A relationship culture: more than a sales culture.

• Author: Hall, Robert

"It is not slickness, polish, uniqueness, or cleverness that makes a brand. It is truth."

--Harry Beckwith

THE PRESSURE FOR BANKS TO GROW retail and small-business revenue is a real challenge. We face changing regulations that lower fees, customers who visit our branches less and less, and a marketplace hardened against sales tactics that push products now and seek relationships later (maybe). The truth is that many of our sales culture initiatives have strained the relationships with our customers and created passive resistance on the part of our staff.

All of this leads to an important question: What is the difference between a sales culture and a relationship culture? The terms are often used interchangeably but they are different. It is quite possible to get additional sales while depleting the relationship, thus leading to tougher future sales and even customer defection.

The data seems to tell us that while a number of our customers continue to do business with us, we are not building relationships. According to a Novantas survey, four of 10 customers are receptive to consolidating their banking business with a single institution, yet a bank typically wins no more than 20 percent share of wallet from the average consumer, leaving 80 percent of the potential with competitors.

Further, 40 percent of respondents say they don't feel their bank looks out for their best interests. The sales culture efforts over the past two decades that emphasized selling or pushing product has repelled customer relationships and diminished the brand. In the short-term it often led to sales, but we now face a marketplace that is highly immune to and distrusting of our sales efforts. Too often we have traded on or harvested the relationships rather than built them.

There are certainly exceptions. Many of the smaller banks have put more emphasis on customer service than on pushy sales, sometimes providing better service but missing relationship opportunities. In the larger banks, there are certainly instances of individuals growing relationships while yielding sales, but it has not been the norm.

Build the relationship first

The aim of many sales cultures is to develop sales in every interaction possible. It alienates some customers because it seems so self-serving--putting the needs of the bank over the needs of the customers. The aim of a strong relationship culture is to use every touch to build up the customer relationship, so when needs arise that...