“All you need to do is to open an account with us, run it efficiently for six (6) months and you will be able to access loan facility to improve your home or inject additional capital into your business. Even if your account is not sufficiently funded after successfully running it for months, we will be able to honour your cheques in the form of a temporal overdraft whilst you make arrangements to pay at a later date”,These are some of the service promises made by banks and its employees to both existing and especially prospective customers on daily basis so as to maintain or win them over respectively.
That is not all they add “You can access bills for collection promptly without delay. Your Letters of Credit challenges with your current bank is over when you bank with us. Our Visa and MasterCard or Proprietary cards are the most reliable in the industry and can be used at your convenience worldwide. Our systems are very reliable and our account officers are always at your service. We promise you the best turnaround time in the industry for all your banking needs”.
According to Phillip Kotler, the world’s foremost authority on international marketing, service is defined as ‘an action or an activity which can be offered by a party to another party, which is basically intangible and cannot affect any ownership. Service may be related to tangible product or intangible product’.Service is rendered to customers at every level of their experience. The Oxford dictionary also defines customer service as ‘the assistance and advice provided by a company to those people who buy or use its products or services’. Customer service is a broad and vital concept in the banking industry because most banking activities involve elements of customer service. Banks can therefore be referred to as service- based businesses.
WHY SERVICE ?
All banks provide generic products and services and as such in order to be distinguished from competition, it is imperative for banks to strive and improve upon their service quality. Customers generally have the tendency to compare their experiences to what they perceived or promised them thus when their experiences does not match their expectations, a gap arises. Valerie Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and Leonard Berry in their publication in 1990 on Delivering ServiceQuality found five (5) dimensions which customers consider when evaluating the quality of service they receive. This survey instrument is referred to as SERVQUAL and includes tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
Tangibles are considered mostly by customers as the least important because aesthetics without fulfilling their promises is meaningless. It is good for employees to be dapper in appearance as well as work environment and equipment to be in top shape but this should not overshadow other service dimensions. Tangibles include staff neatly dressed with clean shaves for men and women with calm colours of cloths or suit and corporate looking hairdo. Walls of banking halls or self service centres neatly painted and with appropriate wall hangings and the lawns neatly kept. The bank’s ATM’s both at the branches and offsite must always be clean especially the keypad.
Reliability simply means to be consistent in an activity which makes it dependable. Customers value service reliability and always want to count on their providers and expecting them to do what they promise to do at all times without fail. Promises of ten minutes turnaround time for basic transactions at the banking hall must be adhered to, documentary responses must be within time, transfers must be effected as promised. The customer’s view on reliability can be likened to the slogan of Nike which says JUST DO IT!
Responsiveness to the customer is do it now! Promises made to customers must be kept and their enquiries, challenges, requests and complaints must be attended to promptly. Waiting for days to return a customer’s call or respond to email is unacceptable to the customer. Internal Service Level Agreements must be adhered to by service providers in order to meet customer needs just in time. Customers consider responsiveness to their issues a priority.
Assurance as a service dimension means know what you doing. Customers’ confidence in service provider will be low when they do not have the assurance that they are dealing with experts in a particular field. It is given that service providers are good at what they do and this must be evident in every interaction with the customer whether virtually or physically. Uncollected, uninformed or not too confident staff will not give the needed assurance that the customers is expecting in order to increase his business with the bank.
Empathy simply means caring about customers as well as the service. In serving customers, the service provider must exude empathy especially in times of challenges. The customer must feel the providers care through their actions, body language and responses. As easy as providing a listening ear, understanding the customer’s frustrations and allowing the customer to let it all out where necessary and eventually apologising after which attending to the customer’s needs professionally and efficiently leaves an indelible service experience in people’s minds.
Banks are largely service based organisations and service serves as one of the pillars that hold profitability. All banking activities are based on service and this keeps banks in business.
