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Yes you can, and you should try, try, try. Giving his first public comments on CNBC yesterday, new Citigroup chief Vikram Pandit -- who is taking the helm of a troubled ship heavy with credit-crunched consumers--mentioned "our people" as a focus in the months ahead. While not specifying employees or customers, Pandit, his banking peers and CEOs at large may be interested in the following insights into customer satisfaction--critical any time, but especially so now. Securing highly committed customer relationships through satisfying experiences pays handsomely. According to J.D. Power and Associates’ June 2007 Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, “increasing the percentage of highly committed customers can lead to a billion dollars in extra deposits for retail banks.” The study found that for every 1 million customers a bank has, a five percentage-point increase in the number of customers shifting from moderately to highly committed can lead to an additional $1 billion in deposits. Are you satisfying your customers? According to a recent Bain & Company survey of 362 companies across several industries, including banks, 96% of the senior executives felt they were "focused" on the customer and 80% said they were delivering a "superior experience” to their customers. In a related survey, however, customers said only 8% of companies were really delivering. Customers can be won or lost in a single interaction—even satisfied customers. There is also a link between customer satisfaction and increased market value, according to an academic study published last year in the Journal of Marketing. It's a dense read, but if happy customers means elevated net cash flow and equity value, it’s a smart read. |
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