EMEA BANKING
Getting Closer A Six-Step to SMEs: Relationship Builder for Banks
“What does good proactivity mean to small business customers?” When a financial services client recently asked this question, it got us thinking about what proactivity really means to customers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses’ customers, and how a provider can best demonstrate that it is being proactive. ‘Proactivity’ is a concept that is increasingly high on the agenda of financial and professional services firms, and is increasingly preferred to ‘responsiveness’, which customers and clients see as too passive in the context of a developing and serious provider relationship. We put our heads together, drawing on recent research conducted among SMEs for banks and others, and defined these key principles of demonstrating an outstanding provider relationship. 1. Provide a roadmap, setting expectations at the start If a small to medium-sized business (SME) customer starts the relationship feeling as though they’ll get lots of personal contact and support, and then this doesn’t materialise, they are likely to feel the provider is not paying enough attention or being proactive enough. Setting expectations at the outset about contact, advice and what help and proactivity will look like should aid customer satisfaction – but only
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