Evolving technology, digital banking and certainly the rapid evolution of AI has brought this topic to the forefront with most financial institutions. How individuals and companies are finding and accessing their banking and insurance solutions is shifting rapidly, making it even more difficult for FIs to keep up with those changes in order to continue to give customers what they want.
According to Maze Research, here are “6 Trends Shaping Customer Experience in Banking”:
- Increased desire for high-quality mobile & digital banking.
- Balance between self-service & in-person solutions.
- Omnichannel strategies for seamless customer journeys.
- Personalized experiences are key for retention.
- Artificial intelligence for improved customer relationships.
- Adoption of blockchain solutions.
Understand your customer’s journey
A potential or current customer wants their bank or insurance company to understand their journey. Not just their buying journey, but how their current relationships, goals and transactions build to their entire financial landscape. Because potential prospects come to the table with much more information at their fingertips, here is what the banker or insurance agent must be prepared to do to give customers what they want from their FI:
- Stop thinking about your products and services.
- Ask enough questions to identify the buying stage and process of your prospect and match your approach to working with them in that buying process.
- Understand that to move someone from the assessment stage to the decision stage, you must be more informative – informative about things that the buyer doesn’t already know and about things that matter to them.
- This does not mean ‘pitch’ them on the features and benefits of products or solutions offered.
- This does mean that you must be better at providing useful information, becoming a resource for business solutions, and guiding prospects through their buying stages.
- To do that, you must have the skills to curiously and courageously ask enough of the right questions, which are ultimately the building blocks of the relationship.
Offer personalized experiences for building and retaining clients
It might seem redundant to suggest that the way to offer personalized experiences is also through asking enough of the right questions, but that is the case. Consultative selling is more than just putting the customer first; it’s about centering everything around them. It’s not “the customer is always right,” but rather “the customer is always the focus.”
At its core, consultative selling is about understanding your prospect’s challenges so thoroughly that your solution naturally becomes the right fit. When done well, it shifts the conversation away from pitching and toward partnering.
Attributes of a consultative seller
According to Objective Management Group — the pioneer and industry leader in sales team evaluations and sales candidate screening — consultative sellers share some core attributes. Use these as a checklist to sharpen your skills:
Aim to develop strong relationships
Real trust doesn’t come from surface-level rapport. It comes from deeper conversations. Move beyond small talk and get curious about your prospect’s goals, frustrations and motivations. It won’t happen overnight; it’s a process.
Ask great and more questions
Great questions uncover pain points, highlight opportunities and open doors. Avoid questions that lead you straight into “presentation mode.” The best questions help your prospect reflect and reveal what matters most to them. Don’t stop when you think you have “enough” to build a proposal. Probe further. How is this problem impacting their team, their goals or even them personally? Beneath every issue is a deeper reason to act, find it.
Listen and ask with ease to uncover real issues
Listening isn’t about waiting for your turn to speak. It’s about truly understanding what the prospect is saying, and what they’re not. When they pause, ask clarifying questions. Don’t assume you know what they mean. Confirm it. Your product alone isn’t the solution. Understanding the true business challenge is. Consultative sellers uncover, and sometimes even help prospects discover, problems they weren’t fully aware of.
Understand how they buy
Forget your sales process; what matters is their buying process. Your job is to guide them through it, not force them into yours. Ask the right questions to help them recognize and gain clarity around their own urgency to address a problem or an opportunity.
Take nothing for granted
Even when things are going well, stay alert. Deals can fall apart quickly. The best sellers maintain healthy skepticism, stay curious and continue to nurture the relationship at every stage.
The world of buying has changed dramatically. It’s time to change the world of selling. That is what customers want from their financial institution.
