By Tim Von Kaenel and Chetan Dang
It’s one thing to invest in a financial services customer relationship management solution. It’s another thing to translate that investment into value. And at many banks, a few cultural barriers – from where data is stored to how data is used – can block any significant ROI.
In this piece, we will explain three culture shifts that can help banks maximize their CRM investment to better meet customers’ and employees’ needs.
Shift #1: Defragment your customer data
Many banks use multiple CRMs across different departments. More often than not, this approach fragments customer data in a way that negatively impacts both the customer and employee experience.
For example, a longtime brokerage customer might try to open a new savings account – only to have to fill in all their information again because the retail banking department’s CRM doesn’t recognize the new savings account opener as an existing customer. This lack of a unified customer profile not only frustrates customers but also signals that the bank lacks a comprehensive view of their needs.
As for the employee side of things? With customer information scattered across multiple systems, locating relevant data and identifying cross- or upsell opportunities is difficult. Translation: plenty of missed revenue opportunities.
The culture shift: defragment data as much as possible. Ways to help include:
Choose a single CRM. This mitigates a major source of data fragmentation.
Unify your data with a digital layer. Invest in technology that enables employees to access data from throughout the bank’s tech stack to create a 360-degree view of the customer. If you are not equipped to build such a tool yourself, consider working with a digital partner that can help you modernize your software.
Encourage cross-department collaboration. Encourage employees to share reports and customer insights across teams so everyone has the information they need to enhance the customer experience.
By embracing these changes, banks and other financial services orgs can eliminate one of the biggest barriers to effective CRM usage.
Shift #2: Automate key workflows
Even with your data all in one place, employees may still waste time on tedious manual processes to actually make use of customer data. And the more manual work involved, the less time
employees spend on revenue-generating activities.
Automated workflows can help a lot. Consider the value of automations that:
- Centrally log customer activity across all channels (live chat, phone, social, etc.).
- Score leads in seconds so employees know how to prioritize outreach.
- Pre-fill documents to share with customers based on existing records.
- Proactively flag customer milestones (such as an upcoming college graduation) so employees can reach out for helpful financial guidance.
By automating repetitive tasks, employees can focus on strengthening customer relationships and driving growth. Ultimately, automations can turn your CRM into a strategic tool that improves your org’s bottom line.
Shift #3: Train employees to use AI for greater data proficiency
Even the most advanced CRM is useless if employees do not know how to use it effectively. And many of today’s leading CRMs have integrated AI across multiple functions. Employees should understand exactly how and when to use those tools – and recognize the specific information that can help them personalize each customer interaction.
What does that mean for banks? These steps are important:
Encourage an AI-forward culture. Gen AI, predictive analytics and recommendation engines are assets worth incorporating into your employees’ daily workflows. ensure team-members throughout your organization understand how these tools can help them improve customer conversations (across chat, text and email), discover cross- and upselling opportunities, customize offers and provide tailored support.
Embrace a “perpetual onboarding” approach. Do not assume employees know everything about your CRM’s AI capabilities after their first 90 days. Check in at regular intervals to learn how they are using AI, where they find it most useful and if there are any knowledge gaps.
Make internal knowledge accessible. Some CRMs, like Salesforce Financial Services Cloud, come with AI tools that make it easy to explore relevant internal research and documentation about best practices.
The bottom line? Empower employees to make more AI-supported decisions yield more ROI from their CRM.
Make customer data your competitive edge
With the Fed’s recent rate cut, it’s likely that more customers will seek out new loans or apply for new credit cards. And if rates continue to tick downward, the competition will only grow more fierce. Banks and other financial services organizations that come out on top will use every tool at their disposal – including their CRM – to win new customers.
By Tim Von Kaenel, chief strategy officer, and Chetan Dang, product lead and solution architect at CI&T.
