Customering - not Banking

Having a customer focus is contrary to the way that most complex organisations think and operate. During troubled times, that distancing from customers tends to increase: the organisation's focus is on survival and getting its employees to do what's best for the organisation, which is too often not what is best for its customers. Knowing this and dealing with it effectively is critical. As an example, in the early 1980s British Airways was perhaps the airline that was most disliked by British passengers: they would rather use any airline other than BA if there was an opportunity to do so. As things got worse, and as management continually reminded its employees of the need for greater operational efficiency and reducing costs, employees were taking operational decisions that they thought were good for the company but that were bad for the customer. As a result, of course, and with hindsight, things just got worse for everyone. BA took external advice about how to turn around the situation - and the answer was so simple that it sounds childish: "the customer comes first". But BA's management didn't just give this concept lip-service - they committed to it fully. The result was a total turnaround for BT in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty, enabling BA to claim year after year that it had been voted the world's best airline. And its business grew. The time has come for banks to go through a similar re-think of their retail banking operations. Rather then trying to get consumers to think about banks' problems - about banks and banking - banks need to start "customering". That means thinking about what their customers do and want to do and how and why their bank can be the best service provider for helping their customers to meet their overall needs - irrespective of what that service may be.