! The key is that everyone KNOWS that they will be inspected to check on your expectations. That is an old Marty Cohen (from Cohen/Brown) saying that still resonates and has power.

Inspect...share expectations...and make sure you are ready for the current and future shifts by having your customer contact points ready to shine!

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp