The Customer Is Always Right

Drew Thomas  0:04  
Fast fact, according to Salesforce research, 80% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its product or services. I'm Drew Thomas and you're listening to Bank Chats.

Drew Thomas  0:41  
All right, so we're talking about customer service.

Jeff Matevish  0:43  
By the time this is airing, we're just getting out of financial wellness month, which was January. And so, the best place to start for financial wellness is the people that you talk to every day about your finances, your bank tellers, your what we call RSSAs, and the person who trains all of our RSSAs is with us.

Drew Thomas  0:44  
Yeah.

Amie Stevens  0:45  
That's me.

Drew Thomas  0:46  
Yeah, yeah. So, we have Amie Stevens with us, and she is the, what is your title, actually?

Amie Stevens  1:07  
Retail Training Director.

Drew Thomas  1:09  
Retail Training Director.

Amie Stevens  1:10  
Yeah, so I'm the trainer for all of the retail staff.

Drew Thomas  1:13  
Okay, now, for people that are not in banking, what is the, what is the difference between retail staff and...

Amie Stevens  1:18  
The rest of the bank?

Drew Thomas  1:19  
Yeah, right.

Amie Stevens  1:19  
Uh, all of our branch staff. So, that's all of your base, you know, the tellers that you would come in and see, the managers, and then our retail staff is kind of the back offices, making sure all the branches are running okay.

Drew Thomas  1:33  
So, like, support staff?

Amie Stevens  1:35  
Support staff, yeah.

Drew Thomas  1:37  
Handling all the problems and the issues.

Amie Stevens  1:38  
Yeah, that's the day-to-day a lot of times, okay, problem solving and helping out with what's going on out in the branches.

Drew Thomas  1:45  
Okay, but you primarily focus on training the people that the customers that walk-in see every day.

Amie Stevens  1:49  
Yeah, the RSSAs, the Retail Sales and Service Associates.

Jeff Matevish  1:53  
Okay, that's a mouthful.

Amie Stevens  1:54  
It is.

Drew Thomas  1:55  
That is.

Jeff Matevish  1:55  
But it sounds really good.

Amie Stevens  1:56  
The generic term would be Universal Teller.

Jeff Matevish  1:59  
Okay.

Amie Stevens  1:59  
But we switched from a basic teller to a Retail Sales and Service Associate. Okay.

Drew Thomas  2:04  
So, I was just about to say, so most banks would call what we call an RSSA, would, would they just call it a teller, right? So, that's traditionally what most people, I think, would think of, is when they walk into the branch, they see a teller or a man[ager], or a manager.

Jeff Matevish  2:16  
So, do our RSSSAs do something that a traditional teller does not do?

Amie Stevens  2:20  
So, tellers used to be more just transactional, and then if you needed like a new account open, you would have to go see a platform teller which had more enhancements, where you could open new accounts and kind of guide our customers into the right products. Okay. Whereas now all of our tellers are doing transactions, opening up new accounts, taking loan applications. So, ideally, you should just be able to see the same person to do everything.

Jeff Matevish  2:45  
Oh, one size fits all, yeah.

Drew Thomas  2:47  
Yeah. And I think there's a definite move that direction with banking. I think you know from some of the stuff that I've read, you see that customers really want that experience, where, when they walk in, they want to talk to one person. They don't want to have to be handed off to like seven different people. Absolutely. Every time that they come in and they want, like, a oh, I want to talk to somebody about a loan, I gotta talk to somebody else, now, is that, is that?

Amie Stevens  3:09  
Yeah, that's exactly what we were going for. I mean, I think, you know, jumping around from oh, I made my deposit, now we're gonna send you back to this person to open up a new account, and send you to this person to do a loan. It's just easier and more personable if you can walk in and see Jeff every time you know? Yeah. See that same person become name-to-name basis with all of your customers, and then you know the next time something changes in their lives, that's who they call.

Jeff Matevish  3:33  
Yeah, very cool. So, let's, let's go down the line with some questions. Okay, okay, so when you're hiring an RSSA, what are you looking for? Is there a specific personality or work ethic? Can you tell right off the bat, when you're training someone if they're going to be a good fit or not?

Amie Stevens  3:51  
Well, a good RSSA, I think, is personable and approachable. We want someone that our customers feel comfortable talking to about, you know, themselves and, of course, their financials. So, our customers, you know, want those tellers to, the RSSAs, to be someone that they can like, call up on the phone and say, hey, what's going on, and kind of just be themselves with.

Drew Thomas  4:14  
Sure. So, obviously, you don't have to always interact with the same teller every time you walk into the bank, you know, if somebody's off, they're on vacation, they're with somebody, with another customer, or whatever. But is it fair to say that, that it's more of a personal banking experience? Because if I come in like I always look for Amy, and so Amy kind of knows me, and we sort of develop a shorthand between what I want to do and what my accounts are like.

Amie Stevens  4:37  
Exactly, when I was a teller, I remember knowing certain customers by their names, exactly what they would do every month and every time, and the convenience of the customer knowing that I knew how to take care of them and what they wanted to do, was just, it made the process a lot more smoother.

Jeff Matevish  4:53  
It's a time saver.

Amie Stevens  4:54  
It was a time saver. It was more personable. But then again, they could walk in and see anybody else and get the same exact experience, hopefully.

Drew Thomas  5:04  
So, it's like a McDonald's French fry. No matter which McDonald's you go to, you get the same results.

Amie Stevens  5:10  
Should, yeah.

Drew Thomas  5:12  
So, so what's your core philosophy when it comes to customer service, and how do you sort of instill that in the team that you have?

Amie Stevens  5:21  
So, customer service comes down to getting to know your customers and what their needs are, asking them open ended questions to kind of get them to open up to you, and then that way, you can give them suggestions based on who they are and what their needs are. In training, we go through a series of profiling questions where we kind of ask them a bunch of different questions to see where they are in life and what stages in life they are, and then guide them to the products that would best be fitting to them.

Jeff Matevish  5:49  
Okay, when you're looking for new employees, or you're training current employees, are there any skills that you prioritize over another skill? Is patience more important than you know, a different skill?

Amie Stevens  6:02  
Overall, I would say patience, being able to put on a happy face, being able to remain calm when things get a little bit chaotic. I think those are good qualities to have. When I start training somebody new, if they are comfortable just talking to me whenever we, like first meet, that's a good sign. Because you should be able to talk to anybody if you're on the front line at the teller line, you know, sure. So, just being able to make easy conversation is a great skill to have, and of course, being able to count money.

Drew Thomas  6:33  
That would be it. So, do you look for people who have had customer service experience in the past?

Amie Stevens  6:38  
Yeah, that is probably number one, when the managers are looking at resumes, did they do anything with customer facing before? And have they handled money before? I would say those are the two things that we want to be like looking for in general.

Drew Thomas  6:53  
Okay. I mean, that makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I regardless of what you're doing, I think working with customers, if you're working in retail, if you're working as a waiter or waitress, something like that, I think that you could argue there's a lot of crossover between that kind of customer service and what you would get in a bank or whenever you're trying to do, because there's got to be some difficult conversations at times.

Amie Stevens  7:14  
So, it's funny, you mentioned like McDonald's, you know, and it transferring over, we always say, what's the best fast food customer service, is, of course, Chick-fil-A, right?

Jeff Matevish  7:24  
No, McDonald's.

Amie Stevens  7:25  
No McDonald's?

Jeff Matevish  7:25  
Yeah, I worked at McDonald's, so I'm gonna stick with McDonald's.

Amie Stevens  7:30  
But Chick-fil-A, they do a training process for customer service. So, I try to say, we want to be the Chick-fil-A of banks. You know?

Drew Thomas  7:37  
Yeah, I can understand that. I mean, I don't know that I've ever had a poor experience at a Chick-fil-A.

Amie Stevens  7:44  
Yeah, I mean, I may not love them as my favorite food, but do I always feel like I was welcomed and excited, you know, by the employees?

Drew Thomas  7:53  
I think sometimes it's the lingo, like they sort of, they don't use you're welcome. It's always like, my pleasure. And the, and I, even though it's sort of trained into them to say that I think the fact that they're using different words than what you normally hear in a daily basis, it makes it sound more...

Jeff Matevish  8:08  
I think it's just how they conduct business. You ever gone through a drive-thru and they pop up at your window with a tablet? Yeah, they do that. Just throws you. It throws me off, you know?

Drew Thomas  8:16  
Yeah, well, I've been to Chick-fil-As, where they actually have this, they've extended the canopy, and now they have these people just milling around.

Amie Stevens  8:23  
Yeah, it's coming in the south and things like that.

Drew Thomas  8:26  
Is it really?

Amie Stevens  8:27  
So, I just came from Texas, and the coffee shops down there, they come up to your window, you know, at the car rather than inside the building. So, that's unfortunately for Pennsylvanians, if we're doing that model, very cold right now.

Drew Thomas  8:40  
Yeah. Well, there's, it's Sonic is kind of like that, like Sonic is that sort of side, but they, you kind of pull into a stall, but that kind of has that 50s car hop feel, they need roller skates, to it. Yeah, they do need roller skates. Absolutely. Go ahead, Jeff.

Jeff Matevish  8:56  
Okay, so how do you, how do you balance customer satisfaction with business needs? So, you can't always please every customer, right? What is that line?

Amie Stevens  9:05  
Well, customer satisfaction is always a priority. However, we have to remember that the bank is a business, so we're, it's a balancing act. You know, we're trying to do what's best for our customers. Treat all customers the same with equalness and fairness, however, we have to meet the needs of the bank as well.

Drew Thomas  9:23  
Okay, yeah. I mean, that makes sense. I mean, we kind of just did a 2 Cents about, we talked about credit unions versus banks. Right. And I mean, banks are for-profit, right? So, that doesn't necessarily, like we said in that episode, that doesn't necessarily make them bad or good, compared to a credit union, which is a not for, they're not even really not-for-profit. They're just, I don't know what they're, they're different. Yeah, if you want to know the difference, go back and listen to that episode. But...

Jeff Matevish  9:53  
There's gonna be a fine a line between where a customer is successful and where the bank's successful as well. And yeah, I mean, finding that, that yeah, you know, middle ground is what we got to do, yeah.

Drew Thomas  10:06  
And I think sometimes too, we tend to think that everything being equal is treating every customer the same. But sometimes customers, correct me if I'm wrong, but I would have to assume that some customers need more handholding than others, absolutely, so treating, treating them all exactly the same, maybe is a little...

Amie Stevens  10:25  
Yeah, maybe not so much, saying it that way, but giving every customer exactly what they need, yeah, from us as tellers, that that would be probably the better way to say it.

Drew Thomas  10:34  
Yeah, that makes sense. So, in today's world with everything going online and mobile banking and, you know, PCs and all that kind of stuff, what do you think the technology impact has been on customer service? Do you think it's gotten better or worse with technology?

Amie Stevens  10:49  
It could be better or worse depending on the customer, I think. But I think technology can have a big impact on the customer service. How quickly and efficiently our technology works will affect how the customers' overall experiences. So, we're looking forward to some new technology updates here at AmeriServ, and I think that will make the experience for both our tellers and the customers more satisfied, because it's going to speed things up. Yeah, so technology, I think, is helping a lot of customers with like online banking and the convenience factors, and then there's, you know, different generations that maybe that makes things a little bit more difficult, but that's why we still have the brick and mortar buildings where they can come in and visit us.

Drew Thomas  11:31  
Do you think that, I agree, I agree with you about the, the elderly sort of population, like anybody over the age of probably, at this point, maybe 60, you know, is probably more likely to want to do stuff, but I would, I would have to think that even younger people, if it's more complicated of a transaction, they probably want to do it more in person than they do online. But I could be wrong.

Amie Stevens  11:54  
I think that that is a good general blanket statement, but I think, so I had this conversation with my brother actually. Oh okay. Because he, he banks with Navy Federal, and I was like, hey, Ryan, there's a Navy Federal branch in San Antonio, where you live now. He's like, I'll never have to visit it. I said, why not just go in and talk to them, see what's going on. And he said, you know, I'm going to be one of those very rare customers that I can do everything online. I would rather do it online. I don't want to see people in person. Yeah. So, I think that there are going to be some people in that really heavy technology centered mindset where they would rather just not talk to people. But there are also going to be people that, like you said, if it's more difficult than just making a deposit or taking cash out of the ATM, they're probably going to come in and ask some questions. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff Matevish  12:39  
I'm kind of like a middle ground. I love technology. I love being able to do online banking, but I love knowing that I have someone that I can come to if I run into a problem or I don't know how to do something, yeah, now I can come into a brick-and-mortar store.

Amie Stevens  12:52  
Yeah, I'm definitely a mix as well. I do a little bit of in person stuff for my business on the side of working here, and I, you know, also just like to be able to access things online and have apps and things like that.

Drew Thomas  13:06  
I think, too, there's a certain, there's a certain cost involved from the bank side on technology that a lot of people don't fully appreciate. Like, I think most banks, most credit unions, can do your basic deposits, you know, move money from one account to another, that kind of stuff online. You know, make it maybe, maybe make a mobile check, deposit that sort of thing on the app. But doing stuff like opening a loan, opening even an account, and doing all that kind of stuff online, some banks are much better at that than others, and I think traditionally, you're going to find probably the bigger banks are more further ahead than the community banks on that stuff.

Amie Stevens  13:42  
Absolutely. Yeah. So, I know, as us, a small community bank, we have some things that are not as advanced as maybe your online banks only like they don't even have a brick and mortar, so they have to be more technologically advanced. But you're right. There's going to be expenses on the bank side for any kind of technological upgrade. Yeah.

Jeff Matevish  14:03  
Okay, so in a customer service world, how do you measure excellence? Like, how do you measure success? Is it just based on your RSSAs performance, or is there some other metric that you use?

Amie Stevens  14:17  
I think success can be measured in many ways. And as their trainer, I reach out to the new hires to ask them how they're doing. Are they getting comfortable in the new RSSA position? I also assign, or the manager would assign, a mentor to work with them. So, as they are getting into the branch on their first couple of weeks, their mentor works with them very closely, kind of a checklist type of thing. Did we do this or that? Where do we need more work on and we also have a position in the back office of retail who is kind of known as the mentor, so he is working with them and reaching out to them throughout their onboarding process into the bank.

Jeff Matevish  14:57  
Okay. How long does an RSSA train before they're kind of put on the floor and set to set out on their own? Is how we do is comparable to do you know, other banks do the same thing?

Amie Stevens  15:11  
I think I'm going to answer this later, however. Um, so our first initial training is two weeks, okay, in person. So, that's before they get into the branch in person with customers. But at that point they're just transactional. They're the old style of teller, okay. Six months later, then they come back for four more days, and they do new accounts training, learning how to open up all the different types of accounts. And three months after that, so nine months in, they get their loan training.

Jeff Matevish  15:40  
Okay, is that to kind of prevent fatigue or overload?

Amie Stevens  15:45  
It's overload, I believe. So, I always tell people in my first two weeks, you know, I'm teaching you what you need to know in order to get ready to do the basic transactions. Okay, but there's so much more that they need to know. Sure, the one thing about the RSSAs, is they have to know a little bit of everything and a little bit about all of our products. And so, allowing them to just start off, let's just start transactionally. Let's balance the drawer every day that type of stuff. And then six months in, now I can suggest products. Now I can profile somebody and open up accounts for them and find out what they actually need.

Drew Thomas  16:21  
So, you kind of need that transactional part of it to sort of become autopilot.

Amie Stevens  16:27  
Yeah, it takes some time. Yeah. I mean, I have tellers at busier branches that are more advanced too, and at the slower branches they, it takes them a little bit longer, just because they're not seeing as much every day. The more you do, the more you're going to know it, yeah.

Drew Thomas  16:43  
I mean, I was a teller for a hot minute at another bank. And I mean, literally, less than a year, but I was shocked at how much I had to learn as a teller, because up until that point, I mean, I was pretty young, most of my banking experience was literally walking into the branch and saying, I want to deposit my paycheck. I want to take 60 bucks out. I want to move money from my checking to my savings. Like it was, like, the simplest stuff. And so, in my head, that's what a teller did. And then I became a teller, and it was like, whoa. Like, I can't believe how much, yeah, you know, I mean, at the time, it was stuff like, even just weird stuff, like travelers checks he had to sell, and then you were redeeming bonds, and you were doing all of this kind of stuff that that I had never done, because I at my level of banking at the time, I just wasn't equipped to do, you know, but every teller has to learn how to do that and to do it, I think it's, it's got to be kind of like driving a car. You know, when you first start to drive the car, you're thinking about every little thing. You think, okay, I gotta put it in drive, I gotta put the hands on the wheel, gotta hit the brake and the gas or whatever. And you're worried about how much pressure you put on everything and where you're looking. But eventually it kind of becomes autopilot. Then you can hold a conversation and rock out to the radio, and you're still driving safely. So, it's kind of the same thing with the tellers, right? You gotta learn the operational side, and then you can start having conversation.

Amie Stevens  17:59  
Absolutely, it's funny. What you just said is very much what the conversation I have with a lot of our new people, like, oh my gosh, I thought I was just taking in deposits, cashing checks, things like that. But the more, I honestly, the more technology advances, the more fraud that happens, the more of all of these different things, the more we have to know as tellers. So, it training from when I trained five years ago is even more advanced now, so.

Drew Thomas  18:28  
Yeah, so, so how you said about fraud, that kind of leads me into the next question. So, how do you train your staff to handle difficult situations? Because I can almost guarantee there are times when fraud becomes a conversation you have to have with customers. But I'm sure there's other things too.

Amie Stevens  18:44  
There's a lot of times, many different difficult situations that we can run into. So, we train our staff. Oh, I definitely could. We train our staff to remain calm, you know, try not to argue with our customers. Try to explain things in simple terms. You know, our basic customers don't know everything that we know. They're not aware of what's going on out there with scams. So, with fraud, a lot of times it's just listening to the customer, hearing their story, assuring them that we're here to help them, letting them know that they're not alone because they feel stupid. You know, how did I fall for that? But it's happening so much that it's part of our everyday life here in banking. So, almost every branch, every day is reporting some kind of fraud, and that a lot of times, is handling a difficult situation. Customers are upset, customers feel stupid. So, how can you calmly, and I don't know, efficiently, tell them like, hey, we're here to help, don't worry. I'm not, I'm not getting worked up over it, because I know how to help you.

Jeff Matevish  19:51  
Yeah, it sounds like it can be very intense working as an RSSA, how do you keep your employees motivated? Do you like incentivize? Or, I mean, what's the best way to do that?

