When we were looking for a bank to do business with when opening up Orangejack LLC, I stopped by a few local banks to inquire about their services. Let me tell you about how I visited three banks and because of one factor my decision was simple.
On the second day of checking out banks (I’ll get to the first day in a moment) I had two local banks within very short driving distances I wanted to visit. I went to the first bank and met a customer service representative who I suppose is there to help people go where they need to. I told her I wanted to learn about their offerings for a small business account. She handed me a folder with a lot of information in it and told me a few things but I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me as her head was on a swivel and I’m sure a few sentences that I thought were meant for me were actually for someone else. I thanked her and walked out. She never even asked me what my name is.
The second bank was a bit better as they politely connected me with a rep in an office. He went over some of their options and they didn’t sound fine. I wanted him to not just go over the numbers with me but to talk to me and help me in my decision making process. He didn’t so after about 10 minutes of him talking and asking little questions about me I finally thanked him and stood up. He stood, held out his hand to shake and asked me my name. Oops! Too late!
I was done in 30 minutes including drive time with 2 banks. I mention these first to show you what NOT to do. Now let me go back to the first day of looking.
There is a local bank that is at least 5 banks further from my house but it’s in a town center that we frequent. I stopped in Washington Mutual Bank (or WaMu as they call themselves now) and met Cathy. The first thing she did was extend her hand to shake mine, tell me her name, and ask me for mine. We sat down at her desk, she was personable and friendly. We talked for about 45 minutes not because it took that long to go over the banking options, but because she valued me as a person. Needless to say after my other banking experiences we went with WaMu and I couldn’t be happier.
When we went to open our account I told Cathy that I chose WaMu because she asked me my name from the start. That communicated more than anything else. Obviously if their service was not as good as others we wouldn’t go there, but when faced with a choice of comparable products and services we went with the one who cared about us as people.
I guarantee these principles apply to your online marketing and interaction.
