Tellers Make All the Difference

Think about the number of people the average teller sees in one week. Ten people a day, five days a week. That’s 50 people a week. In a year (48 weeks), that would be around 2,400 contacts.

Every organization has a certain set of “service” expectations for tellers, such as greeting the client/member by name, being courteous and pleasant, accuracy, closing the interaction with words of assistance, and the most valuable of all—creating awareness and making referrals.

Yes, I said valuable. There are dollars attached to creating awareness and referrals. If only 5% of the 2,400 contacts a teller makes during the year result in an account being opened, this would come to 120 new accounts. If the annual revenue of an account is based at $50 (and that is on the low side), the teller has generated $6,000 for the year. How many tellers are in your organization?

Very simply, have tellers use this phrase, “Has anyone told you…” Now, add in a benefit, “…how you can save time…” Finally, include the product or service “…with our 24-hour on-line banking?” “Has anyone told you how you can save time with our 24-hour on-line banking?” Now use this phrase with CONSISTENCY!

The client responds, “Tell me more.” At this point, the teller makes the introduction to the sales professional. “Let me introduce you to Amy, who can provide you with all the details.”

Script it with your team, role-play it, use it live, and let me know how much income the tellers in your organization generate next week.

Cynthia Whitmer Griffith is a Performance Results Network Results Consultant for Community Banks and Credit Unions at Cohen Brown Management Group, Inc.

Cohen Brown Management Group is the internally recognized leader in sales-and-service cultural and behavioral change, specializing in consulting and training processes for management, front-line, support/customer service units and call centers. Performance Grapevine provides thought leadership insights on sales training, sales management, leadership training, time management, consultative selling, behavior change, organization change, and culture change.

4 Comments

  1. Pete 12 years ago

    Nice! I like that!

  2. Cynthia Whitmer Griffith 12 years ago

    Thanks for the feedback Pete! Isn’t it amazing when you put a pencil to it?!?!

  3. Connie Ratcliffe 12 years ago

    I have believed for a long time, that the tellers are the center of the retail bank. They have the most opportunities to create a long lasting relationship wtih a customers, cross sell additional products and services and create loyalty to the bank. With coaching, the tellers can be an integral part of the branches sales strategy.

  4. Cynthia Whitmer Griffith 12 years ago

    Thanks for the comments Connie! Tellers do create memorial experiences for their customers. It always makes me smile to sit back and watch outstanding interactions between customers and tellers because those customers have a comfort with the tellers that compares to conversations with family members.

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