Drew Thomas  20:02  
Pizza parties. Pizza parties.

Amie Stevens  20:04  
Book it parties. So, motivation, honestly, I think a lot of times, comes from within, from just good people working on our front lines. However, we do some things, you know, to keep our branch staff motivated and excited. So, we do meet monthly. This is where the staff can come to our headquarters here in Johnstown. And other departments are presenting about updates and different practices that are going on. So, some of these things are promotions. And I know Drew comes and presents at our platform meeting, sometimes about Elan promotions, yeah. So, sometimes the RSSAs says can be motivated by a particular promotion, and a lot of times it's just about having a good speaker to motivate them, you know. But ideally, I think we just find employees who genuinely care about their customers, you know, on top of coming to work to make a paycheck, do you come to work to make a difference in someone's life.

Jeff Matevish  21:02  
That goes back to what you look for in an RSSA.

Amie Stevens  21:05  
Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Drew Thomas  21:07  
You could put that on a poster. I mean, like, you know, do you come to work for a paycheck, or do you come to work to make a difference? I mean, no, seriously, though. I mean, that's, I think that that's again, going back to what I said before about customer service being something that's cross industry, I think that the best people for customer service are the people that truly care about what happens to the customer that's standing in front of them. And it's not just the next transaction.

Amie Stevens  21:31  
It's not just numbers in a book, its people, and that's part of the being a frontline person, you're actually seeing these people face-to-face, whereas a lot of our back offices, we are crunching numbers sometimes. So, I think it makes things more real and makes numbers come to life, you know. That that checking account belongs to somebody, and, yeah, that was a real-life experience for somebody. And how do I help them?

Drew Thomas  21:54  
Yeah, and I would have to think too, you know, you're dealing with a pretty wide variety of customers, I would imagine. You know, it has to be easy for some people to start thinking, well, it was only a $60 whatever, or a $5 fee. But for some people, a $5 fee makes all the difference, right? So, you can't always just assume that a customer service example, you know, for, for somebody that has, you know, $25,000 in their account, they get a $5 fee, they don't care.

Amie Stevens  22:23  
Those are the ones that do care.

Drew Thomas  22:26  
Well, okay, yeah, I can imagine that's probably true too, yeah.

Jeff Matevish  22:31  
But, well, that kind of leads into the next question, looking, you know, dealing with motivation. So, you know, if you have an RSSA that may be not as motivated and is not performing well, how do you deal with an employee that maybe is not putting forth the effort they need to?

Amie Stevens  22:47  
So, my goal is to help each RSSA understand and perform their job successfully. So, if a teller is struggling out of the branch, one thing that I've been doing is bringing them back to downtown for retraining. We kind of refresh their memory on some things, revisit some things that maybe they've struggled with or made mistakes on. So, one-on-one training has been very successful for me, and I've also visited the branches. Let me just go there and stand with you as you talk to the customers and do your transactions.

Drew Thomas  23:21  
I think that makes sense. So, I guess that kind of leads right into the next thing that you have on here, which is, you know, do you have any examples? Give us the dirt is what I'm saying, you know, tell us.

Amie Stevens  23:34  
So, I think the question, you know, is like...

Jeff Matevish  23:37  
And it doesn't even have to do with banking. You said you, you are a businesswoman. You, you have a side business too, if you have a, you know, an example that maybe does not pertain to a bank, but its still customer service related.

Amie Stevens  23:47  
So, I have a really good banking experience. Okay, all right, okay, so when I was working at University Heights, it was the busiest branch I've ever been to, and it is our busiest branch. But I had a customer, he was an elderly gentleman. He kept coming in every day, withdrawing $5,000 so this was like several days in a row, and he kept coming to my window. And so I asked him, are you okay? What happened to your money yesterday? Not in an, you know, prying way, but kind of just worried about him.

Drew Thomas  24:17  
Yeah, we had five grand yesterday. You go to the casino?

Amie Stevens  24:19  
Yeah, I know like, maybe he's forgetting, maybe he's placing it in his closet and doesn't remember he came here yesterday and did this. So, he said that someone took his money, and that downtown was not safe. So, we began to get worried about him, asking him more questions. He seemed kind of confused. We watched him go out to his car, get confused on what side of the car to get in on. So, because of all of these things, we have something in place where we call the Area on Aging, voice our concern is, what did we see? You know, that type of thing. After a lot of research with this gentleman and visits with the Area on Aging, you know, they did find that he was sadly losing his mind a little bit, going Dementia or some other sort of disease, and they did end up removing his driver's license. It's so hard, though, to have that conversation with that customer and say, I'm sorry, like, what's going on? You know, are you okay? Why are you taking this money? And that goes back to our fraud conversation from earlier. So, a lot of times, people don't want to believe that they're being scammed, and they will try to hide from our tellers or our bankers why they're doing this transaction or what they're doing, because the scammer is telling them just be general, just go take out this money and don't tell them why.

