Creating Customer WOW!
Here is an article that I recently wrote for our company e-news letter. As a CRM consultant at heart, this is the kind of stuff I love to talk about.
At Commerce Bank, you can hear the customers saying "Wow," and the stockholders saying even louder, "Wowie!" With a stock that has grown 850% in the past twelve years, Commerce Bank has made its mark in the banking industry as an unconventional maverick by attacking conventional banking policies that are not customer-friendly. Commerce has a "Kill a Stupid Rule" program. If an employee identifies a rule that prevents them from wowing customers, they'll get fifty bucks — a nice incentive to keep looking out for the customer.
Here are four things Commerce is doing today that retain their best customers and win new ones.
1. Increase the frequency their employees can interact personally with the customers. Commerce grows new branches like crabgrass on Miracle Grow. They have added over two hundred branches in the last four years, which is double what they had in 2004. Growth like this is adding the most important element to the bank: deposits. Where most banks focus on loans, Commerce Bank has shown that growth comes from low-cost deposits. Free checking is back in style again in the industry, primarily because Commerce proved the benefit of customers coming into the branch every week to deposit or cash checks. Increased interactions increases loyalty and loyal customers will ask about car loans, home loans, business loans and other banking services. More Frequency = More Profitable Customers
2. Monitor service performance - Get Nutz. The bank sends mystery shoppers into every branch twice a week to evaluate the service. They look for handshakes and smiles. The scores generate competition between branches. Awards, including the "Mr. C" trophy, are given to the winning branch. Commerce Bank has institutionalized the emotional components of its business. Don't forget that people buy primarily for emotional reasons. Measure how you are giving the customers a positive emotional experience every time you interact with them. Good Emotions = Good Customers
3. Wow your own people before you can wow your customer. Inspired by McDonald's Hamburger University, the training department at Commerce Bank changes the vocabulary of typical bankers. New staff is praised for being "wowie." They learn all the brochures, where they are supposed to stand during busy times, and how to "Say it with a Smile." By the time employees complete the training program, they have become part of the cult of Wow. The bottom line is that Commerce Bank is standardizing business processes. Currently, they are able to cash a check at a teller window in about twenty seconds because they teach the fundamentals and then measure performance. High performance is rewarded - teams of employees can win "Wowies" at Radio City in New York City in front of all their peers. The casual observer would swear that Commerce employees have all lost their minds and joined some goofy cult. Happy Staff = Happy Customers
4. Grow your Likeability Factor - Have fun- It attracts great customers. Business can be fun if you make it that way. If you want to see fun it action, just visit Commerce during a branch opening. A May 2002 Fast Company magazine article described an opening like this: "For Commerce, a typical suburban branch opening is like a carnival. There's a tent, music, and as many as 3,000 people participating in the family-oriented festivities. … To promote the openings of its first two branches in Manhattan, Commerce spent $500,000 per branch — four to five times what it normally spends. There were direct mailings, ads on subway and phone kiosks, and countless buzz blitzes. The bank even enlisted street vendors, who gave out 10,000 hot dogs wrapped in Commerce napkins."
People are attracted to businesses that make it pleasant and fun to work with. Don't be fooled by fancy banker suits, and the financial complexity that is inherent in their business. Commerce Bank has tapped into the most obvious aspect of business today: Customers are the most important asset your company has. Delivering consistently great service will attract great customers. Working to take your customer service from ok to Wow is not easy. But, as Commerce Bank has shown, it is definitely a key to success.
At Commerce Bank, you can hear the customers saying "Wow," and the stockholders saying even louder, "Wowie!" With a stock that has grown 850% in the past twelve years, Commerce Bank has made its mark in the banking industry as an unconventional maverick by attacking conventional banking policies that are not customer-friendly. Commerce has a "Kill a Stupid Rule" program. If an employee identifies a rule that prevents them from wowing customers, they'll get fifty bucks — a nice incentive to keep looking out for the customer.
Here are four things Commerce is doing today that retain their best customers and win new ones.
1. Increase the frequency their employees can interact personally with the customers. Commerce grows new branches like crabgrass on Miracle Grow. They have added over two hundred branches in the last four years, which is double what they had in 2004. Growth like this is adding the most important element to the bank: deposits. Where most banks focus on loans, Commerce Bank has shown that growth comes from low-cost deposits. Free checking is back in style again in the industry, primarily because Commerce proved the benefit of customers coming into the branch every week to deposit or cash checks. Increased interactions increases loyalty and loyal customers will ask about car loans, home loans, business loans and other banking services. More Frequency = More Profitable Customers
2. Monitor service performance - Get Nutz. The bank sends mystery shoppers into every branch twice a week to evaluate the service. They look for handshakes and smiles. The scores generate competition between branches. Awards, including the "Mr. C" trophy, are given to the winning branch. Commerce Bank has institutionalized the emotional components of its business. Don't forget that people buy primarily for emotional reasons. Measure how you are giving the customers a positive emotional experience every time you interact with them. Good Emotions = Good Customers
3. Wow your own people before you can wow your customer. Inspired by McDonald's Hamburger University, the training department at Commerce Bank changes the vocabulary of typical bankers. New staff is praised for being "wowie." They learn all the brochures, where they are supposed to stand during busy times, and how to "Say it with a Smile." By the time employees complete the training program, they have become part of the cult of Wow. The bottom line is that Commerce Bank is standardizing business processes. Currently, they are able to cash a check at a teller window in about twenty seconds because they teach the fundamentals and then measure performance. High performance is rewarded - teams of employees can win "Wowies" at Radio City in New York City in front of all their peers. The casual observer would swear that Commerce employees have all lost their minds and joined some goofy cult. Happy Staff = Happy Customers
4. Grow your Likeability Factor - Have fun- It attracts great customers. Business can be fun if you make it that way. If you want to see fun it action, just visit Commerce during a branch opening. A May 2002 Fast Company magazine article described an opening like this: "For Commerce, a typical suburban branch opening is like a carnival. There's a tent, music, and as many as 3,000 people participating in the family-oriented festivities. … To promote the openings of its first two branches in Manhattan, Commerce spent $500,000 per branch — four to five times what it normally spends. There were direct mailings, ads on subway and phone kiosks, and countless buzz blitzes. The bank even enlisted street vendors, who gave out 10,000 hot dogs wrapped in Commerce napkins."
People are attracted to businesses that make it pleasant and fun to work with. Don't be fooled by fancy banker suits, and the financial complexity that is inherent in their business. Commerce Bank has tapped into the most obvious aspect of business today: Customers are the most important asset your company has. Delivering consistently great service will attract great customers. Working to take your customer service from ok to Wow is not easy. But, as Commerce Bank has shown, it is definitely a key to success.
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