During changing times, put customers first.

• Author: Motley, L. Biff
• Position: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION - Column

DURING MY OVER 40 YEARS IN BANKING, I can't recall a more challenging or important environment for marketers. Not only are we dealing with the earnings compression of a prolonged economic downturn--exacerbated by the unprecedented accumulation of public debt--we are also facing a crisis of confidence in our industry stemming from the disastrous actions of a few large investment banking or other specialized financial conglomerates.

Unfortunately, community banks and regional banks are often painted with the same unhappy brush. Add to this a blizzard of new regulations capping or eliminating important sources of fee income, and it is enough to make any banker wince.

That's where we marketers come in. Our job is to look into the future and map out a plan. This plan must do two things: (1) Reinforce trust and confidence between bankers and their clients; (2) Recapture lost fee income and develop new sources of revenue.

Here are five elements worth considering in such a plan:

1. Prioritize, Don't try to do everything at once. There are lots of things that need to be done: repricing of services, reconfiguration of fees, etc. All of these tasks need to be quantified and prioritized into a multiyear plan, with those having the greatest impact harvested early. But before doing anything that might hurt customers, make sure your employee-focused customer service/satisfaction program is working well.

2. Streamline decision making. All of these decisions impacl multiple areas of the bank and need to be well timed and coordinated. Think of yourself as the orchestra leader, not the trombone player. Make sure the pieces fit together and are well understood by your front-line bankers, especially any that affect product pricing.

3. Offer choices. Remember, banking services usually facilitate some other need the customer has. Customers like choices and better ways to accomplishing their goals, but don't like to be pushed into something new "cold turkey." Perhaps a new premium checking service with an initial modest...