Jeff Matevish  25:33  
Because I've done this before, they know how to play the system right.

Amie Stevens  25:35  
Exactly. So, a lot of these kinds of you know either whether it's like my situation with an older customer who kind of just needed someone there to help him, or it's that, you know, elderly person being taken for a scam. You know, you have to find a way to resolve it. And unfortunately, we do have, you know, help in the back offices where we can call retail and say, okay, What? What? What do I do with this guy? What? What? Yeah, what's the next step on this situation? And we do have a good team that will always jump in and help you guys.

Drew Thomas  26:09  
Yeah, I think that from a fraud perspective, you said, a lot of customers don't always want to admit that they're being taken, you know, for fraud. And I think that has to be embarrassing too, especially if you've already been taken. Like, okay, if that gentleman had been sending that $5,000 to someone, right? Once you've already, you sort of have that momentum. Like, well, I've already done this, and I'm already halfway in, and now I, now I feel embarrassed backing out, and how do I tell this person I'm gonna back out? Because I think a lot of people still have this impression that the scammer is someone that they don't want to make upset because they, you know, these scams sometimes depend on sort of getting your buy in, getting your sympathy, playing on your emotions, and so you don't want to upset this person, even though they're obviously taking advantage of you, you know, right? That's got to be hard, you know. So, I mean, I guess fraud sort of leads into this, the next question, which was, you know, staying updated on emerging sort of customer service trends, incorporate them into team practices. I mean, I think that if you were training someone on good customer service 10 years ago, it's probably different than what you were training today. Is that that fair?

Amie Stevens  27:17  
To a certain extent, although a lot of the nuts and bolts are the same. I'll say that, you know, we always want to talk about our, you know, our products, or what are the features, what are the benefits, things like that. But I think it comes down to what is your demographic. We have so many different demographics of people dealing with different stages of their lives and doing research. You know, what does that demographic need, maybe we attend some different webinars and things like that to stay up to date on what are different banks doing. And maybe the bigger banks that we talked about earlier, that are more advanced in technology because they are so large, what are they doing? And then, you know, how do we make that work in our community setting?

Jeff Matevish  27:59  
Do you have any unique training initiatives or programs that you give to your RSSAs?

Amie Stevens  28:05  
So, earlier, you asked me about like the timeline of training, and I think that this comes into play. So, I've trained several different employees that have come from other banks, and they have affirmed me that our training program is unique in and of itself, just being in person. So, a lot of banks are doing either virtual training or kind of on-the-fly training in, live in person, with real life customers, real money.

Jeff Matevish  28:34  
That's scary.

Amie Stevens  28:34  
A little bit scary, yeah? So, just the fact that we bring them here with play money, as silly as it may seem, that two weeks of not having the pressure of the live customer, the live money is unique in and of itself. So, it's two weeks long, that's longer than what they were getting at other banks. Then we give them time to get acclimated before we make them do more things like sell products and new accounts. And then we give them even more time before they have to learn how our loan program works. So, I think the uniqueness of AmeriServ is just how much time we give our tellers to learn, as well as it being in-person and kind of in a training, I don't know.

Jeff Matevish  28:34  
Do you see that that makes a difference in the like, the number of mistakes tellers make, just by the length of time that they are in training.

Amie Stevens  28:52  
I would like to think so. I don't really have anything to compare that to, yeah, but I would like to think that the more I see them one-on-one or in-person, the less issues we're having out there in the branches.

Drew Thomas  29:36  
I have to think from a customer perspective too, that has to be more reassuring, because if I'm a customer, and I walk into my bank, and I walk up to the teller window, and they're like, hi, how are you? And there's this sort of deer in the headlines, and there's somebody standing behind them saying, like, got to log in, you know, it makes me go, can I really give my money to you? Right? Like, you know? So, I think having a good training program, and building that confidence in your tellers before they get in front of a customer, that in and of itself, is probably a better customer service experience.

Amie Stevens  30:08  
I would like to think so, absolutely. I agree with you. Yeah.

Jeff Matevish  30:11  
Well then you had mentioned about the customers feeling a little more comfortable with a more trained RSSA. How do you gather feedback from customers on the performance of your tellers?

Amie Stevens  30:24  
So, one of the things that we've been doing at the branches is customer appreciation days. And during these customer appreciation days, they've collected surveys, kind of a little bit about the customer, but also about the branch and how we're doing. So, that was one way that I thought was unique and kind of a welcoming experience, you know, with little prizes or treats for our customers. And then I try to reach out to the branches on trainings. How to, how was the training? What other things are you looking to get training on? So, I want to give them what they need and what they want. So, if they can give me feedback on what they're lacking, then I can kind of tailor my trainings to that their needs.

