Chastised at the branch

“You know you could have done that online”.

Boom. There it was. I had made a concentrated effort to stop by my local branch to conduct some business. I hadn’t been inside for a while so I wanted to check out the current marketing and merchandising efforts because, well, that’s what I do.

I knew that I could have conducted my business online. In fact, I could have accomplished what I wanted to do on my smartphone. But I chose not to. I chose to go into the branch. A secondary reason for my in-person visit was to experience the very scenario that I am writing about… I wanted to see if the associates were making any effort to migrate transactions to other channels… or if it was business as usual.

It’s a delicate balance to strike when providing a variety of choices for transactions. But as branch traffic declines, and technology triumphs the convenience factor, financial services retailers should be celebrating the arrival of a warm body through their front door, not putting up barriers.

And yes, I understand that it’s less expensive to service a transaction via another channel than the branch, but that’s a narrow and myopic view that doesn’t pay tribute to the value of being able to carry on an in-person conversation… a conversation that can fuel a long-term relationship. A conversation that can add another product to the fold. A conversation that can provide the emotional tentacles that leads to brand loyalty and to brand advocacy.

As tellers are being transformed into universal associates, it’s more important than ever to have sales training and lobby management programs in place to understand how critical it is to treat guests with care and consideration, and to recognize opportunity when it’s staring you in the face. Literally.

The person I encountered made it sound as if I was an idiot for coming in to the branch. Yes, I could have done my business online. Maybe I’ll do it that way next time. If I do come in, I’m going to look for a different person; one that will help me, not berate me.

What is your front line staff communicating to people in your branches about omni-channel  banking? If you don’t know, you ‘d better get a handle on it. Fast.