As we know, one of the most important sectors that significantly influence the Colombian economy is the financial sector, which has become a dynamic engine for the development of the real sector and a support in the achievement of goals, projects and dreams of the sector. particular; where the latter reaches a little more than 40% of bankarization (at least the person has a savings account), with respect to the economically active population.
This panorama indicates that more than 9.3 million people in our country make use of the different financial entities, which in turn generate many moments of truth.
That it is a moment of truth, if we ask the common people, aspects such as: moments that remain in people's memory, whatever the situation, good or bad, you will remember that moment, it is a moment. decision, it is a moment that remains in people's heads and hearts, it is a real moment that affects a particular situation, etc. How a moment of truth is observed for people is closely related to something that happens at a certain moment and that can affect them both negatively and positively.
Therefore, it is essential that financial institutions begin to seriously reflect on the "moments of truth" that affect their customers and that translate into image and service.
Before going in depth, on the moments of truth that occur in financial institutions and what strategies they must carry out to make them successful and favorable for the company, it is important to place ourselves in the current framework in which this type of societies.
In the first place, financial institutions focus their strategy on achieving competitive advantages through new products, the use of cutting-edge technology, price warfare and high productivity, with little human resources and a greater number of hours worked.
Therefore today innovation in products and services, the offer of information technology for the processing of transactions (Internet, e-mail, ATMs, telephone banking, tele-sales, tele-marketing, etc.), are the bases of the competitiveness, which have determined the rules of the financial market, however despite this varied range of possibilities for the client, one of the aspects that most influence customer loyalty has been forgotten and these are the “moments of true".
What can we call Moments of Truth for the financial sector?
Although the vast majority of the definitions indicated by personalities of the business union or scholars of the subject are adjusted, we could consider a more particular one such as:
“Any contact, however insignificant it may seem, that the client has with their respective financial institution, whether personal, or, through any electronic, manual, or, through an advertising medium; whether with an official, electronic page, bulletin, extract, advertisement, etc., which generates a perception in your mind and heart and generates loyalty, transparency, quality and image, about it "
Thus a division of those moments of truth arises, which we can define as: very sensitive contacts, irrelevant contacts, influential contacts and tangential contacts.
A very sensitive contact can be defined as that moment in which the client-entity relationship becomes loyal or ends (special moments or unpleasant moments), that is, the client will remain in our entity or accept the offer of the competition; Among these contacts are: direct view of the client to the office or network, where a contact is generated with any official of the entity. Other sensitive contacts that can reach the aforementioned effects are: Telephone banking, use of electronic means, or through a contact center, pre-approvals, etc.
An irrelevant contact is one that despite the existence of a contact between the client and the entity, the moment that is generated between the two does not make him experience a stellar or bitter moment, his perception at that moment is practically normal, that moment of truth, sees it as mandatory compliance by the entity in response to the monetary consideration of being with it.
Some irrelevant contacts for the client are: the receipt of their bank statements, payment reminder messages, newsletters and additional information from the entity.
Influential contacts, these are dictated by the type of advertising that is presented, some is final in the decision to use said entity or acquire a product or build loyalty with it, since it finds its offer of products and services and the type of marketing attractive used generated a moment of truth in the mind of the client, which ultimately influenced their heart and the final decision.
Among the contacts that are generated and are influential, we have the visual: television, auditory: radio, mind: participation in fairs, billboards, programs, etc. (level of remembrance) and heart: social action, contests, community support. And among others is the written advertising flyers, posters, folding, etc.
Tangential contacts, which are produced by the client's contact through other entities that influence so that the moment of truth about the client is positive about the same, among these we have contacts with unions, associations, superintendencies, sector.
Thus arises the need to change certain paradigms of competition and wealth creation and to focus on new growth opportunities.
How to achieve an effective development of the moments of truth that are vital for the adoption, permanence and greater management with current clients with little banking with the entity?