Drew Thomas  31:06  
Okay yeah, so just to kind of go back, because I, I've been thinking about, just to go back a little bit on, on what we were talking about, like this, you know, sort of online versus in person. So, what are you doing, if anything, to sort of create a more seamless transition for people who sort of bounce back and forth between the two, you know, like that, that sort of like omni-channel experience, where some people use online, like you said, like Jeff said, like you use online, and you're in person, right? You're sort of middle of the road, halfway between the two worlds, right? So, what do you think banks could do better. What do you do with your training that, that sort of encourages?

Jeff Matevish  31:44  
And I'll add to that too. Is it a big deal to kind of untrain an RSSA from a previous bank versus AmeriServ? Is it more difficult to train someone who has previously been working at a different bank?

Amie Stevens  31:57  
Okay, let me answer that one first. Okay, yeah, we'll be that first. So, I find that sometimes, depending on the teller or the person you, they do have to unlearn some, some things that they've learned at their other bank. You know, we have different policies, different procedures. However, I do feel that it always helps them, in general, if they came from another bank, okay. I don't have to start from scratch explaining what different regulations are. Okay, right? You know if it, if it's slightly different here to AmeriServ, at least they know what that regulation means. So, it does cut down a lot of the extra, little extra stuff I have to talk about if I have a trainee from another bank, whereas, if I have someone off the street like I was, came in knowing nothing about banking, and had to learn everything from beginning to end. So, it's a lot more involved, a lot more explaining to do with, with a brand-new person. And then Drew's question, how do we create that, like seamless channel for our customers who are a little bit technology and a little bit, you know, in person.

Drew Thomas  33:01  
You're a little bit, you know, country, I'm a little bit rock and roll, you know.

Amie Stevens  33:04  
Like the song, yeah. So, I think that one thing AmeriServ did, and, you know, I started here in 2019, and we did not have this RSSA position. So, one thing that we did as a bank was create that universal teller position. So, whether you are someone who likes online banking and you just need to come in and say, hey, my app's not working, or you're that person who wants talked through everything and every transaction, we have that teller that can do it all. So, that was one thing that the bank did as a positive change, I believe, making that universal teller, but I train all the RSSA staff on making the customer the center focus of the transactions, and not so much selling a product, but giving them what they need.

Jeff Matevish  33:50  
What's your perspective on the importance of going the extra mile? And can you give an example of a time when an RSSA may have given the extra mile and please the customer, you know more than needed.

Amie Stevens  34:04  
Yeah, so going the extra mile, I think, means the little things. It's giving the customer a call after they opened up a new account, or after they had fraud, following up with someone that had questions, or helping the elderly with their technology or their online banking, things like that. Even acknowledging the kids with a sticker or the dogs with a dog treat. You know, the, the customers remember that's a big deal. Yeah. So those little things, I think, are the extra mile, even though they're so tiny, like those, those are the things that people remember, yeah. And remembering the customer's name, even, that just goes a long way. So, I have so many examples of good things that I've seen our tellers do out there. But, you know, following up after a fraudulent situation, I keep going back to fraud, but I do feel like that's, that's a big thing right now. And if someone's dealing with that and worried about what's coming in and out of their account, making that phone call the day after you met with them to say, hey, I just wanted to let you know I checked up on your account. Everything looks fine. I see your AT&T bill coming through. Is that okay? Etc. That really just means a lot to that customer. And I've actually had a teller tell me, hey, like, I not that I expected it, but she brought me in chocolates after that. Like, just like, it makes us realize that, hey, we did something good for that person, and it gives us satisfaction in our job, knowing that we help them.

Drew Thomas  35:25  
I mean, I think that makes a big deal for, and even statistics, I've read that something on the lines of 75% or 80% of people now sort of expect a quote, unquote, personalized experience with their banking. And I think that personalized experience comes from exactly what you're saying, knowing that, hey, you know, this person typically doesn't shop at that place, or this person's having trouble with their online banking, instead of me just shutting it down and assuming it's fraud, like, maybe I should pick up the phone and call them or do something like that. I think, I think that's the kind of thing that when they say personalized banking, I think, and I think community banks do a better job of that than a lot of your bigger banks.

Amie Stevens  36:07  
That's what a little bit of what makes us a community bank. You know, the fact that we do know our customers. We recognize them in person. We know their names. We know their names of their dogs. Yeah, so I think that's part of the community bank aspect of it as well.

Drew Thomas  36:22  
Yeah, so I forget, how long have you been in banking?

Amie Stevens  36:26  
Five years.

Drew Thomas  36:26  
So, you went from knowing almost nothing about banking to being the trainer in five years. That's impressive.

