Take it personally

As vice president and district manager of Bank One’s northeast Ohio division, Robin Reuther heads up Bank One’s commercial client services division in Akron, Youngstown and Cleveland. By assigning each client service consultant a specific customer base, Reuther says they are able to build one-on-one relationships with clients.

Customer service skills and product knowledge score high marks on semi-annual customer satisfaction surveys, Reuther says, noting that client satisfaction, rated on a scale from 1 to 6, is in the mid-5 range. She also receives unsolicited penned praised from clients who plaudit Bank One’s client service consultants.

“We recently got a letter signed by the CEO, the CFO and an accountant from a local company that was so complimentary of the person who services their relationship. I’m frequently told by clients that they feel as though this person doesn’t just work for the bank, but for them,” Reuther says.

No doubt, influential in the penchant to please is Bank One’s bonus program, which is based on customer satisfaction, customer retention and teamwork.

“But a lot of it comes from this one-on-one relationship we have,” says Reuther. “We’re not a call center — we actually go out and visit our clients, not just when there’s an issue, but to check up and make sure everything’s okay. We have a face-to-face presence with the customer, which distinguishes this group from a call center environment.”

When consultants aren’t giving their customers face time, they’re becoming better acquainted with client needs by documenting data about every incoming or outgoing call. Information is input into a PC-based system that generates reports, which are constantly scrutinized for details such as the product or service involved and how long it took to address the issue.

“We’re very proactive in looking at the customer’s business, the bank products they use and the types of issues they’re calling us about, so we can suggest ways they can make life easier for themselves,” Reuther says.

Neil Cotiaux of Bank One’s public affairs office adds that, in cases in which a new associate is working the phones, “Management wants to insure that the best possible service is given by that newcomer. Therefore, they’re going to listen in for a while to make sure the approach is correct, cordial, professional and factual.”

On a national scale, Bank One also participates in a quality assurance program in which it internally monitors conversations between retail customers and client service representatives — for example, within the credit card operation of First USA, a subsidiary of Bank One.

How to reach: Bank One (330) 972-1000