New frontline service and sales tool: when a customer makes a transaction with a teller, the technology links to the bank's CRM and identifies a likely cross-sell opportunity or relevant service message, prompting the teller with a sales message or script.

• Author: Stewart, Deb
• Position: Pop-Ups

FACT: 85 TO 90 PERCENT OF THE CUSTOMERS WHO WALK INTO YOUR BRANCHES TODAY will head straight to the teller line. During their visit, most will interact only with a teller and possibly no other bank personnel--for months at a time.

So as you look at your challenges for 2012--replacing lost revenue, retaining and growing existing customer share-of-wallet, ensuring a consistent and delightful customer experience, migrating customers to lower-cost services--you might conclude that what happens during that teller transaction will have a huge impact on your success.

And that's why more and more hanks are investing in a teller tool such as frontline messaging, commonly referred to as "pop-up technology."

Clues about customers

"Frontline messaging ... provides an effective way to get knowledge about a customer's sales or service needs from marketing or operations support to the from line," explains Curt Johnson, director of product management for CRM and business intelligence solutions for Open Solutions Inc., Glastonbury, Conn. Simply, pop-ups provide a clue to frontline staff (tellers, platform, call center) to present a targeted product otter or service message to the customer they are servicing. This solution recognizes that tellers' time is limited and that their focus is on service quality, not on selling. It provides tellers with quality leads and personalized messaging that are simple to deliver and enhance the quality of their customer interaction.

From a technology perspective, pop-ups link your CRM to one or more of your core processing systems (teller, platform, call center). "This is not a net new process, but rather a refinement of the referral processes you have in place today" notes David Acevedo, vice president and national sales director of in Business Services Inc., Nashville, Tenn. "It is getting timely, precise referral clues from your CRM to your frontline associates while providing a mechanism to ensure a more consistent customer experience."

"Pop-ups provide a way for your frontline staff members to participate in and execute the strategic vision of your company" explains Johnson. "Whether it's creating a consistent customer experience, cross-selling or fulfilling on a regulatory change, this technology helps to support excellence in execution."

Here are some of the ways that pop-up technology is being used as integrated campaign support in hanks:

Cross-selling to a lower-cost service option

As part of an integrated campaign strategy, tellers can provide follow-up to a direct mail or email that a customer has received. Jason Tonioli, vice president marketing for Bank of Utah (assets; $750 million) Ogden, Utah, provides...