Bankers and advisors will almost always tell whomever asks that their business is founded on solid customer relations. They’ll tell you emphatically that financial services is a customer relationship business. It’s founded on trust and the only way to truly trust someone is to know them personally. But the reality of the matter is that [...]
Read Full Post »
I got another customer satisfaction survey from my bank the other day. Once again a request for me to take my time to tell them how they are doing. Once again a perfectly framed poll asking closed ended questions so that someone, somewhere can report their score delta and check off an item on their [...]
Read Full Post »
I have conversations every day with bankers and financial advisors. A question I often ask is how they market themselves to acquire new customers. My favorite answer from them is, “we’re referral-based – we don’t use marketing.” And, tongue in cheek, I reply, “and how is that going for you?” because I know from published [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in SPURspectives, Uncategorized, financial services, investment, leader, marketing innovation, network, nonprofit, social network, transformation on Apr 3rd, 2011
This week marks the 2nd anniversary of one of my favorite books written by one of my favorite people — The Pollyanna Principles by Hildy Gottlieb. Loyal readers of Spurspectives may have seen a few posts referencing this book. There are links to some of them below. This is one of my favorite books because [...]
Read Full Post »
This weekend I became a dragon. Not just any old dragon, I became the great red dragon from Jeff Smith’s graphic novel, Bone. OK, I didn’t really become a dragon, I just changed my avatar on Facebook from a picture of me to a picture of the great red dragon. You may have noticed that [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in banking, community, consumer engagement, customer interaction, donor engagement, economic recession, financial services, follower, insurance, investment, marketing innovation, network, non profit, nonprofit, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network on Oct 27th, 2010
Some transactions are pretty straightforward. Take me and shampoo for instance. I’m just another bald Boomer so I have very little vested interest in the shampoo that I buy. I can trust just about any shampoo to do what I need, as long as it doesn’t cause a rash. I understand that a whole lot [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in banking, branding, consumer behavior, consumer engagement, consumer perception, customer engagement, financial services, follower, imitation, individualized marketing, investment, leader, marketing, marketing budget, marketing innovation, personalized marketing, social marketing, social media, social network on Oct 18th, 2010
I talk to a lot of community bankers. They’re fascinating people. Just like anywhere else, no two are alike. Everyone has a unique story. The same is true of the banks they run. They’re all different with their own unique culture. Yet, they all seem to share a common problem with marketing differentiation. How can [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in SPURspectives, follower, imitation, leader, lifecycle, marketing, marketing innovation, network, social network, transformation on Sep 7th, 2010
Book Review: Managing (Right) for the First Time by David C. Baker
Twitter version: Manage people? Buy this book now.
This is a first for Spurspectives, a book review. Those of you who know me are aware that I read a lot, so it may seem strange that this is the first book review that I’ve [...]
Read Full Post »
Posted in branding, community, consumer behavior, consumer perception, kansas city, marketing, network, personalized marketing, social branding, social marketing, social media, social network, twitter, web on Aug 24th, 2010
The concept of promoting a personal brand has gained a lot of traction as social media have grown. In many respects it’s good for everyone involved. But it’s something I’ve never been comfortable with adopting. I’ve given it a lot of thought and now I think I understand my reluctance.
My friend Autom Tagsa wrote a [...]
Read Full Post »
I just got back from a short vacation house boating with my fraternity brothers. Had you asked any one of us 30 years ago if we could envision ourselves as old, fat, bald guys who float around together in a doublewide on a barge, you would have gotten a lot of laughs. Yet, we are [...]
Read Full Post »
