Identifying the Various Needs of Banking Customers

Posted by financer | July 7, 2010 .

There are three main groups of bank customers: the corporate, the commercial and personal. It is the responsibility of the bank representative to match competitively the customer’s wants and needs with the bank’s resources.

All corporate customers cannot trade or operate their business without any bank account. The needs of this group of customers must be constantly monitored. This involves the following:

The need for specific bank product and service that will help in improving the use of its available funds.
The need for personal service. Corporate customers expect their bank to transact business at their own premises.
Corporate customers prefer face-to-face selling by bank representative. They expect specialized team of bank personnel who have the ability to decide and provide solution to their banking requirements.
Corporate customers are knowledgeable and aware of their power in negotiating. Minimal profit margins may be the order of the day when dealing with a big corporation, particularly if it is profitable and credit worthy.

Commercial customers range from large (short of corporate status) to very small businesses. The needs of these customers vary according to size and according to the kind of business they are engaged in. Thus the bank products and services must be tailored fit to their requirements.

They value time in doing business so they prefer that transactions and or negotiations are done at their office. The level of service in this group is likely to outweigh simple price considerations.

The banking needs from the personal sector are highly dependent on their lifestyle, age, gender, professional and social status, etc. The range of products and services that are available to this group must be constantly up-dated to keep with their social and economic trends.

Management must ensure effective channeling of information about perceived and suspected wants and needs of customers from the market place to Head Office.

Meeting customers need must be a priority item for a successful banking operation.