THE ROLE OF SERVICE IN BANKING
Customer service is the ability to identify the needs of customers and meeting those needs beyond their expectation within the shortest possible time. Globally, most banks persistently endeavour to maximize customer value by offering unique services since there is often little tangible product variation among their offerings. Customer service officers generally deal directly with service issues but several other common banking roles involve service including but not limited to the following;
The Bank Teller
The Teller or Cashier is most often the least respected bank staff by customers in every setup and this is one of the many challenges faced by Tellers in the discharge of their duties. However, through it all the bank teller must deliver flawless and prompt services by being friendly and helpful at all times. To the customer, the Teller is the ‘face’ of the bank because most basic banking interactions such as deposit and withdrawal of cash or payment of utility bills are done at the teller point. In order to promote the bank’s image with respect to customer service performance and reputation, service oriented individuals are the best fit for this role.
Loan / Credit /Finance Officers
The loan or finance department of banks has its own customer service situations and processes as well. This class of bankers handle credit write up of customers and in the process need to know among other things the character of the bank’s customers and in the case of corporate entities the nature of their business line. Loan officers inform and advise customers in good standing about new loan and refinance options available. Customers who qualify for products are assisted with documentation requirements and taken through the application procedure so as to pass the credit approval process of the bank. When a facility is approved and disbursed, Credit or Loan officers monitor the customer’s business to ensure funds are used for intended purposes so as forestall any repayment challenges due to misappropriation of funds. A great deal of excellent service is exhibited at each level of credit officer’s dealings with customers.
Personal Banker / Customer Service Officer / Relationship Officer
Customers with more involving banking needs are handled by Personal bankers or Customer service officers or Relationship managers. Banking officers usually meet with customers interested in opening new accounts for new businesses or just to have extra accounts for extended business lines with little variations from their core businesses or simply opening an individual account, or getting more information on banking products and services. The Officers also handle many of the issues or challenges customers face, such as unexpected bank fees and commissions or transaction errors, product or service requests such as ATM cards, Cheque books, or transfer requests including intra or inter – bank or international transfers. Banks often have dedicated customer service managers that step in to deal with the most significant service concerns.
Self-Service
This involves the process of customers patronising the bank’s products and services without the help of a bank staff. Interestingly, this is one of the banking service delivery channels customers are concerned about in order to judge the extent of their service experiences with banks. 24 hours online banking tools including the ability to transfer funds between accounts as well as paying basic utility bills are some of the common examples. TheATMs and mobile banking are additional options banks often provide to customers looking for self-service opportunities and the convenience of choosing their own banking hours.
THE SUBSTANDARD SERVICE EXPERIENCE
Customers experience poor service delivery in many ways at different times either at the brick and mortar branches or self service centres or online which are contrary to the promises given before or during their banking relationships with their preferred banks. Many a time customers walk into banking halls to perform simple transactions such as cash withdrawal and have to wait for long because the systems are not reliable. It is mostly the bank’s operating software is down and experts are working on it or there is slow and not too polite tellers serving the large numbers of customers in the banking halls. This situation is worsened when the customer first need to check his account balance with the customer service officers because there is a separate queue to join after which the instrument is presented for payment.
Some banks promise instant ATM card processing upon request but however tell customers they are facing system challenges at the moment and as such cannot be served immediately but rather at a later date. Customer service staff promises calling such customers in due time when the system is back up. Some of these calls never come until the customer follows up to the bank in person. Other banks who are less fortunate to have instant card processing services promise two to three days but takes more than a week and in some instances up to two weeks with a fine apology if the customer happen to deal with a polite bank staff at the time of enquiry.
There are instances wherecustomers use the bank’s services (either personalized online based payment platforms or payroll departments) to pay salaries and the service promised fails. This distorts working arrangements of some customers especially companies with large numbers of temporal staffs. Best scenarios are some staff receiving their salaries and others not because the remitting bank sent wrong details of those affected staff. This causes back and forth dealings between the remitting and paying banks and the end result is payments being effected days after the supposed dates. This in most cases leads to financial loss to these companies due to labour down time. The affected staffs sometimes fail to work because they have not been paid and stay off work until they receive their salaries.
