Effective frontline selling

“The Econiq solution made our job easy. Because it required no integration with our existing systems we were able to have it up and running in a matter of weeks. It’s a CIO’s dream come true!”
-Clinton Summers, IT Manager, Panhandle State Bank

For decades banks have been grappling with the challenge of finding effective ways to marshal the forces of their frontline staff to help sell more to customers. It is simple smart business sense and as relevant today as it was twenty years ago. For who better to understand what a customer might need than the person who talks to them frequently? And what more cost effective way to sell than to use resources already in place? Effective selling at the frontline simply makes sense and it has long been on most banks' agendas and discussed at length at executive meetings across the nation.

So if the benefits are obvious and the appetite to make it work real why have so many banks failed in their mission to improve cross-sell and sales referrals from their frontline resources?  Scratch under the surface of the issue and you will find three recurring themes:

First, complex technology environments

For most banks deploying smart tools to help drive frontline sales effectiveness has demanded complex integration with the many different technologies already in the bank's infrastructure. With IT departments already operating at full capacity, any project demanding a multitude of IT resources and taking months to complete simply gets left on the back burner. In short the potential demand on internal resources and disruption to the business cancels out the potential benefits to the bottom line.

Second, failure to harness the intimate knowledge gained at the frontline

Most banks push promotions out to the frontline forcing tellers and customer service representatives (CSRs) to "sell" what's on offer to the customer whether they need it or not. In contrast few, if any, banks systematically gather  the intelligence about a customer and their life events, that is shared in day to day conversations, from frontline staff and use the same to tailor offers that really match customers' needs. Yet it is common knowledge that effective selling is driven by a sound understanding of the customer's needs.

Third, lack of insight

Few banks have any real insight into what is actually going on at the frontline. While they are awash with data there is a deep deficiency in real time performance information about what is happening between individual employees and customers. A real lack of insight into sales opportunities won, lost or missed as well as referrals identified and made makes it all but impossible to get a handle on the sales effectiveness of frontline staff.

But, with lessons well learnt the landscape for frontline sales effectiveness solutions is radically changing. Picture this .....

A frontline sales effectiveness solution that requires no integration with other systems, that can be implemented in just four week, that provides detailed insight into every sales opportunity won, lost or missed and every referral identified or made by every employee at the frontline. And that has proven to deliver an increase in frontlines sales by 20% or more within 3 months of deployment.

Frontline Sales Effectiveness has just become a mission that can easily be realized for banks across the nation.

As cited in Forrester Research's December 2009 report Hot Banking Tech Companies to Watch in 2010 Report implementation time for the Econiq solution "can be a month or less for the closed-loop Sales Engine, Service Engine, Reporting Engine, and Coaching Engine components."

A Realistic Mission

The Econiq Frontline Sales Effectiveness solution represents a new breed of technology. Elegant in simplicity but revolutionary in impact the solution is underpinned by three simple principles:

1. Easy Implementation – the Econiq solutions require no integration with other systems operating in the bank. Rather it wraps around these system, listens and observes how they are used and gathers the intelligence to understand and report on what is going on. Unlike traditional technologies, the Econiq solutions can be deployed in a matter of weeks with no disruption to business operations and no hefty demands on IT resources.
2. Real Insights – Data rich and information poor, a common complaint for most senior executives but the Econiq solution transforms this scenario. It provides detailed analysis on exactly what happens at the frontline - in real time. It works by actively recording every single activity that takes places - from every transaction engaged in, to every button pressed and mouse clicked. Econiq provides management reports and operational insights into what is happening in the branch, call centre or other frontline channels. Information that has traditionally been impossible to gain systematic access to such as detailed analysis of sales performance by teller and by product line through to comprehensive reports on referrals made and opportunities won, lost or missed.
3. Focus on the Frontline – for the first time frontline staff can systematically record snippets of information shared with them by customers about their life events - things such as new baby which may mean the need for a new 529 saving plan or mortgage for a bigger house. Such valuable nuggets of insight are then analyzed in real time and frontline staff are prompted back with products and services that match the customer's circumstance. Or, if more appropriate an automated referral is made to another part of the business to follow up with the customer. This brings the knowledge, gleaned at the frontline, into the sales process and is the difference between randomly promoting products to customers and delivering real valuable service based on personal relationships.

The impact is immense. Frontline sales effectiveness has just become a realistic mission and results from client deployments pay testament to this fact. Results that can be measure in cold hard cash, with clients reporting a 20 to 25% increase in direct sale and 300% growth in frontline sales referrals.

A real return on investment and impressive results that no organization can afford to ignore. To see for yourself contact jblake@econiq.com.

Econiq Delivers Results

• 20% plus improvements in frontline sales
• 290% Uplift in Sales Referrals
• 40% Uplift in Consumer Deposits
• 25% Uplift in Investment Products
• 150% Uplift in Online Banking
• 120% Uplift in Referral Conversions