To help achieve superior shareholder value, organic growth appears as a common strategy in the annual reports of financial institutions, regardless of size or geographic location. In a recent survey*, Accenture examined more than 100 retail-bank strategies for the near future. Accenture surveyed 118 senior marketing and distribution executives in major retail banks in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The survey confirmed that growth was a priority.
Retaining customers through customer advocacy programs help protect your current customer base and compensate for natural customer attrition. When it comes to meeting or exceeding organic growth targets, customer retention may not be enough. To help achieve organic growth goals, for example, financial institutions expand their customer relationships by adding new accounts, new products or services. In addition, financial institutions can also increase penetration of current products, by adding funds to existing accounts or increasing debt levels.
The Accenture survey found that cross-selling was the tactic of choice for bankers eager to increase share-of-wallet from both new and existing customers. They also concluded that effective "cross-selling must be targeted, fast and relevant to allow banks to gain and retain profitable customers."
Traditional marketing tactics like direct mail and offers sent with printed statements have low response rates - on average 2% - since most of the times, they may be placed in a recycling bin before they are even open. And if they do get open, your offer becomes one of the thousands that we get exposed to every day. Moreover, direct mail takes days before it reaches its audience. And then it may take days before it is open. Announcements and ads in branches are another way to cross-sell, but with point-of-sale advertising being so overwhelming in all retail outlets, it becomes background noise and we, as consumers, become immune to it.
If you are looking for a targeted, fast and relevant way to cross-sell and spur new growth from your existing customer base, we recommend that you contact Fincentric at 1-800-667-1185 (Canada and US) or 1-604-278-6470 (International). We developed a simple teller referral system that helps you present current and relevant offers at the "right time" - the time when your customers decided to do business with you. And it works with all your existing systems and processes.
* "Organic Growth in Retail Banking: A Global Survey of Strategies and Programs", Accenture
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"Having a fully integrated CRM solution accessible to our frontline sales staff makes us well-positioned for future growth. The software solution will provide the needed flexibility to expand our customer services operations and enable our frontline service representatives to generate an exponential volume of warm leads that result in increased revenue."
Tony Wolfe, President and Chief Executive Officer, Peoples Bank
County National got 11,000 leads in 3 months.
How many leads are hiding in your customer database?
Using Fincentric software, County National Bank beat their every expectation with a 450% increase in response to targeted teller pitches compared to direct mail campaigns. Their frontline representatives generated a 25% close rate for qualified leads and they experienced a 114% increase in e-Statement sign-ups for a savings over U.S. $28,000. Read case study |
