Cross selling by banks is primarily a relationship building exercise which the banking industry must engage in to grow from their existing customers.

 Definition of Cross selling by Banks

 

Cross selling by banks is defined as offering the existing customers additional banking products. For example, a deposit customer who is already operating a savings account can be offered a term deposit account or a fixed deposit account or call deposit account. Another customer can be offered  mortgage finance, credit card and personal loan.

cross selling by banks can also be said to be the art of customer retention by ensuring customers are provided with as many products to meet their needs.

Process for effective cross selling by banks exercise,

• Analysis using existing customers database should be done for each customer, identify their specific need and match with a product that can be offered to the customer as a cross selling product.
• After identifying the product,  the banks should come up with a strategy on how to disseminate information about the product to the customer. The strategy may suggest each customer be assigned a particular staff for smooth management of the relationship.
• The staff members charged with this responsibility should be knowledgeable and well trained in cross selling to be able to market all or majority of the banks products to the customer.
• There should be continuous periodic review of the customer needs and the database to identify the needs of new customers.

This exercise has proved to be very beneficial with more banks adopting the approach, major banks have expanded their banking business.

 Benefits of Cross selling by Banks:

1. There is increased profit as the bank is able to greatly expand their banking business by offering more products to existing customers. There is tremendous growth in business.
2. There is reduced cost as it has been proven that the cost of acquiring a new customer is four times higher than serving the existing customer, with reduced cost the profits will also increase.
3. There is ensured loyalty of the customer to the banks and therefore there is little or no likelihood that the customer would shift their business dealings to another bank. This is also known as ‘ring fencing’.
4. The bank would have a competitive edge over the other banks, because in the process of analyzing the needs of the existing customer they would come up with innovative products which are not being offered in he market.
5. Cross selling by banks can also greatly build team spirit among the staff members of the bank, creating loyalty and reducing staff turnover as they are well trained and feel part of the team that brings in the business and not just ‘robots’.

 

Cross selling by banks is an art if well mastered by the bank will have a great long term effect on the business growth and put the banks on the cutting edge of innovation. Training in cross selling by banks is a must to grow and compete in the industry.