How may I help you? vs. Ki bepare ashchen?

It might not be Customer Service month, but i had an interesting experience recently at a bank and thought i would share it with other fellow bloggers. Appreciate your feedback and comments.
Best Regards,
Jeeshan

The other day I was headed to one of the Foreign Banks in Bangladesh where I maintain an account. Given my tight work schedule and the banks operating hours, it becomes quite a challenge for me to do any banking. The only time I manage to drop in is usually at about 9:00 AM in the morning. One particular morning I managed to get to the bank at about 8:45 AM. At the entrance I was greeted by a ill-mannered security guard who exclaimed "You cant enter the bank before 9:00 AM". I stood out for the next twenty minutes watching the banks employees arrive one after another. The security guard eventually opened the gate at about 9:05. I took a seat at the front desk where I waited unattended. A few minutes later, a lady arrived at the scene with this "I am having a bad day frown" and asked "Ki Bapare Ashchen?" I was astonished!

In an identical scenario a few months back at around the same time in a bank in Colombo, Sri Lanka, something different happened. A bank teller who spotted me waiting outside summoned the security guard to open the door, after which he welcomed me in. There were warm smiles from all corners of the room. I was delighted at this red carpet treatment. What followed was even more remarkable. Shortly, the same teller accompanied me to come to the counter where he processed my request, and this was done at 8:50 AM when the bank was still not open. I walked out with a smile. What a way to start the day. The bank had exceeded my expectations not once but twice.

"Ki Bapare Ashchen" seems to be a very common phrase wherever you go in Bangladesh be it private, public or even a foreign owned enterprise. We Bangladeshis claim to be such friendly, warm people. In fact even if there is one thing that foreign tourists are full of praise about us is our hospitability. However in the instances such as the scenario I described above we seem to tend to forget about who we really are.

Customer Service is a widely misunderstood and misused concept in Bangladesh. Service level is not just delivered at the transaction stage and after sales stage of a product or service- rather across all customer touch points. In today's era of commoditization and emergence of me-too culture, service quality can be a key differentiator. It's unfortunate that very few companies in Bangladesh see such potential in service. Theodore Levitt once said "There is no such thing as service industries. There are only industries whose service components are greater or less than those of other industries. Everybody is in Service."

In one of his books, Philip Kotler explained the importance of three F's of service marketing: fast, flexible and friendly. He states any company can use these three F's as a base to develop appropriate service levels. Meeting your customers expectations is good, exceeding it is will take you one step closer to greatness. It's a small world out there, satisfied customers can give your business an unexpected leverage, while you are busy spending heaps on other marcom channels. Still convinced about your customer service? Try giving a call to your customer service helpline asking about an unusual problem? Better get a tough friend to do some mystery shopping. You will be surprised. So the next time you meet a customer or a prospect, smile and say "How may I help you?" Remember Peter Drucker's famous line, your business is all about other people's money. Be nice!

By

Jeeshan Mirza

Let me compare

Financial Express reports

City watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is to launch an independent Web site to help consumers compare credit cards. The move follows recommendations by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) designed to help consumers get a better credit card deal. Others will include improvements in summary boxes on credit card marketing materials and statements, standardisation of terminology used in product literature and greater consumer education on the benefits of shopping around for a credit card. The OFT report into credit card comparisons follows a super-complaint from consumer group Which? in April last year. Which? said people choose credit cards without understanding all the issues that affect the cost of the card, and OFT research later showed that 70 per cent of credit card holders do not shop around. John Fingleton, chief executive of the OFT, said: "No one wants to throw money away, but consumers who don't shop around for credit cards are doing just that. "It is essential that consumers are given the right tools to make comparisons between credit cards more easily, and we can achieve this through some of the recommendations announced today which have received widespread support." Payments body Apacs said the new comparison Web site would prove an important additional tool to help people make informed choices about the card that best suits their needs. Director of communications Sandra Quinn said: "We are backing the OFT in hoping that these proposals will spur customers on to make better decisions by building upon the work already undertaken by the industry to make credit card products more transparent."

Though the credit wave is pretty new to have hit the shore of Bangladeshi youth/consumers, it would be nice to see some entrepreneurs coming up with a comparison website for not only the desi credit cards but also for comparing various other financial products offered by numerous banks and NBFIs of the country. Experts might argue, but I get a feeling (only) that my bank (guess which one) keeps on siphoning off money from my account with many innovative hidden costs (!) under the banner of 'this VAT', 'that VAT', processing fees, charges etc. Most of the time I don't understand why I am paying for all those charges and wonder if other banks do the same or not. My banker friends are eager to take advantage of my ignorance and really didn't welcome the idea of a comparison based website which would only make the consumers more educated and alert of different banking products. Nevertheless, I am the customer and I believe I am the king and I should have the option to choose. Any financial entrepreneur reading this...can you make out a business model out of this?

