Part one
An international study on customer loyalty in financial services was presented at the 17th World Conference of Banking Institutes in year 2007 Toronto.
Dr. J. Bergeron of Univesity du Quebec, Montreal, reported results of this study that covered 1,000 financial advisors and 2,000 customers. The bottom line of the study was the number one factor to influence customer satisfaction and loyalty is to "manage customers' expectations."
This is in line with the mantra being chanted by customers relationship management experts for the past few years that "managing customers' expectations is the surest way to build customers loyalty". While the formula appears quite simple, it would be native to think that managing expectations is easy.
It is usually as tricky as answering a question, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" A 'yes' can get you in trouble as it is an admission that she was being beaten in the past, and a 'no' is even worse! So is the task of setting, meeting, and exceeding customers expectations - or the art of managing expectations.
So how are expectations managed? A customer's satisfaction is measured by the difference between his expectations and perception of the results. Service experts advocate that the golden rule of customers service is 'under promise and over deliver.' Such an approach raised the ethical question "are we manipulating customers?"
The golden rule implies that institutions will reduce (hopefully within reason) customer expectations to make it easier to impress them. But, the simple truth with expectations is Yeasterday's differentiators in customer accuracy and speed have become today's 'givens'.
To be continued................
An international study on customer loyalty in financial services was presented at the 17th World Conference of Banking Institutes in year 2007 Toronto.
Dr. J. Bergeron of Univesity du Quebec, Montreal, reported results of this study that covered 1,000 financial advisors and 2,000 customers. The bottom line of the study was the number one factor to influence customer satisfaction and loyalty is to "manage customers' expectations."
This is in line with the mantra being chanted by customers relationship management experts for the past few years that "managing customers' expectations is the surest way to build customers loyalty". While the formula appears quite simple, it would be native to think that managing expectations is easy.
It is usually as tricky as answering a question, "Have you stopped beating your wife?" A 'yes' can get you in trouble as it is an admission that she was being beaten in the past, and a 'no' is even worse! So is the task of setting, meeting, and exceeding customers expectations - or the art of managing expectations.
So how are expectations managed? A customer's satisfaction is measured by the difference between his expectations and perception of the results. Service experts advocate that the golden rule of customers service is 'under promise and over deliver.' Such an approach raised the ethical question "are we manipulating customers?"
The golden rule implies that institutions will reduce (hopefully within reason) customer expectations to make it easier to impress them. But, the simple truth with expectations is Yeasterday's differentiators in customer accuracy and speed have become today's 'givens'.
To be continued................
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