The world has become a “Village” what Marshall
McLuhan (1962) called Global Village, therefore consumers are now more enlightened
and as such expects the very best products and services from any business they
patronize. Every business that must continue to grow and be of relevance to
consumers must continue to serve them excellently and make them perceive the
service as best for them. Businesses will only survive when the needs of
consumers are met adequately. Entrepreneurs created companies to meet specific
consumer needs, it is important not to forget that meeting the consumers needs
alone does not solve their problem; how
and where the customer needs are met are very significant questions in the
determination of whether they will do more business or tell others about the
services experienced. The how and where questions are necessary fundamentals to
the People, Process and Environment (PPE)
concepts of excellent customer service.
A. Coskun, Cheryl J. Frohlich (1992)
mentioned that “Service is the
competitive edge in Banking”, these authors emphasized that “Customers are
demanding more humanized banking and that banks must evaluate their marketing
deficiencies and become more proactive. They believe that having a model for
developing a bank’s effectiveness and improving customer satisfaction will
create a competitive edge”.
What is an
edge?
Though the circulated topic says “Developing an edge in the Banking industry
using Customer Service excellence”, the only edge that must be developed in
a business is one that is competitive. A competitive edge is also known as competitive
advantage; it was described as an advantage over competitors or rivals gained
by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by
providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices (Tutor2u.net,
nd). For simplicity sake, competitive advantage refers to the best position an
organization can be when compared with its rivals. If a company decides to use
lower prices as a competitive advantage over other companies at the detriment
of its service, it will only get the customers for a while after which they
will all run away looking for organizations that can give them service
reliability. A common example in Nigeria is the Telecommunications industry in
which operators tries to outperform competitors by crazy reduction of tariffs
and unimaginable promotion and bonanzas. Most times, this measure only succeeds
at increasing the subscriber base temporarily, the consumers who later finds
out that the organization has started experiencing difficulties in giving
excellent service normally goes back to where they are coming from or either move
ahead in search of other companies that can better meet their needs.
Who - The People Factor
There is intense competition amongst Banks
nowadays, international banks now compete with local banks for the same funds
hence the struggle for deposits and financial transactions have continued to be
on the rise. All banks now offer similar products and services; this gives
customers a big chance of deciding carefully to choose which banks they will
patronize. One of the ways an organization can meet up with this ever
increasing standard expected by customers is by maintaining an excellent
workforce. This means that the question “who” is answered by the employees and
the management.
-
Every
employee must be a customer service officer
-
Managers must
hire employees with customer service and people orientation
- After
hiring, new employees must be thoroughly trained in the vision and mission of
the organization.
-
On the job,
there must be constant practical and theoretical training sessions
-
Employees
must consciously build Team spirit
-
Employees
that can maintain their cool under pressure are more desirable
- Many service
businesses are discovering there is a high correlation between happy employees
and long-term organizational success. After all, it's your staff that provides
the service that your customers pay for that keeps your bank profitable. –
Sanflippo Barbara (1993)
-
Unhappy
employees don’t enjoy serving customers (They should not work in a bank)
-
How employee
feels towards the following is very important
o
Teamwork
o
Goal clarity
o
Sales and
service leadership
o
Fear of
making decisions
o
Poor
communication
o
Career path
o
Staffing and
training.
To further hammer on the significance of the
People factor, some proven ways to energize a banks quality service as dictated
by Sanflippo, Barbara are as follows:
- Conduct a Sales and Service Climate Survey
- Create a Staff Satisfaction Index and Build It into Your Strategic Plan
- As Federal Express believes, if your staff satisfaction index (SSI) keeps climbing, your customer satisfaction will increase and these two factors will have a positive effect on your bank's results.
- Get as Many of Your Employees Involved in the Process as Possible (if possible all your employees)
- Recognize and Reward Your Staff for Service and Sales Performance
- Enhance Your Orientation Program
- Most banks are concerned with the first impression their customers receive in dealing with their staff. How about the first impression your new staff member receives from your bank the first day of employment? Do they feel welcome and important? Do they thoroughly understand your bank's commitment to and their role in the quality service culture? Walt Disney Studios and the Ritz Carlton Hotels believe staff orientation is their opportunity to instill their customer first philosophy and gain the respect and commitment of every new staff member. Your orientation is a golden opportunity to reinforce your new employee's decision to work for your bank, to start to imbue the bank's mission and values and gain commitment to the quality service process.
- Invest in Your People with Quality Training
How – The
Process Factor
“Excellent
customer support is a critical factor in overall customer satisfaction, and
hence loyalty. It is recognized as a significant enabler to growing market
share in a highly competitive market”. J Trigger
and M Harrison (2006). This confirms Roth and Jackson (1995) quoted by Frances
X. Frei and Patrick T. Harker (nd) “process
capability and execution are major drivers of performance due to their impact on
customer satisfaction and service quality in banking”
The best processes in banking today must
consider the following:
-
The cycle time (amount of time from start of
process to finish)
Every Bank and Branch must adopt a method
that does not waste customers’ time while capturing all necessary information
for a particular transaction. It must be done in line with the common saying “Do it right at the first time without
errors” associated with Phillip Crosby.
Customers get irritated when they have to waste so much time perambulating
about one process indefinitely, this makes them feel that the bank or its
official lack the credibility to deliver on their demands. It is not a lie that
bad processes kill business.
-
Labour skill
The type of labour required to perform a
process must be meticulously considered. If wrong unskilled labour or semi
skilled labour is employed for a job that must be done by skilled labour, good
process can be carried out wrongly and will result in bad service which
eventually leads to reduction in customer’s satisfaction index. New processes
must be communicated well ahead of time so that employees can learn and absorb
them before the go live time. There is no doubt that every staff has a
responsibility of updating themselves on latest processes as the Bank
management also invests in Business Process Reengineering.
-
Technology
In our world, this seems the most important.
The rate at which new and better innovations are created makes one to wonder if
there will ever be a process that will remain constant forever. Change is the
only constant thing, and by that saying; every organization that refuses to
keep up the pace with Technology is heading for a doom. Nigerian Banks started using
ATM’s and found out that even the processes of managing the machines are also
highly significant at determining whether customers will patronize a bank’s
machine over the others. Examples include the processes of cash reload, retract
card or cash retrieval, ATM servicing and maintenance, and every other process
that would make the machine work in perfect condition. If the processes are too
long, then customers will feel the negative impact and may run to competitor’s
machines.
Excellent management of Bank processes will
reduce waste to the minimal thereby reducing cost as well as increase
profitability. The following are examples of classic types of waste prevalent
in the Banking system:
Seven
Classic Types of Wastes
- Overproduction
- Waiting
- Transportation
- Over-processing
- Inventory
- Rework
- Motion
Where – The
environment factor
The peculiarity of a business environment
speaks volume about how responsible the business managers are. Since the number
of competing banks is ever increasing, bank or branch management staff must do
everything possible to remain in the good books of customers. Failure of which
will lead to customer loss.
The reason for this is not farfetched,
customer perception of a company is made in the first few minutes of contact
with the company’s premises. It is likely that more depositors will prefer to
pay in their money in a well lit and attractive environment rather than a dark
and dirty environment. Banks should begin to look at how customers do not need
to come into the premises to make cash deposits too. This should be an
innovation for the soonest future.
All those things that shape how our
environment looks also determine if a customer will come back for more transactions
or not. They include:
1.
The signage
2.
The Wall
paint
3.
The toilets
4.
The window
blinds
5.
The floor
6.
The staff
outlook and dressing
7.
Spatial
arrangement
8.
The car park
(and more)
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