Sales culture in retail banking

Normal scenario in retail banking :  A team of salespersons is recruited with some sales experience, a minimum level of communiation skills and presentability. It is assumed, that the person will be able to log in some business within 7-10 days. If not , s/he is told to face the consequences, in case of inability to deliver.Foul language and threats are common. 75% of the people

1] leave beause of unreasonable pressures.

2] log in fake/ shady business, to protect their jobs and reputation, which can spoil the Bank's reputation over a period of time.

3] are forced to leave.

The same process of hiring and firing is repeated.

Assumptions :

An excel sheet exercise on the number of feet on street , number of telecalls, number of cold calls required to get a certain percentage of appointments, which should convert to so much of business.

Facts ignored :

Market for the product, SWOT analysis vis-svis competitors, brand image, lack of an USP to sell the product, product knowledge amongst the salesforce, communication skills needed, breadth of knowledge required to hold a discussion with a client, level of confidence of the salesperson to interact with a knowledgeable HNI. In most cases, the client knows a lot more than the salesguy.

Questions raised :

1. In case of prolonged failure in sales of a particular product at a particular location , despite several changes in the salesforce, should the management not take a relook at other factors, apart from the competence of the salesforce ? How ethical is it to take away several jobs, and spoil several careers, before they realize/ acknowledge weaknesses in the product or organization or system.

2. The salesperson then joins another bank in a similar/ slightly different role, earns his salary for months, and again starts looking out for another job. How does a client place trust in the so-called relationship managers ?

3. Should a salesperson not be chosen with more care, given adequate training in product knowledge and sales skills, and given some time to establish a comfort level with the local market and products ?

Agreed that every client is comfortably banked, it is a dog-eat-dog world, and business is gained only by pulling it away from a competitor. But that needs a strategy of brand positioning, products with USPs, and a practical plan with sufficient time to capture the market. Experienced and mature salespersons become instant misfits in this scenario, and the lack of this shows in the quality of business and after sales service. After sales service suffers, because sufficent weightage is not given to this factor, in the KRAs of staff. They are valued only for logging in new business and not for managing a relationship. This creates a wide gap in the promises made to  customers, and the actual service that they  receive from the Bank.

The cause of this is short-term goals and strategies of organizations. The long-term may have become difficult to predict in a fast-changing eonomic scenario, but there certainly is a need to look beyond monthly and quarterly goals, to achieve credibility in the eyes of the clientele.