F
FRONT OF HOUSE
is ‘deal with us however you find
easiest’; people want different levels
of support and ways of interacting
for different transactions.”
While other banks are burdened
by legacy branches and technology,
Metro Bank has the luxury of
“starting at zero stores and bringing
it up to what we think is a reasonable
level” and introducing new systems.
For example, its cashiers can
get accounts up-and-running
immediately, explains Harmer:
“Other banks don’t have the tech to
do that; you’re waiting five days for
the card; the pin arrives separately.
Most of our processing is done front
end and immediately.”
E
xperiential retail
banking
A “relentless customer focus”
makes sense both for society
and business, she explains.
“If we provide you with
exceptional service, you’re going
to come to us, stay with us, tell
your friends and family to join us;
and we don’t have to pay crazy
headline teaser rates, bonuses, or
advertise. It creates a different
relationship, moving away from
being totally transactional to
experiential retail.”
“You don’t
need separate
employee and
customer
experiences”
Rather than staff measuring
success against sales targets, their
goal is to “surprise and delight”,
creating “fans” out of customers.
“What behaviours do sales
targets drive and are they the
interests of the customer and the
relationship? No. Then take them
out,” says Harmer. “We’ve never had
product sales targets for the stores.”
Different drivers require different
staff characteristics and behaviours,
she explains.“We are transparent
about who we are and what we
stand for; people who wouldn’t fit
tend to self-select out. If somebody
comes for interview, talking about
‘smashing sales targets and being
top of the league’, we’re going to ask
them ‘could you tell us about a time
that you’ve surprised and delighted
a customer?’ and they’ll probably
look at us blankly.”
As long as they are “smart and
smiley”, new hires can be shaped
in the company’s image, “but we
st i l l h ave n ’ t b e e n a ro u n d
long enough to grow enough
experienced commercial bankers,”
acknowledges Harmer.
“If you want different, you have
to be different,” she maintains. “So
if you join us, whatever the role it
is, the first two days are our visions
cultural training.”
This involves learning about
teamwork and the organisation –
not to mention taking part in Metro
Bank’s “legendary conga”, where
new starters come up with a chant,
dress up (“think Brazilian carnival”)
and dance around the building, to
applause from existing staff.
C
ulture as customer
experience
“We do lots of other things
too, such wearing red on
Fridays; we celebrate stores’
birthdays,” continues Harmer. “We
understand how important culture
is. Because if you think about great
service experiences you’ve had, it
will be how the person who was
serving you behaved. Culture is just
behaviour, right? It’s made up of a
million little things.”
The company is “fanatical about
describing culture”, she explains.
“We focus on behaviours first and
reinforce it through language. For
example, we don’t have appraisals,
we have ‘amazing reviews’. When
we do store openings, we chant our
‘amazing behaviours’.
“If you believe that culture is
customer experience, then what we
do is quite obvious. You don’t need
separate employee and customer
experiences. I can only be one
person, and the more you ask me
to be someone different at work,
the more confusing it is. We say to
people: ‘we’ll create an environment
where you can be your best; just
focus on creating ‘fans’.”
March – May 2019
// 27