Free guide and workbook
They Know Your Name. Do You Know Their Story?
A free guide for tellers, bankers and branch managers on knowing what matters to a customer before you decide how to help. One true story, seven steps, ten situations to work through, and a pad of pages to write on. Fillable, so it works on a laptop or printed.
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Every bank says it: we know our customers.
We know their names, what they come in for, who likes to see whom. That is a claim. The proof is one question: what do you know about a customer that changes how you help them? Not their name or their usual deposit. Something that changes the next question, the next step, or who needs to be involved. If you cannot answer that, you know their name. You do not know their story.
From Steve Lowisz
A teller got it right. A branch manager with the same facts did not.
I have spent three decades alongside community banks, some of that time on the board side. Every bank tells me they know their customers. This guide starts with a true story about one woman, two conversations, and the teller who finally understood what she was trying to do. Then it takes that story deeper, one step at a time, until the judgment is yours.
Founder of Guide, Don't Drive™, the Human Performance Operating System™. Chief Executive Officer, Community Bankers Institute. Author of The Branch Is The Brand.
What's inside
- The story, told once and then taken deeper
- Seven steps in the order a conversation happens, each practiced on the page
- Ten customer situations to build judgment, alone or with a partner, with one way each could go
- Forty questions that give room, sorted by moment
- Four weeks with your team, for anyone who leads people who talk with customers
- The pad: blank copies of every page you write on
- Fillable PDF, or print it and write
How to use it
- 1
Download the guide and the pad
Short form; both files open on screen and arrive by email.
- 2
Read the story first
Ten minutes; write before you turn the page.
- 3
Run one situation a week with a partner
Five minutes each; that is how judgment gets built.
Who it's for
Tellers and personal bankers
Seven steps you can use at the window tomorrow, and a page to write on for every one.
Branch managers
Two pages on using it with your team and one coaching question that keeps it alive.
Retail and regional leaders
A guide you can hand to every branch without a training budget.
