Every July, I get the honor to teach at the Graduate School of Banking held at the University of Colorado in Boulder. If you are in financial services and want to position yourself as a future CSuite executive, this is the school you should attend. Check it out here. During my technology class in a […]
Category Archives: Business
What’s In a Name?
While vacationing on the island of Antigua, I could not help but notice a particular restaurant we passed by every day. Here is the restaurant: So my question is, would you eat at Good Luck Restaurant? Now, if you took “good luck” to mean that if you eat there, you will receive good luck, then […]
Being Strategic by Improving the Customer Experience
The issue of how you can improve the customer experience cannot be adequately covered in a few hundred words. Let me give two examples, one dealing with the digital / online experience and one dealing with the physical branch. If you are like most FIs, you have multiple online banking systems. Typically, you would have […]
Being Strategic by Reducing Operating Costs
What are the activities that a typical business customer of yours engages in that mostly manually and cost-intensive? Don’t know? It’s likely that, as bankers, we don’t spend much time thinking about the internal cost of our business customers. But there are areas in which an FI has a direct opportunity to reduce costs for […]
“What are you doing” – A Continued View on Perspective
It may be a coincidence, but I seem to be on a bit of a perspective kick. While in church on Mother’s Day Sunday, our associate pastor told a story about Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. One day, as Christopher was making his rounds examining the work he had laid […]
Don’t Ruin a Great Experience!
Don’t you hate when you’re having an amazing digital experience with a vendor, and they ruin it? Here’s the story. After a successful series of meetings in Atlanta, I returned my Hertz rental car and headed for the terminal. I really love the convenience of the email receipt—no waiting around for an associate with 20 […]
The Need for Self-Service Training
I was chatting with a group of U.S. Dataworks, Inc. employees about self-service and my belief that good self-service trumps great personalized service. We agreed this is generally true, though one of my incredibly cerebral programming staff, Eric, noted how many patrons of the grocery stores where he shops should need to qualify before using […]
Believe me, Good Self Service Works, Just Let me Choose …
Due to my frequent flights in and out of Atlanta, I have become a loyal Delta customer—with a status to show for it. While I generally think they offer a good flying experience, there have been a couple of instances where their efforts to provide a quality personalized service actually diminished my flying experience. Don’t […]
Why Banking is Failing at Cross-Selling Fee Services
I recently read an article from The Financial Brand outlining the problems financial institutions have in cross-selling services with associated fees. The article compares data from Amazon Prime sales to the lack of success FIs have had in selling fee-based services. They found, even when Amazon raised the price for the Prime service, subscribership increased. […]
Innovation in Charitable Giving
Charities are finding it increasingly difficult to raise the money they need. Changes in tax laws certainly have had an effect, but the biggest adjustment is merely the march of time. Think about it: how do most nonprofits raise money? They have an annual fundraiser—some big event where well-heeled, high-networth individuals are wined, dined, or […]