Secrets to service excellence, and why service excellence is key to success

MANILA, Philippines - There is only one boss. The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

— Sam Walton

The single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.

— Peter Drucker

What are the secrets to maintaining high levels of customer service excellence? Why is service excellence important to the long-term success of any institution, whether business or non-profit organizations? How can we as individuals or as a society be of better service to others?

To seek out the secrets to service excellence and probe its relevance to success, this writer approached one of the Philippines’ largest banks — the Ayala Group’s Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) — for some answers.  

BPI senior vice president Imelda Crisostomo Trillo, head of the Preferred Banking Group, recently gave Philippine Star an exclusive interview on how fresh initiatives on customer service excellence is bringing new energy and dynamism to one of the country’s top banks. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Is it true BPI has now been changing the way it conducts business? How? In what way can a BPI customer feel this difference in your outlook?

BPI makes it easy for its clients to address their transactional banking needs as well as achieve financial progress in life.

For one, transacting in a BPI branch today is a pleasant experience with most of our branches renovated to make the experience more comfortable and convenient. Moreover, BPI offers the widest range of interbranch transactions that allows all BPI branches nationwide to be our customer’s home branch, or branch of account. A wide range of financial and non-financial transactions are made available for the customer at any of our branches, without the need for them to transact directly at their branch of account. We also make sure our customers are happy with the service they receive at the branches by asking them to rate the level of service given them immediately after their transactions.

Additionally, we make it easy for them to transact anytime, anywhere with our 24/7 banking channels — Online, Phone and Mobile Banking.

We also offer a wide range of products and services that allow them to address their financial needs at every lifestage — whether these needs be to build, grow and preserve wealth through deposits, investments, insurance; acquire assets or establish and grow their businesses.

Through these, BPI hopes to be the beacon of financial confidence for our customers, helping them realize their aspirations and achieve them easier and sooner.

All these are enjoyed by all BPI Customers. Our Preferred Banking customers, however, enjoy all these and more.

On top of all these exciting offerings, what unique benefits can your Preferred Banking clients enjoy?

Each of our Preferred Banking customers is given a BPI Express Teller Gold Card, so whenever you go to any bank branch, there’s a preferred lane where we can extend to you faster service. It seems like a small privilege, but we offer our customers better convenience and personal attention, through their dedicated relationship manager assigned to them who also acts as their financial advisor.

In my case, I do business mainly with five banks and I have recently opened a new account at BPI Family Savings Bank in Ortigas Center, is your Preferred gold card system and new customer-centric policy also available at BPI Family Savings Bank?

Yes, both BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank offer the same privileges to VIP clients and the same gold card. That’s the advantage of being with either BPI or BPI Family Bank, because we have a total of over 800 strategically-located branches nationwide. Wherever you go among these branches, we endeavor to provide you better customer care and service, especially to Preferred gold card members.

But this strategy seems nothing new or different from your other local or foreign bank competitors, since they have their own VIP programs also for their high net worth customers or big clients, why then should we the public be excited about your new thrust?

Modesty aside, we at BPI are slightly different from other local and foreign banks in the sense that we have “made it easy” to become a Preferred customer. In order to be considered a VIP in most other banks, one should be a multi-millionaire with several million pesos in deposits and transactions. In the case of BPI, you are already classified and treated as a Preferred much, much earlier. BPI gives you Preferred Banking treatment earlier than other banks.

Apart from the preferred lane and better rates, do you have anyone really taking care of your Preferred or VIP clients?

Yes, we do — these dedicated relationship managers (that are certified financial advisors) shall offer each Preferred customer sound financial advice, also offering first crack at various investment opportunities and preferential rates to ensure that the client gets the utmost growth and preservation of wealth.

How many of these relationship managers do you have at BPI?

We now have over 300 relationship managers nationwide. They shall be everything to you, but in a wholesome way of course (laughs), such as being your financial adviser, telling you about our diverse financial products and investment choices. They shall be your “go to person” for any banking transaction with BPI or BPI Family Savings Bank.

This new concept of BPI about your Preferred Customers, to what can you compare this in other industries?

Perhaps it’s similar to the airlines, which have their separate Business Class/First Class lane to better service their high-value customers or a department store that have a special card with unique privileges for their frequent shoppers who spend a certain minimum amount per annum with the store.

I’m just curious, this customer service orientation, does it extend all the way to your top executives and managers who are not Relationship Managers? Your BPI President, too?

Yes, in fact, I want to share with you that our BPI president Aurelio “Gigi” Montinola III said that it’s time for us to really study even more closely what our customers need. He is himself very customer-driven. In fact, once on a foreign business trip abroad, a BPI Preferred client texted him about a small problem, and he immediately forwarded the concern to me even on a Sunday. That’s the way we in BPI value our customers and our focus on service excellence.

Aren’t you like other high-ranking company executives who are irritated to be bothered by business issues or concerns during non-business hours?

No, not at all. Even when I’m in a basketball game of the UAAP or in the grocery doing my shopping, if I see a BPI client and they approach me to tell me of any banking concern or problem, I don’t say to them “I will see you in the office on Monday,” but right away I will try to help her or him if I can or at least get the details so it can be immediately addressed.

You wouldn’t be stressed out by all these non-office hours customer requests or even complaints?

You know why I’m not stressed out or negative towards all that? It’s because I don’t consider it as work for me because I really enjoy dealing with and helping people whether it’s a weekday, a holiday or a weekend.

By the way, anything else different with BPI’s new customer-centric service apart from the VIP gold card and relationship managers for less than a million pesos?

Yes, BPI is also the first bank in the Philippines to allow clients to do banking anywhere in different branches for free, while other banks do it only as an accommodation, limited only to deposits and by charging a little. We started this first quarter of last year. This BPI’s Expanded Interbranch Transactions cover both financial such as application of Managers Check and non-financial transactions like request for bank certification. Our customers can enjoy all these benefits in any BPI or BPI Family Bank branch as if it’s your branch of account. How is this possible? We have better technological support, so doing banking at BPI is not so tedious and requires shorter waiting time.

How many ATM machines do you have now?

Nationwide, we at BPI and BPI Family Savings Bank have over 1,500 ATMs.

So for a BPI or BPI Family Savings Bank client, we just look out for executives like you or the Relationship Manager to avail of your assurance of service excellence?

In BPI, it is not only the manager or the executives whose job is to pamper the customer, It’s Everyone’s job. Actually, if everybody in the service industry in our society thinks of the customer First and what will benefit the customer, then we would have raised service excellence to a higher level and ensure long-term success.

What to you are the secrets to achieving really good customer service?

First, there should be sincerity — good customer service has to come from the heart in order for us to take care of the clients well. Second, you have to always think of what the customers want, anticipate what they need and think as a customer does. Third, always be available to your customers (specially during critical times), because you can be very sincere, but if you’re only available Mondays to Fridays during office hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., then that is not service excellence.

Alright, you may have good customer service, but how is your interest rate in loans, are they competitive with other banks?

BPI normally offers lower interest rates on loans than most Philippine banks.

BPI is the oldest bank in the Philippines, when will you again regain your No. 1 position in size and market position of yesteryears?

We aim to be No. 1 in customer service here at BPI, and this kind of success is not measured by numbers or ratios set by regulatory bodies like the Monetary Board or by the Bangko Sentral, but by honest customer feedback. We sincerely wish that our customers nationwide can benefit from this commitment to service excellence.  

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