Great 'Work in a bank? What should we know' Hunt

chambta

'Sales' I guess is my job but I have never had to sell anything in my life. I simply point out benefits and allow customers to make choices. I'm not scrutinised by anyone for what I do and I can almost certainly guarantee that every customer I see leaves happy.

I'm perfectly happy to have an hour with people for 'nothing' if the end result is a happy customer and someone who may recommend my service to someone else.

The result? Customers from various branches I've worked at who travel miles to see me and won't believe their balance unless I tell them and a branch that last year was the most profitable in the country.

There are rogues amongst us but to tar everyone with the same brush is unfair.

ShelfStacker_3

I, personally, object to just flogging people things for the sake of flogging them. The reviews are fine, in my mind, if people consent to them, they could benefit from them and they're not just being offered for the sake of them. If someone could benefit from something I could suggest to them, then that's fine, but if they're not, and it's just something I've been prompted to talk to the customer about, well... why bother?

That said, some people (Inactive strikes me as one) don't want to listen to anything the banks say, as they feel they could do things for themselves. I had someone the other week lash out at me because I suggested that, since they always paid their credit card bill off in full, they could pay it off by Direct Debit instead of cheque and save themselves some effort - not because of targets or whatever, but because it genuinely could have saved them some time and effort. That sort of person just doesn't want to know. But for each of that sort of person, there's probably one more who actually could benefit, and be receptive and open-minded about it.

Now I'm not saying that everyone could benefit, or that they're just ignorant. But a lot of people genuinely could benefit, and I feel things would be more productive if banks (HSBC included) sold things more on the basis of a mutual benefit for both the bank and the customer, rather than just offering everyone who walks through the door a review and seeing what happens.

Inactive

willo65 wrote: »

You sound like someone who won't take advice from anyone whether it would benefit you or not.....beacuse you have too much pride?

If I need advice, I ask for it, I don't need any bank to offer it to me dressed up as an " Account Review ". ( read sales pitch ).

Inactive

ShelfStacker wrote: »

That said, some people (Inactive strikes me as one) don't want to listen to anything the banks say, as they feel they could do things for themselves. I had someone the other week lash out at me because I suggested that, since they always paid their credit card bill off in full, they could pay it off by Direct Debit instead of cheque and save themselves some effort - not because of targets or whatever, but because it genuinely could have saved them some time and effort. That sort of person just doesn't want to know. But for each of that sort of person, there's probably one more who actually could benefit, and be receptive and open-minded about it.

Surely, if a customer is content with their existing payment methods, it has got SFA to do with the bank how they conduct their own business, I too would have been annoyed if some Bank Cashier tried to tell me how I should conduct my affairs.

Surely their time would be better spent behind the glass, reducing queue lengths.:rolleyes:

My major gripe with these so called " Account Reviews " is the termonology used by the banks, I wouldn't be so anti if they said it is a " Sales Pitch " from the outset.

It is the deceipt used by banks to get customers to attend that infuriates me.:mad:

Twister84

Inactive wrote: »

If I need advice, I ask for it, I don't need any bank to offer it to me dressed up as an " Account Review ". ( read sales pitch ).

As mentioned before - you might, many others won't.

A bank is stilll a business that needs running. Most people know what a Customer Service Review is - we even tell them what it is if they don't already know.


A CSR should be about promoting products that might or could benefit the customer. It is then solely up to the customer. Nothing should technically be "sold" unless the customer feels a need for it.

A review might just involve a new account being open, or opening a savings account and transferring the funds from a current.

It is therefore not a "sales pitch" :rolleyes:

Twister84

Inactive wrote: »

Surely, if a customer is content with their existing payment methods, it has got SFA to do with the bank how they conduct their own business, I too would have been annoyed if some Bank Cashier tried to tell me how I should conduct my affairs.

He said "could", you said "should" - there is a major difference. I know why I use direct debits - to save myself some time. If the customer doesn't want to use other methods, then that's fine also.

Surely their time would be better spent behind the glass, reducing queue lengths.:rolleyes:

Paying a bill using direct debit = 1 less person in the queue

Inactive

Twister84 wrote: »

A CSR should be about promoting products that might or could benefit the customer. It is then solely up to the customer. Nothing should technically be "sold" unless the customer feels a need for it.

:

Utter tosh, if the bank really had the customers interest at heart, they would need to advise of alternatives to their own suppliers, which of course they do not.

It is all about making the banks richer, dressed up as an " Account Review " you know that, I know that.

willo65

Inactive wrote: »

Surely, if a customer is content with their existing payment methods, it has got SFA to do with the bank how they conduct their own business, I too would have been annoyed if some Bank Cashier tried to tell me how I should conduct my affairs.

Surely their time would be better spent behind the glass, reducing queue lengths.:rolleyes:

The reason the queues are sometimes so long is because people don't listen ie pay by D/D instead of coming to the bank every month. Or people that come in on a weekly basis to check a balance/withdraw £50 - why not us the ATM?

willo65

Inactive wrote: »

Utter tosh, if the bank really had the customers interest at heart, they would need to advise of alternatives to their own suppliers, which of course they do not.

It is all about making the banks richer, dressed up as an " Account Review " you know that, I know that.

Well as it has already been mentioned a bank is still a business, and as I stated in a previous post: If the bank doesn't give you any advice and you had £40k in a current account then you would be losing out on lots of interest.....So a savings account would be more benficial than if they'd left you to your own devices.

Kavanne

chambta wrote: »

I'm not scrutinised by anyone for what I do and I can almost certainly guarantee that every customer I see leaves happy.

You should be. In telephony, we are scrutinised all the time. We are assessed on compliancy and customer service. I wish branch were, misselling is rife. Someone once said to me they were glad they were given advantage gold because they needed an overdraft. I had to explain that they didn't need the adgold to have an overdraft.... They had opened it in branch and that is what the CA had told them!:mad: