A cup of cappuccino is never enough<\/p>\n
Arief T. Syam, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The motto that \"the customer is king\" remains relevant to this
\nday. For banks in particular, customers, especially VIPs, remain
\nkings and deserve satisfactory services.<\/p>\n
\"As interbank competition gets increasingly fierce, customer
\nservices have likewise gained increasing importance,\" said a
\nmarketing manager of a bank in Melawai, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
He is able to convince customers of other banks to move their
\naccounts to his bank thanks to his bank's superior customer
\nservices. Special services constitute part of the marketing
\nstrategy of the banking industry in efforts to retain the loyalty
\nof \"top\" customers.<\/p>\n
There are many marketing strategies that can be employed to
\nmaintain a customer's loyalty to a bank. They range from
\nexperiential marketing, experiential branding to customer
\nintimacy.<\/p>\n
The essence of all these strategies is that a customer can be
\nmade to always recall the name of a particular company, be
\nattracted to and want to try the services or products it sells
\nand finally become loyal to a particular service or product that
\nthe company sells.<\/p>\n
In the banking business, many methods have been created and
\nemployed to maintain customer loyalty, ranging from special
\ndiscounts to the distribution of gifts to top customers. Banking
\npractitioners usually refer to these services as Personal,
\nPriority or Private Banking.<\/p>\n
Indeed, banks cannot afford to ignore priority or personal
\nservices. If only 10 percent of the total number of a bank's
\ncustomers are in the VIP category, these customers may account
\nfor 60 percent of the funds managed by the bank. It is very
\nlikely that the interest obtained from the management of these
\nVIP customers' funds will contribute to over 50 percent of the
\nbank's total profit.<\/p>\n
That's why banks offer special services to VIP customers.
\nSometimes these special services constitute added-value in terms
\nof a bank's image. Of course, different banks have different
\nnames for the different types of special services.<\/p>\n
Bank Mandiri, for example, calls its special service Bank
\nMandiri Prioritas (Priority Mandiri Bank). Each Bank Mandiri
\nbranch has a room furnished with first-class furniture in which
\nits Prioritas customers are attended to. Cappuccino is even
\nserved in the Prioritas room.<\/p>\n
A bank staff member is always on hand to attend to a VIP
\ncustomer's banking needs, and will act like the customer's
\nfinancial advisor. As such, the staff member not only offers the
\nbank's services but also offers input, advice and consideration
\nregarding the management of the customer's money.<\/p>\n
A Bank Mandiri executive in charge of retail banking services
\nsaid VIP customers were small in number but had vast potential.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, about 1.5 million people earn an average of Rp
\n500 million a year. Some 30 percent of the total third-party
\nfunds that Bank Mandiri managed last year came from upper-end
\ncustomers, he noted.<\/p>\n
Besides Bank Mandiri, other local banks like Bank Central Asia
\n(BCA), Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI), Bank Danamon, Bank Niaga and
\nBank Internasional Indonesia (BII) also provide priority banking
\nservices.<\/p>\n
BNI, for example, offers two products called Private Banking,
\nwhich requires a minimum deposit of Rp 1 billion (about US$105
\nmillion), and BNI Prima, with a minimum deposit of Rp 250
\nmillion. BNI Private Banking targets Jakarta VIP customers, while
\nBNI Prima eyes customers in the same category in other cities.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the types of special products available, banks
\ngenerally offer facilities, flexibility and hospitality in their
\nprivate services. During promotions, financial advisors in charge
\nof these special services are ready to assist customers, in
\nperson or over the phone.<\/p>\n
What about foreign banks? Of course, foreign banks introduced
\nprivate services to VIP customers long before local banks.<\/p>\n
Foreign banks seem even better prepared and employ a better
\nstrategy in this respect. Citibank, which calls its premium
\nservices Citigold Wealth Management Banking, for example, says
\nthat every Citigold customer is served by a Citigold Relationship
\nTeam, which comprises a Citigold executive, an investment
\nspecialist and a foreign exchange specialist, with the support of
\nresearch and global knowledge from Citibank's international
\nnetwork.<\/p>\n
Citibank seems to suggest that these four components give
\nadded value to its premium VIP services, which distinguishes its
\nspecial services from those offered by other banks, foreign or
\nlocal. In principle, though, other banks' financial advisory
\nteams are also made up of the same components.<\/p>\n
Citigold Wealth Management Banking, introduced in 2002, is
\nactually an extension of Citigold Priority Banking, a Citibank
\nproduct since 1980. While Priority Banking is focused on the
\nprovision of exclusive services, Wealth Management leans more
\ntoward the management of a customer's financial portfolio.<\/p>\n
\"Wealth management may be considered a more detailed type of
\nservice,\" said Batara, retail banking director of Citibank NA.