Instances of offshore transfers are another disappointing venture at the banks. Customers are given standard charges and applicable rates at the time of submitting transfer requests and supporting documents. The bank staffs reviews the instruction and supporting documents and accepts them because everything is in order and the transfer will be processed. The customer realizes days after submitting the transfer requestthat the money is still sitting in the bank account and therefore contacts the bank only to be told additional supporting documents are needed before the transfer can be effected. When that is done, the customer is then called to top up funds in the account because exchange rates have changed and available funds are not enough to cover transfer amount and charges. Where is the service promised? By the time the transfer is effected, the customer ends up paying more than what is budgeted for that particular transaction. Payments that are time bound tend to attract penalty which are borne by the customer and not the bank. This situation is not any different from guarantee payments which goes through the bank’s credit approval process such as Letters of Credit issued to businesses. There are most often delays from the bank after the necessary documents have been submitted and when the draft is eventually ready, terms and conditions may not favour the importer’s business or product specification errors which means the draft must be amended again before the importer will accept it thereby extending the estimated time for the transaction.
Self service outlets and digital centres are not left out in this service challenge of who is who in delivering substandard services. ATM machines are most often unreliable and customers are greeted with ‘out of service’ notices or ‘your financial institution cannot be reached’ messages. The use of ATM and other self service outlets are becoming a necessity and play a complementary role to brick and mortar branch and online channels and not a preserve of the privileged in society as the case used to be. According to Accenture (a global management consulting and professional services company) in its ATM benchmarking study of 2016 and industry report, North America has the highest ATM penetration with 227.27 ATM per 100,000 adult populations in 2014 and globally, 43.97 ATM per 100,000 adult populations. Ghana however has 10.26 ATM per 100,000 adult populations. This statistics is a clear indication of the need for these services and should drive the industry to provide the necessary platform for these services to be seamless.
KEEPING THE SERVICE PROMISE
Banks and bank staff in their quest to convert new businesses in the case of potential customers and also to maintain their existing customers tend to make service promises that are naturally in line with the mission and vision of the bank. However, they are unable to fulfil these promises to the satisfaction of customers.Some customers get dissatisfied when the service levels do not match up with the standards promised them and hence consequently terminate any business relations with the bank or inadvertently move their accounts to other banks. Some of these unhappy customers could ultimately become ‘unsolicited substandard service ambassadors’ sharing the gospel of bad services of the bank everywhere. In order to fulfil the promises made to customers, banks and bank staff must adopt appropriate principles to achieve this. One of such is the ‘CLASS ACT’ of service excellence.
The ‘CLASS ACT’, is a maxim adapted by Mr Henry Oroh (the MD/CEO of Zenith Bank Gh Ltd), where the entire concept of customer service is encapsulated and given a proper complexion. According to Mr Oroh, CLASS ACT as a customer service principle has served as a pivot and service tool that has greatly improved the face of customer service within the various segments of the bank (Zenith Bank). It is his contention that the CLASS ACT is as ‘classy’ as the customer service should be. Each alphabet of the CLASS ACT adds its own unique meaning to the paradigm.
The C in ‘CLASS ACT’ stands for courtesy, L for Listening, A for Acknowledge, S for Sooth the customer, S for Solutions, A for Apology, C for communication and T for Thank you.
C for Courteousness is an attitude of life which cost nothing but can open doors to the world that seem impossible in life.Dealing with people especially customers in or outside the banking halls requires exuding the best of attitude because this will extend beyond the bank staff and to the bank. It is easy to be courteous when the staff feels positive in his heart and ready to engage inidea-filled conversations with the customer instead of looking for flaws in the customer’s interaction or request. Unfulfilled desires and pent up emotions which might be carried over for long are usually some of the reasons for which one becomes rude on the job. The best advice for such situation is for the staff to ‘hang’ all such issues outside before stepping into work premises.
L for Listening. It is very important to listen to customers whether being attended to in the banking halls, via telephone or online without allowing interruption from internal noises. It is rude to repeatedly ask a customer to repeat lines in a conversation because it clearly shows that the staff is wandering about in his or her mind and not focusing on the customer. Service can only be rendered satisfactorily when the request or complaint is carried across successfully because that is the only guaranty that the solution provided is tailored appropriately.
