Palvelut ja Asiakassuhteet

Palvelut ja Asiakassuhteet - Markkinoinnin polttopisteessä

Written by: Christian Grönroos, Raija Järvinen

I picked three books from our school library and realized that this book was closest to our assignment for Aktia. The book itself consisted of 22 different articles about customer service and marketing. 

I was a bit confused after i had read the first three chapters because two of them were written in Finnish and one in Swedish. They were all written about service design and how to value them the right way. However the text itself varied a lot between the chapters. I realized that I should not look at the book as one piece rather a compilation of different opinions and ways of looking at marketing and services.

I was most interested about an article written by Mai Anttila. It was about how to think about the customers needs first and that the competition has shifted more to the direction of customer service rather than the product itself. It gave me many good ideas for our project with Aktia because our main task was about Banking service Design and Aktia likes to be close to the customers as our group found out during the meeting on Friday. 

Here's a couple of points on how a company can get a better value on their service:

1.  Parantaa palvelujen arvosisältöä
2.  Myy palveluja niiden suorittajille maksettavaa palkkaa korkeammalla hinnalla
3.  Tekee asiantuntijapalvelusta tuotteen eli tuotteistaa palveluja
4.  Omaksuu markkinoiden ositus- eli segmentointiajattelun ja sopeuttaa palvelutarjouksensa segmentin eli kohderyhmän tarpeisiin
5.  Laajentaa markkinoita tai palvelun kohderyhmää mekanisoinnin avulla.
6.  Tunnistaa mitä palvelun osia voi tuottaa heikoimmin kyvyin alemmilla palkkakustannuksilla.
7.  Automatisoi palveluja.

The article also says that compiling a bigger package of different services will give the company a chance to lure the customer to take more services for a little cheaper price than normally. Then both the company and customer will benefit from the deal.

I enjoyed the book altogether even though there were a few articles i skipped because they had nothing to do with our assignment

-Henri

Friday April 5, 2013 and another INNO58h working day at the Novia

Today we started the day with a workshop about future thinking. After that the second  Aktia team joined us, thanks for the company Team Fresh inno.

Max and Johannes from group Fresh and Jasmine and Mikael from Royalmess were visiting Aktia today at 10.00. While they were in Aktia the rest of us made some mindmaps about Banking services and its future. 

Brainstorming

                                       
                                          We did a PEST analysis around the topic customization

      We had a task to write a story about future banking in year 2025 and it was presented by Mikael.

What a nice day, thank you all!

//Laura

Meeting with Aktia

Today Jasmine and Mikael L from group Aktia 1 and Johannes and Max from group Aktia 2 went to a meeting to the Aktia offices in Turku. We got a tour in the bank and got to see the different parts of Aktia such as the real estate, private banking, investment and loaning "departments". Also we had time to ask questions and got some answers to them, even though we need some more information still.

Aktia is a smaller bank compared to the competitors and therefore they strive to be a more personal bank for every customer. Their slogan is something like "In every customer we see a person" (Aktia - Näkee jokaisessa asiakkaassaan ihmisen). Their goal is to have the best service in Finland in 2015 and we would be interested in knowing how they will do this and if they have an ace up in their sleeve. Also the bank organizes customer events where they offer food and drinks for customers.

Aktia doesn't have a call center that you get connected to when you call the bank, because they want the customer to get in contact with a person right away. But they do have a call center that contacts customers on a regular basis to get to know what's going on in their life and what kinds of services they would need. This is a good service, because it shows the bank cares about their customers and that you're not just one among others.

// Jasmine & Mikael L

We got caps! :D

Hyvä asiakaspalvelu : menestystekijä finanssialalla

Ylikoski, T.; Järvinen, R.; Rosti, P. 2006. Hyvä asiakaspalvelu – menestystekijä finanssialalla. Helsinki: FINVA.

Palvelut ovat oleellinen osa ihmisten hyvinvointia ja arjen sujuvuutta. Palvelusektori on murrosvaiheessa palvelujen järjestämis- ja tuotantotapojen muuttuessa. Myös käyttäjien odotukset eriytyvät entisestään sähköisten palvelujen yleistyessä.

Finanssialalla asiakaspalvelu on yksi tärkeimpiä keinoja erottua kilpailijoista ja menestyä markkinoilla, joilla kuluttajan kannalta eri yhtiöiden tarjoamat palvelut näyttävät vaikeaselkoisilta ja hyvin samankaltaisilta.Luottamus syntyy yleensä ensin ihmisiin ja sitten vasta yritykseen. Sen vuoksi asiakas­palvelijoiden on huolellisesti valmentauduttava työhönsä.

Hyvä asiakaspalvelija auttaa asiakasta tekemään oikeita valintoja, neuvoo ja ohjaa ongelmatilanteissa.Samalla hän hoitaa asiakassuhdetta ja varmistaa sen jatkuvuutta.Finanssiyhtiön asiakaspalvelun laatu ikään kuin henkilöityy jokaisessa yhtiön asiakaspalvelijassa. 

Kirja tarkastelee asiakaspalvelua osana finanssiyhtiön toimintaa ja auttaa ymmärtämään asiakkaiden valintakäyttäytymistä. Erilaiset asiakaskohtaamiset ? finanssiyhtiön totuuden hetket ? ja asiakaspalveluprosessin vaiheet käsitellään laajasti ja monipuolisesti.Käytännön esimerkit havainnollistavat, miten ainutkertaisia ja erilaisia asiakaskohtaamiset ovat ja miten tärkeä rooli asiakaspalvelijalla on asiakassuhteiden syntymisessä ja jatkumisessa.Teknologian keskeistä merkitystä finanssialan asiakaspalveluun tarkastellaan lukuisten tutkimustulosten avulla. Kirjan viimeisessä luvussa luodaan katsaus asiakaspalvelun voimavaroihin ja hyvää asiakaspalvelua tukevan palvelukulttuurin luomiseen ja ylläpitoon.

The financial sector, customer service is one of the most important ways to stand out from competitors and succeed in a market where the consumer services, offered by different companies, seems difficult to understand and very similar. Good customer service person helps customers make the right choices, advises and guides in a case of problems. Book review customer service in the banking sector and helps to understand the customers' choice behavior. The book also examines the key role of technology in the financial sector.

// Laura

The 10 Keys of Excellent Customer Service

Words alone are very powerful and they have a big influence what your employees and customers think. If you don’t set both of these groups’ expectations up front, your company will never be able to excel in customer service. Focus on these 10 keys:

1. Belief: What customers think is true. Unfortunately, it may not be supported by the facts. Understand that they will hold on to this truth and do not fight to change their mind. Apologize and then try to come up with a satisfactory solution.

2. Complain: What a customer does when they are unhappy. They complain to friends, on social media, and even sometimes to you. Your business reputation is only as good as your customer’s last experience. Everyone that interacts with your customers should understand this.

3. My Manager: The person the customer is seemingly always getting passed to or who always gets blamed by the employee if something goes wrong. See empowerment.

4. Empowerment: Training employees to make decisions on their own to help a customer without talking to “the boss.” This needs to happen 95% of the time. The boss should only handle exceptions.

5. Feedback: Giving the customer the opportunity to tell you what they think in many ways at different stages the transaction. Follow the Three Times Rule—if you hear something about your business three times, whether you like it or not, pay serious attention. It is probably true. Take action.

6. Kick the Cat: What employees do when they take their frustrations out on the customer. Find another way for employees to vent by encouraging easy feedback directly to management.

7. Mistake: The hardest thing for the company to admit. Once you admit it, the customer will be happier.

8. Overpromise: Making a commitment to a customer that the company is not economically able to keep. This is not a solid base for sustained excellent customer service.

9.  Peer Reviews or Earned Media: Online references written by customers on the level of quality or service in your company. This is sometimes called an open reputation system.

10. Pest: A customer the company may need to fire to be more profitable. Be quick to identify and replace them.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aileron/2012/11/15/the-10-keys-of-excellent-customer-service/

//Laura

The Future of Banking Services

The Future of Banking Services

Edited by Jaakko Aspara, Risto Rajala and Virpi Kristiina Tuunainen

I read the book The Future of Banking Services for our book assignment. It is a rather comprehensive piece of literature that covers a lot of topics concerning the future of banking and which features the banking services will include in the times to come. It was published in 2012 by the Aalto University of Economics in Helsinki.

The book starts off with the chapter Special Report – The Future of Banking Services from the Consumer Perspective. It introduces a study of the possible roles of banking in our everyday life in the future. The editors made a study that was made among young people in several countries. One of the main observations made was that the young customers appreciate a good, trusty relationship with the bank and its personnel. They look for long-term relationships with banks and put a high value on trustworthy, expert personnel. Efficiency and creative solutions are also highly valued characteristics among banks and their personnel.
The study was made from the customers’ point of view, and the main goal was to investigate the attitude of young customers toward banking services. The editors also wanted to outline what the future of banking services could be like. The rest of the book is a report of how the results of the study practically could be implemented; personalization of services, building of long-term relationships and innovative banking solutions.

-Mikael L

Latest news from the Aktia in English

http://www.aktia.fi/en/about-aktia/media/press-and-stock-exchange-releases

//Laura