\n\"An exclusive service alone will not suffice,\" he added.<\/p>\n
To join a Citigold Wealth Management Banking program, a
\ncustomer must place a minimum deposit of Rp 500 million, which
\nentitles the customer to special services like investment and
\nfinancial management planning and exclusive Citigold Center
\nfacilities like a safety deposit box, special merchant discounts
\nand invitations to exclusive events like fashion shows, music
\nconcerts and seminars. Citibank provides this service at its
\nbranch offices in Jakarta, Bandung, Surabaya and Medan.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, ABN Amro offers two wealth management products: ABN
\nAmro Preferred Banking and ABN Amro Private Banking. For ABN Amro
\nprivate banking, a minimum deposit of Rp 1 billion is required,
\nwhile for Preferred Banking, only Rp 500 million.<\/p>\n
Like Citibank products, these ABN Amro premium products, which
\nwere launched in 2001, extend a lot of facilities to customers.<\/p>\n
Upon entering an ABN Amro office, a customer using either of
\nthese two premium products will be treated like a king. He will
\nbe attended to in a luxuriously furnished room equipped with
\nmultimedia gadgets and a library. He will enjoy special services,
\nincluding discount programs at a number of outlets as well as
\nbirthday cards and gifts. Also, he will be invited to attend
\nspecial events.<\/p>\n
These premium customers are generally familiar with
\nsophisticated gadgets and the Internet. That's why Citibank has
\nrecently made use of the Internet to approach special customers.
\nThe bank's website allows VIP customers to gain access to all
\ntheir banking transactions anywhere, anytime.<\/p>\n
BCA also makes use of the Internet for its banking services
\nthrough what is called \"klikbca bisnis\". Using this facility, BCA
\ncorporate customers can conduct all their business transactions
\nthrough the Internet.<\/p>\n
The launch of \"klikbca bisnis\" is indeed a daring breakthrough
\namid the hesitation of other banks due to security concerns about
\nconducting business transactions through the Internet in
\nIndonesia. It is this particular service that has allowed BCA
\nbanking services to excel over those from other banks.<\/p>\n
Of course, banks making use of information technology pose a
\nbig challenge for other banks in extending special services to
\nVIP customers. VIP customers of other banks have to set aside
\ntime to visit their banks for a consultation or a transaction.
\nThis time could better utilized if everything could be done
\nthrough the Internet.<\/p>\n
\"You can save a lot of time if your transactions or
\nconsultation are conducted through the Internet. You can avoid
\ntraffic jams,\" said Pril Husenu, finance manager of PT Mutu Agung
\nLestari, a timber certification company in Cimanggis.<\/p>\n
His company has just signed up for the BCA klicbca bisnis
\nfacility. \"It is difficult to save time in Jakarta. If we use
\nklikbca bisnis we can save time that would otherwise be wasted in
\ntraffic jams,\" Pril said. Of course, it will take time for him
\nand his staffers to get used to making transactions through the
\nInternet.<\/p>\n
A luxuriously furnished room and a cup of cappuccino may not
\nmake up for the time that a VIP customer has to waste on his trip
\nto the bank. Obviously, a customer would be happier to save time
\nand conduct business transactions or consultation through the
\nInternet.<\/p>\n
Still, it is believed that a face-to-face meeting in a
\nbusiness consultation is preferable to communication through the
\nInternet.<\/p>\n
It all depends on a person's personality in conducting
\ntransactions. It must be noted that recently another approach
\nknown as knowledge-based management (KM) has been introduced.<\/p>\n
What BCA and Citibank have done with their Internet services
\nis part of this KM approach. This means that a company must be
\ninnovative in offering its products and services.<\/p>\n
How to create an effective private banking service? The
\nInternet may be one solution. However, words on a computer or
\ncell phone screen can never replace a face-to-face meeting.<\/p>\n
Would virtual communication through a webcam or a cell phone
\ncamera be the best solution?<\/p>\n
Whatever the solution, business players would certainly prefer
\nto have both luxury and facilities without losing the human touch
\neven if a tete-a-tete is conducted only through a computer or
\ncell phone. (The writer is a freelance financial journalist based
\nin Jakarta)<\/p>",
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