A story about Customer Relationship Management

A true story, about CRM in the financial services market, with a moral for all CRM Programme Directors.

Bank At-Present and Bank Big-website were possible contenders for Mr C's  new mortgage.

Mr C banked with bank At-Present, but bank Big-website had some interesting options. Mr C examined them in detail via bank Big-website's website, and was able to make a careful comparison because of the valuable information there. It seemed that the rates and terms were the best on the market. Although he had already applied for a mortgage with bank At-Present, he initiated an application with bank Big-website.

Bank At-present's application process had been over the phone and had taken about 30 minutes. A helpful lady - we'll call her Ms D - had asked him the necessary questions over the phone. With bank Big-website he was able to enter the information into forms on the website as part of the bank's approach to automated Customer Relationship Management. The process crashed a couple of times, but eventually he was able to register his application.

But bank Big-website seemed a little slow to respond. He called up to enquire about progress, but bank Big-website's Call Centre staff explained that the online website process was something they had no access to. He was put through at various times to the Mortgage Lending Department, the IT helpdesk, and still wasn't hearing any real progress.

He sat down and compared the interest rates and terms again between bank At-Present and bank Big-website, and decided that, looking over a longer term, that perhaps bank At-Present 's rates were quite comparable. He phoned up bank At-Present on the number he had been given, and got straight through to Ms D. She understood the situation, re-initiated the application, assured Mr C he could call on the same number at any time.

Mr C found that he could indeed call Ms D at any time and either speak to her or leave a message and she would call back, After that the mortgage was no longer a hassle and the whole transaction went very smoothly. The application to bank Big-website was apparently sinking without trace, but Mr C sent in a cancellation in case that caught up with the application at some point in its mysterious travels. 10 years later Mr C still banks with bank At-Present

MORAL: It's not what CRM technology you've got, it's what your staff do with it that makes the difference.