Do More Than Give Thanks
With Thanksgiving just behind us (and the leftovers slowly dwindling away in the fridge), showing gratitude might still be on your mind.
Maybe you’re planning a big “thank you” message for your members or customers. Or maybe you’ve finally decided to enforce tellers saying “thank you” after every interaction. Heck, maybe your credit union or community bank is already doing both these things!
However, it’s not enough to simply say “thank you.”
Don’t get me wrong; you should continue thanking your members or customers. But this is only the start to an excellent service journey, not the destination. That’s because service (or consumer experience) is about so much more than saying “thank you.”
Better yet, service is about so much more than being nice.
To provide great service, you must provide an all-around great experience. But what elements form a truly five-star service experience? Let’s take a look.
Make a Plan
President Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.”
Like Lincoln suggests, your credit union or community bank should plan properly before executing any kind of consumer experience program. That means you’re going to need a detailed journey map – a roadmap with mile markers and exact descriptions of what happens at each mile marker.
As On The Mark Strategies Experience Director Taylor Wells describes:
"A successful (and fun) trip requires planning. Constructing a detailed journey map is quite similar. By mapping out exactly what you want consumers to see, hear and feel, a meticulously planned, constructed and delivered consumer journey does just that. And while you cannot (realistically) plan and train for every single possible interaction, your journey map experience empowers staff to successfully engage with people 99.9% of the time."
What should any journey map worth its salt include?
Of course, this is just a small taste of what’s in a journey map. Your own journey map should have far more detail than what I’ve listed here.
For example, one common problem our mystery shops find is the mishandling of consumer information. Names and addresses are often left out in the open, unattended at the front of the branch.
Describe how you intend to solve this problem in your journey map. Is there an attendant watching over sign-in books? Are you going to invest in a digital solution?
And lastly (but most importantly), your journey map needs to plan out memorable experiences. Bland consumer experience programs don’t lead to thriving institutions, so give people something they must experience again.
Provide More Than a Smile
You’ll notice that I mentioned “smile” when talking about body language standards. But like saying “thank you,” good service means more than smiling at the member or customer.
Because let’s face it: smiling is nice, but it’s not service. As Tara Springsteen, VP Operations at UniWyo FCU says:
“On The Mark Strategies taught us that our brand is not just our logo, it’s everything we do. Their team came in when we needed it most. We’ve gone from being nice people to actually serving the members.”
Notice she said, “Actually serving the members.” What does she mean?
Start by paying attention to what people say when you’re serving them. A member or customer may have come in to deposit a check, but they mention how hard it is to buy a car right now while chatting with the teller. Do you have a rate special that can help them?
Or maybe someone mentions going to a payday lender to cover expenses while on the phone with your call center. Can you provide them an emergency loan? Members or customers may never know about these products if you don’t tell them.
So, go beyond the smile and provide substance to guarantee excellent service.
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Keep Service Consistent
Raise your hand if members or customers often go to one branch, don’t get the answer they need and go to another totally different branch across town for another answer. I bet many of you raised your hands!
This is one of the most common experiences our clients have when seeking out consumer experience training, and it’s a problem with consistency. But it’s not only a problem at the branches. It wreaks havoc at your call centers, too.
Your consumers' call center experiences may be as different as Jim's (admittedly prank-motivated) experience with Dwight and Michael in this clip...
Now, whether in the branch or in the call center, you may not need to separate from anyone (like Jim threatens Dwight with in this clip). Your consumer experience standards may simply need equal explanation and enforcement across all channels.
Train every staff member to behave the same way during every interaction. If possible, create a “thought library” employees can regularly reference for answers to consumer questions. Use scorecards and random evaluations to enforce service standards you’ve worked hard to create.
And most of all, educate staff on why your credit union or community bank brand matters. There’s only so much carrots or sticks can do, after all. Instill an internal motivation that makes your service program second nature.
Create Measurables to Judge ROI
Like with any other part of your credit union or community bank, your member experience program needs to yield a return on investment. But how do you measure something so seemingly intangible?
Try using your net promoter score (“NPS”). This should give you a consumer thermometer of sorts so you can see where you’re at.
Brandon Oliver, VP Branch Operations at SAFE FCU, describes how they used NPS to measure their new member experience program’s success:
“During our time partnering with On The Mark Strategies, we established metrics of success. One of those, tied specifically to our member experience employee training, is paying off big time. Our NPS jumped from 71.4% to 81.6% in just four months. This increase corresponds directly with the implementation of our member experience program with On The Mark Strategies. It’s also the highest NPS our credit union has ever earned.”
There are many ways to measure NPS. You could go old-fashioned and have consumers fill out a comment card before they leave the branch. You could have a spot on your website for consumers to rate their experience (scroll to the bottom of First Bank’s website for a good example of this). Or you could encourage Google reviews and monitor your ratings.
Whatever you do, make sure you’re measuring your progress and adjusting accordingly. There’s no point in having a fancy new consumer experience program if it isn’t changing anything.
Do You Need a Training Department?
Maybe you’ve realized your consumer experience is all about saying “thank you,” but you don’t have the manpower to do anything about it. Well, there’s no need to fear!
On The Mark Strategies helps credit unions and community banks all over the country with their journey mapping and consumer experience processes. You can enlist us to act as your training department, all for a lower cost than a full-time employee with benefits.
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