Almost all large banks have publicly stated their intent to deepen customer relationships, i.e. get them to use more products from the bank. However, few of these large banks have instituted sales practices that translate intent into effective action. This is the key finding of an Oliver Wyman mystery shop of 13 large banks.
Our report, Customer Discovery and Relationship Selling: Overpromising and Under-Delivering, sets out to understand cross-selling practices associated with opening checking accounts in a branch and applying for a mortgage. In both areas, there are missed deepening opportunities:
- Checking accounts: While almost all the banks tried to cross-sell savings accounts and credit cards during checking account origination, few tried to understand other financial needs, particularly investments and retirement needs
- Mortgage: Only 5 of the 13 banks asked about other products during a mortgage application conversation
We believe that banks are missing golden opportunities to leverage these account opening events, where customers are fully engaged in discussing their financial relationships. Customer needs discovery at these times can strongly influence cross-sell later - but many banks are missing out on this. They're promising all the right things but typically failing to deliver.
