The Shopper Stopper

Every day, telephone calls from so-called shoppers pour into the bank's switchboard or call center. When consumers perceive a business' goods and services as commodities, they often dig out their mangled Yellow Pages and start dialing down the list of businesses looking for a deal, and become shoppers. Capturing business from telephone shoppers is a quick way to improve the bottom line without the need for wrenching changes in a bank's culture. All banks have to do is add a few simple sales strategies to a standard shopper-call response. First, for an eye-opener, do some informal market research.