10-4-12 A personal phone call can mean a lot

How often have you had the experience of calling a large company, especially a financial institution, and getting a recorded message, usually ending with “Press 1 for ……….?”

One of the biggest advantages of being a local business is that you can offer a special element of customer service that is lacking in many places today: phone contact with a live person who listens and can answer questions.

I got a phone call from a real person at the Freeland Branch of Whidbey Island Bank a couple of days ago.  She was calling to let me know that in doing my on-line banking, I was bumping up against a Federal regulation regarding how many times I can withdraw money from a savings account and transfer it to a checking account.  She spent several minutes on the phone with me, explaining every detail and answering my questions.  She ended the conversation by saying, “I’m calling because you will be getting a written notice in the mail and we wanted to be sure you’d understand what it was about.”

Now, I could be wrong, but it’s my guess that if this had happened with one of the large multi-national corporate banks, I would have simply gotten a form letter with the warning.  If I would have attempted to call someone to talk about it, I most likely would have gone through several “Press 1…..” before I might get to someone who could talk with me.

I know we live in an age of emails, text messages and lots of other impersonal ways businesses communicate with customers or potential customers.

Just remember, every time you make a positive, personal connection with a customer – either by phone or in person – you establish, or reinforce, customer loyalty.