
First Republic Bank — A Master Class in Customer Obsession
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Imagine a scenario when you are traveling to be at your child’s graduation in a different city. You double check your luggage, especially careful about the beautiful graduation gift you bought.
You drive to the private airport, where the valet greets you with a smile and says, “Have a nice flight Ms. Bhattacharya”. You smile back, “Thanks Dave, have a good day”.
You walk up to the plane waiting for you. “Hello Ms. Bhattacharya, welcome aboard”, greets the pilot. You smile back. When you are seated and are sipping your glass of champagne, the entire crew comes by, led by the flight attendant. “Congratulations on your son’s graduation, Ms. Bhattacharya! We got a little gift for Gabriel!” You are beyond touched. You relax into your seat, with a smile on your face.
Think about an alternate scenario. You arrive at the busy airport, 90 minutes prior to the boarding time. It’s a short trip and you made sure to pack the beautiful gift carefully in your carry-on luggage. After standing in long lines going through security, you are at the gate, standing and waiting to board the plane. “Can I board now?” “Ma’am, you are in Boarding Group 4, please go back and wait for your turn”.
Finally your turn comes to board the plane. You make your way to the plane, only to meet the flight attendant, who instructs you to leave your carry-on bag by the airplane door. “Can you please tell me why I can’t bring my carry-on with me? I made sure it is the right size! Most importantly, I am carrying a fragile graduation gift for my son and I cannot check this bag”. “Sorry Ma’am, the overhead bins are full, and we have to check your bag.” You are beyond worried that the gift will not arrive in one piece, but you have no choice. You squeeze into the middle seat and close your eyes, wanting this ordeal to be over. You curse yourself for not choosing to drive all night long.
Now think about the situation where you are used to the first scenario as long as you can remember, and now suddenly, you are forced to experience the second scenario.
Yes, that’s how it feels now for the customers of First Republic Bank.
I had the privilege to work at the most amazing financial services organization, and was also the customer.
Customer Obsession - As defined by First Republic Bank (FRB)
I joined FRB after working at Intuit for 7 years. I thought I knew everything about customer success and customer obsession one could learn, thanks to the incredible experience of working at an elite product company.
Boy, was I wrong!
When I used the words “customer obsession” at FRB, people gave me funny looks. I learned quickly that we did not spend time talking about it, we just did it every single day. We did our best for our customers. We treated the employees as our internal customers.
Among many amazing lessons I learned at FRB, let me talk about this one thing today… how to take care of your customer.
Know your customers
This is not the typical “KYC” procedure every company needs to follow. You really, sincerely know your customer. They are not some regulatory liability, they are not a data point in your customer demographic studies. They are living, breathing human beings who are trusting you with their business. Know them as if they are your friend or family. FRB associates knew their customers and their family, their birthdays and any other important life events. And, this is not just about the top tier customers, this is about every single customer of yours.
Show your appreciation for your customers
Whenever possible, express genuine gratitude for your customers. Not because of any expectation of cross sell or upsell. Just to reach out and say Thank you. Thank you for being our customer. Thank you for your business. That’s it.
An FRB banker in New York was having dinner at an upscale restaurant. He spotted a customer coming in to have dinner. He did not go over, say hello or disrupt their evening in any way. Instead, after he finished his dinner, he also paid for the customer. When the customer asked for the bill, they were told that a gentleman had paid the bill and said “Thank you for being a customer of First Republic Bank”. Now if that is not classy, I don’t know what is.
Create a culture to do the right thing for your customers
Yes, “Do the Right Thing” was one of our values. The culture was designed to empower employees to do the right thing.
How many times have you heard from a customer service agent that she needs to transfer you to the supervisor because the requested resolution was above her pay grade?
At First Republic Bank, we knew what it was to do the right thing and we went and did it. Now that I think about it, I rarely heard anyone say the phrase “above my pay grade”. We were empowered. Yes, there were processes and procedures and proper governance, but those did not restrict us to do the right things. Instead those enabled us. We discussed openly if and when a procedure was ineffective.
Go above and beyond
I remember a story about a customer reaching out in panic. The date of closure for his house in Southern California had changed and he needed the mortgage documentation to be completed and sent to him ASAP. However, even overnight express mail would have been too late. The banker managed to complete the paperwork and then one of the associates actually boarded a plane to Santa Barbara to hand deliver the paperwork. This was not an isolated incident. FRB associates did similar things every single day.
Take “Service” seriously
Our CEO used to say, “We are a services company which happens to be a bank”. We took service seriously.
When I joined the bank, crazy wild fires were ripping through Northern California. I remember the first few days of my time witnessing the command center in action. Many of our customers lost everything in the fire. Our banking office in the area was closed and our bankers started working from other nearby locations. Associates met our customers in hotel parking lots with care packages and copies of their drivers license and other information which we maintained.
This service culture was in the DNA of the company.
Yes, we have internalized this culture and we will take these learnings into our next ventures.
If the leaders of FRB ever decide to start another venture, we will drop everything and come work for you! I doubt I can say the same thing for any other leader in my career.