Education to earn money, money to get education

Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL) (couldn't find its website) has launched an “Education Finance Pack” yesterday, especially meant for the students going abroad for higher education, reports ever improving Daily Star. “The pack is mainly for the students intended to study abroad, but it is also available for the students and their parents studying in Bangladesh,” Ali Reza Iftekhar, managing director and CEO of EBL, told a press conference in Dhaka. “EBL targeted 5,000 new students' accounts to award the pack, of those at least five to seven hundred students are expected to get the loan a year,” he added. The bank has planned to disburse Tk 2.5 crore under the pack. Each student will be entitled to borrow at least Tk 5lakh. According to EBL officials, the employees, businessmen and self-employed individuals, who earn up to Tk 15 thousand a month, are eligible to get the loan at a 18 percent interest.

Zahid recalled the time a few years ago while he was standing in a bus queue at Shahbag with some documents in hand and pondering what he has just done. He just paid around 25000 taka to a special ‘bhai’ who managed original bank statements from a leading bank in the country, the statements belonged to one Mr. Haroon living in Uttara and had a liquid healthy balance of around 33 lakhs taka. Zahid sighed over the fact that even though he had an ornamented academic career, it could never compensate the fact that his father never possessed the required amount of money in the bank, which is a vital requirement for getting student visas you see. So he had this friend, whose brother had another friend, who used to work in a bank, and who in return of a ‘small fee’, used to give away true statements to people like Zahid. Well so much so for ‘creative’ yet necessary means to produce financial statements in order to reach to the land of dreams and opportunities, out of this chaotic place. Yesterday I had a chat with the head of a foreign university’s agency here in Dhaka. He was lamenting over the fact that student export rate to foreign universities have gone down alarmingly. Mostly because of the fact that the high commissions and embassies have become stricter in terms of scrutinizing and cross-checking financial documents provided by aspiring students and their true and ‘virtual’ sponsors.

No wonder EBL has spotted a business opportunity in the largest consumer segment of the nation, its students, and have formulated a financial product in the form of student loans. I wish the campaign luck and I wish all those student good luck in their endeavors for a better academic future both at home and abroad. I hope students like Zahid will not have to buy original statements from renowned multinational banks of the country anymore, they can simply walk in to a branch of EBL and likes, apply and get the money to pursue further education. However as there is no free lunch in life and in Bangladesh, who knows how the aspiring students will fall under the axe of exorbitant interest rates for those loans.

(photo courtesy HSBC student loan)

Commercial Bank of Ceylon launches SME loan

Commercial Bank of Ceylon (CBC) launched its SME (small and medium enterprise) loan product under the brand name of 'Probriddhi' in the city Tuesday. 'Probriddhi' is a medium term loan, applicable to the SME customers to meet their capital need for starting or expansion of their business, in line with the criteria set for the facility.The loan is offered with many attractive features, with an assurance of fast and easy processing so that the customers can get maximum benefit from the capital provided.

SMEs are at the core of our economic development and many FIs and NBFIs are coming up with SME specific products. BRAC bank is very visible on the SME front, so is Eastern Bank I guess. Now CBC joins the party. However, there is a need to compare and contrast what the banks are offering. We need to know who they are terming as SMEs. Also, we need to be clear about the issue of collaterals. Many SMEs complain that even though there is an array of so called SME products available in the market, but they are too costly, or the legal procedures are too cumbersome and confusing. Do the banks have any answer to address these concerns?

Banks target students as cash calves

Eastern Bank Ltd. has inaugurated its first student service centre at Dhanmondi branch premises in the city recently, says FE. Students can open their student file here, which is mandatory if anyone wants to go abroad for higher study.Students can get information to open their bank account named campus account. They can also get information to take debit and prepaid cards here. BRAC bank is the other one which is directly competing with EBL in this student market. Both the banks have been generous in giving away credit/debit cards to students in easy terms. They realize that this is a market where number of students is huge and these students are in the pipleline to become regular user of the banks when they graduate and become executives/businesspersons. Very well laid plan to allure the 'dJuice Generation'. Lets keep an eye on how EBL and BRAC keeps the students happy. No wonder these student 'cash calves' might just become the 'cash cows' for the banks when they grow in near future.