The retail banking sector has recently been rocked with scandal and investigations, causing market reverberations across the entire banking industry. The traditionally accepted norms surrounding product sales, incentive management and monetary-based metrics are now being challenged in the face of recent customer fraud cases. Despite the availability of technology and the amount of customer data in hand, the retail banking industry is struggling to pick up the pieces. Banking as a whole is now facing a major pivot point - reimagine the customer engagement experience to focus on value and transparency or risk regulatory repercussions.

Concepts surrounding cross-selling and incentive-based compensation tied to product sales have been wiped off the vernacular. In their place, a strategy based on understanding, customer needs, enforced consent and goals based metrics - all rooted in customer satisfaction - are beginning to fill the vacuum. What today’s banks need to recognize is that customer value and transparency go beyond how banks advise their customers. These foundational customer-based metrics also need to be woven into how banks attract, acquire, and onboard new accounts as well. There’s a reason why banks are turning to CRM solutions to shift their monetary metrics to a primary focus on customer value and satisfaction throughout the customer lifecycle. From a Salesforce perspective, we believe this pivot can happen in three key steps:

1. Deliver an Actionable Customer View: The nirvana 360 degree customer view tends to elude most banks given the complexity of integrations and data standards. Yet, with the right tools in place, banks can have quick insights into the data they need to be customer centric, transparent and accountable. A 360 degree customer view can yield tremendous benefits, including:

• A complete repository of all interactions with customers - activities, offers, opportunities, accounts, leads
• A single source of truth for all ongoing communications
• A mechanism to take action by enforcing consent and authentication for any business process

2. Establish a Needs-Based Customer Growth Strategy: Selling products is transactional and in a bank’s best interest. But in order to make the shift towards focusing on customer needs, banks must engage customers differently - and it starts at the very beginning of each customer relationship. Gathering and keeping track of key insights such as financial goals and relationship networks during the onboarding phase will enable banks to recommend a tailored mix of solutions unique to each customer. The result yields greater growth potential, stickiness and more personalized insights to better serve the customer and the broader household in the long term.

3. Enforce Intelligent Consent Protocols: The only way to regain and retain trust is by putting the customer's well-being at the center of your business throughout the acquisition, needs and origination process. Enabling the right set of technology controls, customer authentication and acknowledgement tokens ensures that every customer is aware of and in agreement to the steps the bank is taking to meet their unique financial goals.  

The three steps outlined above are reflected in the underlying tools and capabilities of the Salesforce Customer Success Platform. Insights made across data, processes and channels that are then surfaced into an actionable customer view, can arm banks with the information they need to pivot toward a customer first sales strategy. Additionally, banks can have the insights necessary to proactively take the right steps and prevent any actions across the company that are not focused on the best interest of the customer.   Today’s banks need to act quickly. There’s no doubt that the industry will be under close watch with regards to customer interactions, selling strategies and employee success metrics. Those banks that leverage the right technology to focus on customer value will come out on top as the industry strives to regain customer trust in the aftermath of the recent fraud cases. To learn more about how CRM solutions can help banks pivot for risk, compliance and growth, make sure to register for the webinar Adapting to the New Reality of Retail Banking Sales Practices.  

About the Author  

  Anthony Morris is the Global Head of Retail Banking at Salesforce. Anthony has 20 years of experience driving banking strategy and innovation across the industry covering CRM, Distribution, Operations, Analytics, Core Banking & Risk. With over 150 engagements with banks of different sizes, he brings a unique perspective on the latest transformations impacting the banking sector. Anthony has a deep understanding of how banks can benefit from a CRM solution from improving their customer interactions to maintaining transparency and accountability throughout all levels of the business. Anthony brings a passionate energy to this sector and enjoys working directly with customers creating their transformation visions and the realistic art of execution.