Australian banks have been talking the talk of late to the small and medium business community, but it appears they’re not walking the walk according to new research.

Despite the big four outlining business banking as a critical growth channel in the current climate, levels of advocacy among Australian businesses of their banks remains weak.

With the continuing global financial crisis threatening the profits of banks globally, Australian banks have been jostling each other via the media in order to be seen as saviours to the nations companies.

A positive banking relationship and experience is vital in such a competitive environment, not just for the retention factor, but also in order to drive advocacy levels so customers tell other businesses, friends and family.

Broadly speakingn, this does not appear to be the case according to the latest bi-annual CoreData Business Banking Tracker, which uses Net Promoter Score (NPS) research to benchmark performance.

Disgruntled customers, categorised as those likely to be unhappy customers trapped in a bad relationship and known as ‘Detractors’, increased in the most recent survey.

Detractors accounted for 56.8 per cent of respondents, up from 51.9 per cent just six months earlier.

‘Promoters’, those likely to be loyal enthusiasts who keep buying from the bank and urge their friends to do the same, registered just 17.6 per cent of responses, falling a significant six percentage points when compared to the 23.7 per cent in the previous period.

The fence sitters, known as ‘Passives’, satisfied but unenthusiastic customers who may be easily wooed by the competition, increased slightly to 25.7 per cent, up from 24.4 per cent.

Banks must keep in mind customers have very long memories, and need to consider better treatment in the bad times to maintain loyalty in the good times.