The financial services industry is continuously evolving, and it is essential to optimize collections strategies to maintain liquidity and minimize risk. One of the most critical choices for credit un...
Growing and maintaining deposits is a constant factor for any financial institution. If a consumer isn’t taking their money to you, then where is it going? That’s right—your competitor. So, where do you start? As any great leader would tell you, you need to have a goal in mind, set expectations, and share those expectations with your staff. With all of the competition in today’s marketplace, it’s essential that you think of innovative ways to grow deposits.
Since it is nearly an impossible task to run a successful financial institution without gathering and growing deposits, we’ve put together some ways that you can increase your deposit growth.
1. Focus on who matters
Customer service is still one of the key ways to attract and retain customers. We already established that the competition can be overwhelming, so use that to your advantage by offering exceptional customer service in addition to a variety of products and services at a competitive price.
2. Know and educate your audience
Take time to pinpoint who you are targeting. If you’re focusing on baby boomers but your audience is overflowing with millennials, you may need to switch up your marketing strategy. No matter who your audience, they need to be educated. According to EverFi, consumers that engage with a company through education are actually five times more likely to make a purchase than those reached by direct marketing. Providing dedicated and relevant educational content is a powerful way to secure customer loyalty, sell new products, and meaningfully connect with a new generation of customers.
3. Create an environment that makes cross-selling easy
Loyal customers can be your biggest advocate. They are also the easiest group to cross-sell products to since a relationship has already been established. Cross-selling can be an easy task that seamlessly fits into your employee’s routine as long as you implement it the right way. Provide product training and offer up best practices.
4. Package your products
It’s not surprising to find that many financial institutions offer similar products and services, so how can you stand out among the crowd? The way that you package your offers can make a big difference in how customers look at you versus your competitor. Deliver all-encompassing options that will add value to a person’s financial portfolio, i.e. a DDA, savings and investment account, and a loan. Package accounts based on your customers wants and needs. According to the 2015 North America Consumer Digital Banking Survey conducted by Accenture, the majority of surveyed (61%) consumers choose other sources for brokerage accounts, 70% choose other sources for auto loans, and 52% choose other sources for home mortgages. When consumers are asked why they stay with their bank, only 5% say because the bank “provides me the correct level of proactive financial advice.” You can create a future vision for your customer when you present options as a package. The goal is to make it simple and convenient for your customers to bring all of their financial business to your institution.
5. Utilize online and mobile efforts
Technology in the financial institution world has never been more important. Offering convenient online services can be a HUGE selling point to your customers. Online and mobile banking gives your customers the leisure of conducting almost any activity online that they would normally do in person at a branch. People lead busy lives, so these types of features and services are appealing for their ease and convenience.
6. Be a social butterfly
Whether you like it or not, social media is here to stay. Social platforms have transformed the way many industries are conducting business and that includes financial institutions. These platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) allow you to fully engage with your customers and funny enough, they add in a real human element by allowing you to be personable and relatable.
7. Reward your customers and your employees
You may find that rewarding your team with recognition and celebration will bring out their competitive spirit. Create incentive contests to boost cross-selling efforts or recognize individuals who do an outstanding job when it comes to customer service. Customers also like to be rewarded. Launch loyalty rewards programs to help attract new customers and strengthen the relationships that you have with existing customers.
Like any company, there are always ways to grow and become better. You can’t just sit back and wait for deposits to start rolling in on their own; you need to implement a plan and start gathering and growing deposits. Whether you choose to utilize one or seven of the options above is up to you, but by proactively engaging with your customer and your employees, you’re taking the first step to boosting deposits.
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