A for Acknowledge. Every customer is unique and must be treated as such. Customers must be acknowledged no matter the level of business transactions with the bank or their known social or political status. Acknowledge customers for choosing the bank as a preferred banking destination and addressed by their preferred titles and names. This creates a cascading effect which heightens customer confidence in the bank and will spill over into all aspects of the customer’s life including becoming a voluntary service ambassador for the bank.
S for Soothe. It is natural for shortfalls in service delivery as long as humans are involved, however if this happens, the customer must be soothed and not left to take a decision on the bank’s inaction.Giving the customer corporate branded souvenirs and going the extra mile and walk the customer to the car park will help in the service shortfall repair process. The customer must be reassured repeatedly of prompt and efficient services so as to defuse the bad experience from the customer’s mind and renew a nearly marred service relationship.
S for Solution. It is not enough to soothe the customer when challenges arise or shortfalls surface from service delivery. The bank must provide timely solutions in order to regain the trust of the customer. However, in providing solutions, the bank staff must be well informed in the products and services and be familiar with all attributes as well. Many at times customers are taken aback due to conflicting information from different bank employees on the same products or services and policies.This negatively affects customer confidence in the bank and its services delivery.
A for Apology. Just as important it is to provide solutions to service shortfalls, the act of apology and showing empathy in the process is amazingly effective. However in doing this, the customer service officer must avoid using sentences or phrases that removes one from the company or one’s responsibility because the staff represents the company. This shows that the staff understands there is a problem and something is being done to solve it. In order to build trust and transparency, a customer who experienced a gap in service delivery wants to know if there is a solution and want to be connected to that solution providing process from start to finish. This makes customers feel connected to the bank.
C for Communication. All forms of communication with the customer whether verbal or written must be in clear and concise terms. The Business dictonary.com (an online dictionary) defines communication as ‘Two-way process of reaching mutual understanding, in which participants not only exchange (encode-decode) information, news, ideas and feelings but also create and share meaning’.Communication therefore simply means relaying information through speaking, writing or through other means to get a point across. When the bank staff is able to express intentions, ideas, challenges and solutions to the customer successfully with the right body language and without withholding vital information, the chances of getting the right feedback from the customer grows exponentially. Pretence in communication naturally stifles the flow of information and denies the individual the joy of full and authentic self-expression.
T for Thank you.The ultimate goal of every service provider is to delight and satisfy the customer in order to exceed the service expectation and create the ‘wow factor’ which eventually leads to turning a new customer into a long term service brand ambassador. Basic good manners and genuine‘Thank you’ may seem as simple but shows the level of gratitude in every business communication with the customer and demonstrates excellent customer service skill of the bank. However in showing gratitude by saying thank you should be done appropriately to suit the moment in order to create a rapport with every customer and increase the business. It also opens up opportunities but not to end conversations when the actual intention is to open sales.
CONCLUSION
Banks must keep up with the pace of customer demands in providing the needed care expected of them on daily basis. Periodic staff training is necessary to equip staff with the required skills in order to eliminate offensive and poor work attitude so as to keep customers smiling at all times because of excellent customer care experienced. An ill-informed staff cannot deliver the wow experience that a brand stands for to retain existing and attract potential customers which greatly affect the market share of the bank.
The turnaround time for transactions must be spelt out to all bank staff and ensure strict compliance. Checklist for Swift transfers for individuals and companies and other basic transactions must be displayed at the appropriate department for reference purposes. This will eliminate delays and prop up efficiency at all transaction stages. However, all these processes and procedures must be run efficiently on a reliable system. Systems reliability is not limited to facilities and equipment but extends to all channels of service delivery such as well trained staff who are at the customer’s service at all times.
Excellent customer service cannot be taken for granted in today’s business world due to the sophisticated nature of customer service expectations. No company can afford the associated cost with customer acquisition and loose them the next minute due to substandard service delivered by its staff. The huge investment in customer service must be enough to offer the desired service and retain customers.
Author: Edem Anewu || Banker
Anewu.edem@gmail.com
The writer is an advocate for green banking and its associated inclusive financing and convenience with over 10 years banking and service provision career.
