How Client Relations in Banking Impacts Your Bottom Line

There is no doubt that client relations will continue to be the brightest star in the constellation of modern banking strategy. Nurturing personalized service is the most effective way to infuse your business model with intergenerational longevity and maximize engagement with products and services. That means a happier clientele and a healthier bottom line, and it’s a win/win for financial institutions and consumers alike.

Eternal Principles of Client Relations

Relationship banking as we know it today began in the early 90’s with the advent of the internet, but its intrinsic value has been grasped since the dawn of commerce.The barter system was invented by the Phoenecians when they discovered the fundamental principle of client relations: the more you know about what someone else wants, the more business you can do with them. 

The idea quickly spread to the Mesopotamians, who found it so true and compelling they imbued it with mythological significance. Their ancient star sign for scales was also the symbol of the sun god Shamash, whose all-seeing eye comprehends everything that goes on in the lives of his subject to the remotest degree. His temples were also the first banks because they were staffed 24/7 by his priests, thus literally enshrining the connection between the knowledge of people and economic prosperity.  2000 years later there were still shekels in the Levant with Shamash’s face on the front as a reminder that the rules of client relations are golden.

Today that ancient zodiacal symbol for the scales in the night sky is known by the Roman name Libra, which was both the goddess of truth and their fundamental unit of weight for measuring gold and silver.  Echoes of this ancient connection can still be found everywhere in modern society, like in the Contemplation of Justice statue in front of the Supreme Court and the L-shaped symbol £ for the British pound.  

The Modern Panorama

Clearly, the desire for a deep personal relationship with our financial institutions is bound up in our DNA, and in the last few decades those distant twinklings of economic intuition have been replaced with a dazzling supernova of electrons in the digital universe. The flood of available information in the modern world makes it possible to know and understand clients better than ever before, and that means unlocking new streams of revenue and new nodes of value in the industry. 

Moreover, AI and machine learning systems have made crunching the data a matter of microseconds, not months, and financial institutions that leverage this new knowledge are in a position to realize more gains, and do so in a larger and more complex market space. 

All of this points to one inevitable conclusion: if you aren’t developing client relations you’re vanishing with the sands of time, and its stones will form the foundations of financial institutions that will stand for years to come.

Client Retention

Defection, or rate at which customers open an account with their primary bank’s competition, is on the rise. Nearly 55% of the banking public reports opening secondary accounts with non-primary institutions, which means there are clearly products and services out there that banks either don’t provide or don’t know their clients want. 

A proactive relationship banking strategy can help get your institution out in front of demand and connect clients with the services and long-range planning they are looking for. 

Building Long-term Relationships

Banking is one of the few industries where clients may stick with one company for life. Financial decisions, and particularly important ones like mortgages, have maturity periods that last decades. That relationship may span the life of their children from birth to post-graduate work, and it is a vital opportunity for financial institutions to deepen trust through the cultivation of prosperity for their clients.

Those bonds and confidence mean that when it’s time for their children to open accounts and buy their own homes they will very  likely be brought into the fold by their parents. When they pass away, their bank will be there to help assets and beneficiaries transition to the next stage of life. Names and faces inevitably change on both sides of the teller window, but with solid client relations, the institutional relationship will remain. 

Fostering Familiarity

The value of comfort and familiarity is often overlooked, but the fact is people are more likely to make decisions based on what feels good rather than what makes the most factual sense. Obviously a handshake with a friendly face is nice when a client walks through the door, but people are more and more often using their smart devices to engage with banks without leaving the house.

The portfolio of apps and online services a financial institution provides are an opportunity to create a culture of banking that is both easy and intuitive for their clients. This is actually an important form of client relations that doesn’t require a greeting at the door. The greeting happens automatically when a client turns on the app and can quickly and simply take care of all their needs with a minimum of fuss. People put a premium on service, and they are more likely to look away from better on-paper offers if it means switching to an unfamiliar player. 

The Postage is Dedicated to Being Part of Your Constellation

There are so many different entry points for forging the long-term bonds that bind people to their financial institutions. Those moments often come when the joy and pain of life intersects with a need for financial support and guidance. From the birth of a child to the death of a loved one, nurturing client relations means being an escort through these wonderful and challenging times.

The Postage is dedicated to providing end-of-life planning, will creation services, and digital storage for the most important memories and documents for our families, so they can have peace of mind that their stories will continue on from one generation to the next.