Bank Customer Experience Summit panel offers insight on hospitality strategies

How do banks maintain and grow their customer base? This is an ever-present question, and the answers vary from delivering innovative digital tools to offering better interest rates. Another way banks can meet their customers needs is bringing back some old-fashioned hospitality.

A panel at the upcoming Bank Customer Experience Summit, being held in Charlotte, North Carolina from Sept. 12 to 13 will look at how banks can bring hospitality back to the banking environment. The panelists will discuss how they have rolled out initiatives to make their customers feel more at home in their banks.

Robyn Breshears, executive director of sales service and support, at Arvest Bank, Marbue Brown, founder of The Customer Obsession Advantage, Mike Parisi, SVP and chief strategy officer at Ledyard National Bank and William Sullivan IV, VP, senior client experience Manager at Cambridge Trust will serve as panelists and will focus on how user-friendly onboarding programs can work together with client satisfaction and business development objectives.

When asked what was one thing banks could do to create a more hospitable environment, the panelists shared a variety of suggestions in email interviews.

Sullivan recommends banks develop a broad strategy from the branch design to the staff to ambience. For example, he said it is important for the bank to have someone in the lobby to greet the customer and direct them where they need to go. Even opening the door to clients can help with this endeavor.

"Creating a brighter and more welcoming branch design has been a strategic focus for many institutions. Having the ability to complete all of your needs with one person instead of being bounced around to people that can only handle parts of your needs," Sullivan said. " Having background music and even a diffuser or candle to ignite the sensory response for customers as they enter your locations."

Breshears pointed out that with hospitality, there are many things banks can do, and there is no specific "one thing" that will deliver hospitality.

"It's a combination of synthesizing how a customer interacts with the bank — digitally or physically," Breshears said.

Breshears also pointed out banks need to act as a host that identifies the customer's needs and meets those needs once they walk into the branch.

"Similar to a gathering at your home, the host may offer a cup of coffee or glass of water and some popcorn," Breshears said. "Help escort the customer to the right space to assist them and engage in conversation the whole time to build a relationship. Regardless of the reason the customer came into the branch, our response must be helpful, and our goal must be to solve the need(s) of the customer."

To learn more about the topic and get insight on many more challenges and trends in banking click here to register for the Bank Customer Experience Summit. This year, the event will be held in tandem with the Interactive Customer Experience Summit held from Sept. 11 to 13 which will draw leaders from the restaurant, retail and hospitality industries to discuss customer experience trends. One pass gains entry to both events. Use the code AMCEDIT20 for 20% off at checkout.