How would you define a relationship?
For most of us, it would most likely include some form of personal interaction and some clear mutual benefits for those involved.
On this basis, it seems that the banks still don’t get it. While they might talk about wanting a relationship with their customers, we’re hearing that it is still a one-way deal.
At the top level, bank CEOs and senior executives appear to have accepted the need for change, but the message does not appear to have filtered down to middle management. There may be more local managers tasked with taking care of SME customers, but when each has a case load in the hundreds and in some cases thousands, how can they hope to build any meaningful understanding of their customers’ needs?
While the marketing language may have changed it seems the behaviour hasn’t. SME customers are still being treated as ‘cannon fodder’ to whom ‘products’ are sold by a computer.
It seems banks still need to embrace the need for change – or are we speaking to the wrong customers?
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