Profitable yet Unloved
During the past three months CoreData has conducted hundreds of microbusiness mystery shopping events of Australia’s biggest business banks.
This is the second year that we have conducted this survey and the results show no real improvement in service understanding and intention across the country and that in some cases – notably Bank West – the service appears to have completely collapsed.
Using our small business database, we recruited mystery shoppers either in the process of starting a small business or seeking to change their business banking relationship and we asked them to record the experience for us.
The research, which covers the process of beginning a new bank relationship from first call to final execution, highlights the fact that the quality or process in most Australian banks is effectively random and that a number of the banks appear simply disinterested in the business altogether.
Businesses which completed mystery shopping and were all looking for a deposit account, a trading account, a line of credit facility and a credit card and had a turn over of up to $1 million Australian per annum were characterised by among other things:
Real difficulty in getting and making appointments: The process of making appointments for many of the banks appears completely random.
Very poor follow up rate: (Less than half of the shoppers were followed up after their first meeting). It’s worth noting that every business which changed its banking relationship was followed up by the banker they saw within 48 hours.
A failure to explain the benefits of their offer: Few banking staff were able to explain what they did that was different to other banks – or talk about the cost to the consumer.
A distinct inability to bundle: Despite the fact they knew the shopper wanted a range of services, very few providers talked about the benefits of bundling services.
A distinct inability to look into a consumer’s total picture: Few of the bankers actually took the time to get to know the client. One of the mystery shoppers was refused a line of credit at four of the five banks she saw because she did not own a property. The one that secured her business also got the $3 million cash she was holding after the sale of her last property.
Matrix Summary
| ANZ | Bank of Qld | Bank West | Bendigo Bank | CBA | NAB | St George | WPAC | |
| Initial Contact | Good | Good | Poor | Good | Poor | Poor | Average | Average |
| General Staff Impressions | Good | Poor | Poor | Good | Average | Average | Poor | Good |
| Knowledge | Good | Poor | Poor | Average | Average | Good | Poor | Average |
| Expertise and Profes- sionalism | Average | Poor | Poor | Average | Good | Good | Poor | Good |
| Quality of Information & Focus on Needs | Good | Poor | Poor | Average | Good | Good | Average | Good |
| Meeting Preparation | Good | Good | Poor | Good | Average | Poor | Average | Good |
| Sales Experience | Average | Poor | Poor | Good | Good | Good | Poor | Average |
| Follow Up | Good | Average | Poor | Poor | Average | Average | Good | Poor |
| Keenness | Good | Good | Poor | Good | Average | Poor | Average | Good |
| Intention | Good | Poor | Poor | Average | Average | Good | Poor | Good |
What’s Really Important?
One of the important things to consider about the sales process is that not all elements are considered equal.
For example – ANZ which did well on almost all elements of the process – was comparatively weak on expertise and professionalism – a core driver of decision-making for small businesses – which means that in this research at least, ANZ was effectively out competed by CBA and Westpac which got the lion’s share of the new business.
*Data sourced from CoreData’s Micro Business Mystery Shopping report
One Comment on “Profitable yet Unloved”
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Knobby says:
ANZ by far the best!