Fiserv Premier Banks Tap Quest Analytics to Energize Bank Sales and Customer Relationship Management

Community Banks across the country are taking notice of bank sales software tools and sales training solutions from Quest Analytics. In 2012, the number of Fiserv Premier customers tapping Quest Analytics to enhance their customer relationship management and bank sales capabilities increased by 300 percent. Karl Keller, President of Quest Analytics, said “We have such a strong user base of Fiserv Premier clients who embrace our solutions. Our bank sales and sales training solutions are the perfect complement for banks using Fiserv Premier as demonstrated by our continually growing list of customers. “

Quest Analytics’ products include IQLeads, IQProspects, and Teller Referral Assistant and all are designed specifically for community banks to help them improve sales by better understanding and serving the needs of their customers. Quest Analytics’ solutions work with any core banking solution. However, the company’s growing success complementing Fiserv Premier over the past several years is testament to the market leading sales solutions.

“This is so much more than software,” said Keller. “This is a complete sales solution that will transform your community bank. The combination of our bank sales software tools and bank sales training solutions provide Fiserv Premier customers with an industry-proven, complete solution.” According to recent studies, over half of customer relationship management and sales implementations by banks fail. The number one reason why is resistance to change at all levels of the bank.

Quest Analytics understands community banks and invests time in reviewing business processes and training and getting buy-in from staff across the bank before implementation of the tools. Champions and experts are developed across the organization as the key to the bank’s success.

In just under a year, Quest has added over a dozen new Fiserv Premier customers to its customer base. Keller said, “This is testament to the quality of our solution and the results our customers are experiencing affirms this every day.”

Building a Community Bank or Credit Union Sales & Service Culture

More and more community banks and credit unions are seeking to build a stronger sales and service culture inside their organizations. This need is driven by increased competition, fewer walk-ins, the commoditization of products and services, and the fact that other financial service organizations can now offer products and services that were once the sole province of banks.

• What do you want your optimal sales and service culture to look like when your culture change is complete?
• Who can make the transition?
• What resources will it take?
• What will the challenges be?
• What if the existing associates of the organization don't want to change?
• How can we track our progress to see that it is really working?
• Do your associates have the skills, abilities and attitude to make it happen?

Although the specific challenges of building a sales culture inside are different at every organization we work with, there are some things that we know for certain:

1. The culture won't change on its own.
2. The culture won't change without someone in management driving that change.
3. The culture won't change without setting simple, basic expectations.
4. The culture won't change without showing associates how to do what they need to do to meet the expectations.
5. The culture won't change without training on the necessary skills so as to provide everyone with the needed ability and confidence.
6. The culture won't change without continual coaching.
7. The culture won't change unless you work on it each day.
8. The culture won't change unless there is an early emphasis on low-risk concepts like cross-selling, up-selling, calling customers/clients, and searching for new referrals.
9. The culture won't change unless management holds everyone accountable.

We have addressed many of these issues in previous postings on this blog and in our SalesDrive newsletter. Check out some recent postings including Follow-up Sales Leads Like A Bloodhound and Energizing Teller Sales Referrals in Four Easy Steps. You can also check our web site for more information on sales training and coaching.

So you see, to get to where you want to go with your sales culture, you need to visualize the results and put into practice the components that will help you achieve success. Will it be easy to do? In most cases it will not. That is why you need to find experience you can draw from. You need to find a partner that has travelled this road before.

Bank Marketing Finds Success in Personal Relationships and Valued Customers

Within five miles of my house, there has to be at least two dozen sandwich shops. Yet, one of them stands above all others. It is a Subway® store. There are three others just like it within that five mile radius of my home. But, I always go to the one specific store and have for years.

Is the food any better or different than the others? Not really. I go because I feel valued there. They provide me a great customer experience. The team that works there welcomes every single customer as they come into the store no matter how busy they are. The smile from behind the counter and the “Welcome to Subway” resonate strongly with me and are the best marketing they could have. I even drive past the other restaurants when I am out just to go to this specific location. Funny how such little things can have a big impact on the customer experience.

Many community banks and credit unions also stand out to their customers or members in much the same way. A friendly and warm greeting as they enter the branch, no matter how busy your staff are, is a great start and great free bank marketing. Another great way is to ditch the hard sales or bank marketing pitch and spend the time getting to know your customer and their needs through a sales interview.

One of our customers calls this the ‘Wow!’ factor and aims for it at all of his branches for every interaction. Another simple way to wow your customer is to simply wish them a happy birthday. We know the birthday of nearly all of our customers now due to regulations so we can take advantage of that piece of information to demonstrate to our customers that we know and appreciate them. The results from this simple action produce tremendous good will from your customers and give you that edge over any of your competitors. It works so well, many bank marketing departments of our clients have started to have branches call customers to tell them happy birthday with similar results. Others do the same thing with customer anniversaries for accounts, such as a one-year or five-year anniversary for checking or money market accounts.

Recent media coverage has created an impression that banks are greedy and not concerned about their customers. Imagine receiving a call from your institution that your account was getting ready to enter dormancy and they wanted to remind you again so you could avoid the associated fees and keep that account active. Perhaps it is a call to offer a better mortgage or other loan rate to a customer that has high rates by today’s standards. These personal touches and a positive attitude let customers you know that you have a vested interest in them and value their business and trust in you. This is bank marketing based on creating the customer experience.

These types of customer interactions most often do not lead to an immediate increase in sales. However, they occasionally do, although that is not the end goal. I can point to many of our clients who offer stories of people who had been putting off a new account until a friendly call or interaction reminded them and made them confident that this was the institution with which they wanted to expand their relationship. People appreciate the personal attention and in this world of e-this and i-that, it is increasingly rare and really does make you stand out to your customers.

Institutions are finding success using leading bank CRM (customer relationship management) and bank marketing tools such as Quest's IQLeads, IQProspects, and Teller Referral Assistant. These systems help banks move beyond traditional MCIF capabilities and create a true customer experience by facilitating real-time interactions with customers.

This is the inherent value of these efforts, to improve the image of your institution in the mind of your customers or members which at some point down the line will produce new accounts or even referrals of friends and family. Sounds a lot like the end goal of bank marketing, right? While the larger banks are moving to more impersonal customer service models to improve efficiencies and reduce costs, successful community banks and credit unions know that their own customers and members appreciate the personal attention. You can still offer the convenience of self-service banking and complement it with your personal attention for in-branch transactions and even personal calls to alert customers to activity or even say happy birthday.

Define what you want your customer experience to be and train your staff to deliver on it. This is the new bank marketing in action at the front-line by creating a great customer experience that sets you apart. Set the service standard and be the branch office that people drive out of their way to get to because they feel appreciated. Earn their business and trust with every visit. This is your differentiator—it’s what sets you apart from the cold, impersonal style of the big banks.