Sales Culture in the Cloud

“The salesman knows nothing of what he is selling save that he is charging a great deal too much for it.” –Oscar Wilde

Denizens of Gonzoville, you’ll notice that we have spent quite a bit of time of late musing about banking through the Internet and other non-branch channels. No surprise there. The latest data we are seeing points to the fast mainstreaming of the alternative channels for both service transactions and, increasingly, buying decisions. Our latest survey numbers show that close to half of checking customers are regular users of Internet and/or mobile delivery channels. 20%-30% of consumer loan applications are already taken on line. And while the number of deposits accounts opened on line is not significant yet, growth is likely to be fast in the next few years.

Now, let’s cross-reference another issue that has been high profile in the industry, which is the time and money that has been spent developing sales and service cultures, particularly in our branches. The skills training, goal setting, results tracking, incentive calculations, et al that now occur to support this initiative aren’t tiny by any means. And the end goal of differentiating from the competition through better sales and service is widespread among banks (oh, but those of you that follow the concept of “surly, cheap order-takers, but we’ll still get our share” may stop reading).

So, some of the key questions sales organizations will need to answer are these:

• How will sales and service change for customers who use the channels that aren’t supported by the employees we have trained to be salespeople?
• What is a “sales culture” in the cloud?
• Can banks translate their differentiation to new channels?

If the answer to this last question is yes, we need to start recognizing the new rules of sales on the Web in what promises to be a very competitive environment (one is reminded of the great line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid – “Rules? There aren’t any rules in a knife fight!”).

What have we learned so far? Well, here are some of the early Gonzo lessons learned about how “cloud” sales differ from traditional branch and call center sales. 

1. In the branch, fulfillment follows the sale. In the cloud, the story about ease of fulfillment makes the sale. In almost every branch sale, the actual fulfillment happens after needs identification (or probing, or profiling, or whatever you call it), explanation of options, and offering of the final product/service. Once begun, the process of opening the account seldom stops because it takes longer or is more complicated than the customer thought it would be. Contrast this with an Internet purchase, where the buyer is looking to avoid complexity. Think about your own cloud buying experiences. eBay is heavily used because it’s fast and easy. iTunes is used heavily because it is fast and easy. “How fast” is as important as “how much.” And let’s be honest. The attention span of a buyer on the Web is about equal to my daughter’s at a Donnie and Marie reunion (hint: short, man. Real short).  
2. Employee knowledge, not sales skills, is the currency of success. Those in the industry who have conducted satisfaction surveys for their online bankers already know that the criteria they use to rate their service providers are flat different than for branch bankers. The number one thing they think about when rating sales support or service is whether, when they have a problem, they can quickly get to a support employee who knows what is going on and can solve their problem. The “relationship manager” who calls in expertise when needed will be replaced by a first-contact employee who already has it. The profiling and needs assessment skills that are being developed in branches take second seat in the cloud.
3. In the branch, the employee personalizes the customer’s experience. In the cloud, we give them tools to customize their own. The personalization differentiation in the cloud is based on the tools we provide to customers to let them define the way in which they want to receive communications. Customers decide when we send them messages, when we make them an offer, why we should make an offer (or not). The employee training and intuition relied on by branches and call centers doesn’t come into play here.
4. Profiling is as much about behavior and habits as demographics. In typical branch/call center profiling, most of the questions revolve around personal information and current financial relationships. Most future offers are based on that profiling. In the cloud, the “profiling” of a customer is based on transactions and behavior. What interactions do they have? What channels do they use? Where did they use their credit/debit cards to make purchases? Already, OnDeck and Kabbage are examples of companies that use cloud and payments information to make targeted offers to borrowers. Banks will need to become adept at the same.
5. Coss-channel pass-offs will be needed and must be flawless. At some point in a sales process that starts on line, an employee may need to finish the transaction. This is a pass-off that does not occur now in a branch or call center-based sales process. When it is required, speed is of the essence (our cloud buyer attention span hasn’t extended) and there can be no back-stepping in terms of process or information gathering.  

In summary, those things that may create a competitive sales (or service) advantage when the opportunity is face-to-face don’t translate to new channels. So, with that recognized, banks need to answer some questions about how to address these new needs and new rules.

• What are we trying to accomplish with cloud sales? New customer growth? Additional sales to existing ones? What would we say constitutes success? Do we need to do this at all?
• If yes, can we out-sell our competitors? Is there a unique approach we can take or value proposition we can sell?
• Are cloud sales an extension of branch/call center/loan sales? Is the person responsible for these channels also responsible for new channels? Or, are Web sales a completely new model managed by a different group?
•  Where do the pass-offs go when a cloud customer needs a human? How will we make this a great experience?

These are beginning questions. The real message here is that it is time to start creating the long-term vision of how cloud sales fit in the overall sales picture and what new skills and capabilities must be developed. It ain’t your mom’s face-to-face world anymore.

Are you sold?
-tr

 

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