Show notes:

• 0:30 Clip from NBC’s The Office: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QQBB3cwNM0
• 1:00 What is the retail experience like at most community banks and credit unions? Probably worse than you’d guess.
• 2:15 AnaMaria Calderon and Matthew Greenlee are Retail Experience Managers who work with community banks and credit unions to monitor and improve their retail experience.
• 3:15 Many community financial institutions have mission statements, but very few have really examined whether or not that mission statement is built into every interaction with the customer or member.
  
  Typical mission statement: “We strive to be the trusted financial advisor for all our clients’ needs.”
• 3:30 There are three places that consumers will meet you for products and services:
  1. In person
  2. Online
  3. On the phone
• 4:00 In the calls we listen to today, you’ll see that the mission statement doesn’t come through.
• 4:25 The three calls we will listen to today come from institutions that are new to Kasasa and haven’t completed the training process.
• 5:05 What does a Mystery Shop mean for us at Kasasa and for the institutions that we’re working with?
  
  Matt: We call them posing as an average consumer asking about checking accounts. We typically lead with the types of questions that average consumers would ask.
• 5:43 Call number 1, minor human interaction, goes to voicemail.
• 7:15 Breaking down the call. What went right? What went wrong? Out of 13,000 calls, 30% of the time the call ends in voicemail, left on hold for two minutes, or asked for a name and call-back number.
• 8:00 Most consumers aren’t going to persist if they can’t speak to a human in a timely fashion. They’re going to look for another institution that is prepared to help them right away.
• 8:25 It’s the equivalent of leaving 30% of potential business opportunities on the table, unanswered.
• 9:05 Timeliness in responding to the consumer is an issue across the board with community financial institutions, not just in the area of checking accounts, but loans as well.
• 9:22 Call number 2, human interaction, but the representative on the phone wasn’t trained on the products and couldn’t really answer questions or provide helpful guidance.
• 11:00 Victoria: The rep used a very clinical approach, moving straight into “required documents” and failed to show any excitement or interest in the new-potential account holder.
• 11:30 There was no rapport building. If you’re going to be the “trusted financial advisor” we can’t have people who say “I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
• 11:45 If you do have an untrained person answer the phone, make sure they’re equipped to transfer the caller to someone who is knowledgeable and can help.
• 12:00 What is a warm transfer?
  Matt: When you take the opportunity to make sure the person you’re going to transfer to is at their desk and available to help.
• 13:20 What should an community bank or credit union executive do if they are strapped for resources and they’re just trying to get someone to answer the phone instead of letting it go to voicemail?
• 13:33 You have to take the time to train that person. Set them up for success, give them access to the product knowledge and set the expectations for what the retail experience should look like.