As a general rule, entities must carry out a study and classify the different moments of truth that occur in their entity, in such a way that they can develop strategies aimed at strengthening their relationship with customers, if the entity ignores these moments and does not analyze how It may be affecting its market share, it is very certain that in the short term it will have to allocate more resources, be it advertising or loss of profitability, lowering its prices or sacrificing human resources so as not to enter into crisis.
It is important to remember that in recent years a series of financial entities have gone into liquidation that surely never realized the existence of moments of truth and sacrificed other aspects that ultimately affected their sustainability.
Below are some issues that are vital for financial institutions to take into account the moment the client comes into contact with it, through any means and that must be worked hard and constantly:
- A new model of business thinking must be built, which is aimed at achieving customer satisfaction, without affecting the principles of the company. In this regard, it is essential that the entity does not focus on the sale of its portfolio of products and services in a massive way, but rather that it adopts a malleable structure that allows offering the product that fits the customer, not that the customer fits the product. Products and services must be offered that generate value for the client, that when he thinks of the entity he feels a feeling of support, achievement, and conviction that it is important for that organization A moment of truth that is favorable for the entity, for the way the client is counseled is a valuable means of generating publicity through voice to voice. Therefore you must have the tools,time, the right staff to be effective when the client comes into contact and is eager for an answer, solution or help.One of the most important and not to say the most important to generate moments of positive truth for the entity is in the development of human capital (protagonists of moments of truth), which can be achieved by boosting their skills, training in people management techniques, conflict management, modification of behaviors and behaviors that are negative when attending to a client, to empower all officials who in one way or another have contact with the client, giving them the tools and powers so that they are able to solve the problems to a certain extent as the company considers it,complaints and claims from your clients, so that they leave satisfied with your entity Establish an effective communication platform through which beneficial dialogues are generated between the client and the company, in such a way that more than 90% of the moments of truth that are presented with the entity are favorable, so that the client feels that the service offered was of high quality Generate, apply and internalize in the human talent of your company, its organizational culture, the which will be successful if it is linked to the customer as the center of its business.in such a way that more than 90% of the moments of truth that are presented with the entity are favorable, so that the client feels that the service offered was of high quality.Generate, apply and internalize in the human talent of your company, your organizational culture, which will be successful if it is linked to the customer as the center of your business.in such a way that more than 90% of the moments of truth that are presented with the entity are favorable, so that the client feels that the service offered was of high quality.Generate, apply and internalize in the human talent of your company, your organizational culture, which will be successful if it is linked to the customer as the center of your business.
An important slogan for financial entities is "know your client as yourself", generate among your employees a high degree of commitment to the principles and values of your company, which will undoubtedly result in customer service, generate in them a sense of service and self-criticism and you will surely achieve moments of truth in a successful company.
What tools can financial institutions rely on to improve Moments of Truth?
One of the most valuable tools that an entity that has an important customer base can rely on is the implementation of a CRM strategy, through which it establishes segmentation matrices of its customers, creates an input interaction model to the customer's experience with your entity, define how to capture critical customer information that allows optimal attention at the time that it requires from you, that is easily accessible to the official who attends you or the way in which he communicates with you, Marketing tactics should be considered that close gaps in customer service at the time of their experience with the entity.
It is important to remember that a CRM strategy will allow you to develop tele-marketing, campaign management, customer support, product and service assistance, customer relationships, contracts, complaints, among others.
Develop a hierarchy model of your customers' needs, which allows you to achieve retention, loyalty, greater use of your products and services, that is, return to your customer of high current and potential value in your analysis bases.
For this you must develop different stages: establish which are the moments of truth that most affect your customers (queues, complaints, service, fast and personalized attention, etc.), once you detect which is the Achilles heel of your organization to your customers, implement a response and service system that guides the customer effectively, in a relatively short time and that the ultimate goal is to be satisfied with the need covered.
Remember that "a customer is one who buys a second time." A third stage is related to costs and efficiency and a last one to the analysis of win-win, client-entity.
Finally remember:
"The moments of truth are those moments that make the difference between success and failure" "between satisfaction and bitterness"
"Loyalty is ephemeral, fragile, circumstantial" therefore you must generate "differentiation"
