The Banking Buddy

For financial institutions, organic growth means more emphasis on customer retention, brand loyalty and share of wallet. Accenture recently published an article on the subject, stating, “Organic growth is the key opportunity for most financial services companies today, and significant growth can still be achieved by developing deeper, more relevant and more profitable relationships with customers.”

And Gartner Research has this to say:

“Today banks focus almost exclusively on organic growth. New customers are five time more expensive to acquire than retaining current customers.”

And, Gartner adds, “Loyal customers spend more on higher margin products and are more likely to refer additional customers.”

Source: Financial Publishing Services

Customer Rentention

In survey results reported in November 2004 by CRMGuru, 74% of respondents who said they had stopped using a product or service blamed customer service as a major factor in their decision.

In commercial finance, improving customer service can simply involve increasing the number of meaningful touch points with clients. If these touch points offer clients needed tools and information to help them succeed in their business, you’ve also reinforced your brand as a business partner. And, the more embedded you become in your client’s business process, the more likely the client will be to remain loyal to the partnership.

"Even the very basic act of re-communicating with clients gets you tremendous returns.
People do want to be engaged - they want to know that you care, and they want to hear from you,” says Michael Lowenstein, co-author of Customer Winback: How To Recapture Lost Customers—And Keep Them Loyal.

More useful info to come!