Amie Stevens  36:32  
Yeah, yeah, I've actually bounced around this bank a lot. I started as a part-time teller in Northern Cambria, went to Carrolltown because that's I could walk to work, and that was a perk, yeah. And then I went to the loan department, learned a little bit about consumer loans and the back end of those. And then I was like, what does retirement services do? Yeah. I went over there, and I learned about 401Ks and IRAs and things like that. And what I really missed after being in back offices for like, a year and a half was the customer service part of the job, and I went back to being a teller, and I went to the busiest branch, and I learned as much as I could, and jumped into every situation I could to help out. And through learning all of that, I knew that I'm a teacher at heart, teaching and being in this training position was my goal all along, but I do feel like jumping around actually helped me a lot. I learned more because I was curious and wanting to know more. Yeah, sure.

Drew Thomas  37:35  
So, see, there's hope for both of us yet.

Jeff Matevish  37:37  
Will you train me?

Amie Stevens  37:40  
Yeah, come on up. I'll be, I'll train you next time. We have a class next week.

Jeff Matevish  37:43  
I think we should do like, job shadowing a little bit.

Amie Stevens  37:45  
Part of your podcast.

Jeff Matevish  37:46  
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think that should be a requirement that once a year you go to a different department for a day and you learn, yeah, what they do.

Amie Stevens  37:56  
Well, should you guys cross train in maybe preparation for a strike or something like that?

Drew Thomas  38:02  
Well, I mean, way, way back in the day, we did a little bit, but I got more cross training in a, again, I said I was a teller for less than a year at a different bank, but when I was at that bank, that was one of the things that we did. Part of the training process was you had to spend, like, one week of the training was spending a half a day with like five or six different departments. So, on Monday, you spent the morning with transaction services. In the afternoon, you spent with lending then Tuesday, you spent the morning with somebody else. But the idea was to try to get at least a taste of what that other department is going through. Because at the time, a lot of the stuff we were doing was still on paper. So, we would send, you know, deposit tickets, we would send credit ticket, you know, and all the credits and debits had to be in the right order.

Amie Stevens  38:05  
That's still the case here at AmeriServ.

Drew Thomas  38:34  
But the thing of it is, like, you know, a lot of, a lot of tellers would be like, well, why does it matter, as long as they're both there? But then you go down to where they're processing that work, and you understand that if they're not in the right order, it slows them down just exponentially, and just understanding what they're going through from their perspective was, was a big help in understanding what to do upstairs, you know, and that's a customer service thing, to be quite honest. Because you know, when you're processing that work, you know that work. You know that customer is going home and they're looking at their online banking. They're saying, why is my deposit showing up yet? Well, because there's somebody physically doing that work in the bay, behind the scenes, keying that stuff into a, into a system. You know, in a lot of banks still.

Amie Stevens  39:32  
Yeah, well, that's actually part of our training program too. During the first two weeks, we take them to the department called transaction services, and they learn how to scan their work, which then transaction services look at. So, they get to see the back end of that. So, when they're at the branch getting a call saying, hey, you have a re-scan, they're not getting upset because that person in the back office, they're, they're, now they can appreciate what they're doing. And we're all kind of here for the same reason and the same goal, but it's nice to see what other departments do to make things all come together. Sure, yeah.

Drew Thomas  40:07  
Thank you, Amy, this has been very informative, to be honest. I mean, it's really awesome. And I don't think a lot of people think of the customer service aspect of banking. No. You know, they think they're going to the bank, and that person's just born with all the knowledge that they need to take their check and put it into the system. But it's, it's not that way. It's way more complicated than you might think.

Jeff Matevish  40:25  
Yeah, and all of the back-end staff that, that support those frontline employees, yeah.

Drew Thomas  40:30  
Yeah. So, thank you for being that person that teaches everybody how not to lose my money, what little of it I have.

Amie Stevens  40:38  
Thank you for having me.

Drew Thomas  40:39  
Absolutely.

Jeff Matevish  40:40  
Thanks Amy.

Amie Stevens  40:41  
All right.

Drew Thomas  40:50  
This podcast focuses on having valuable conversations on various topics related to banking and financial health. The podcast is grounded in having open conversations with professionals and experts with the goal of helping to take some of the mystery out of financial and related topics, as learning about financial products and services can help you make more informed financial decisions. Please keep in mind that the information contained within this podcast and any resources available for download from our website or other resources relating to Bank Chats is not intended and should not be understood or interpreted to be financial advice. The host, guests, and production staff of Bank Chats expressly recommend that you seek advice from a trusted financial professional before making financial decisions. The host of Bank Chats is not an attorney, accountant or financial advisor, and the program is simply intended as one source of information. The podcast is not a substitute for a financial professional who is aware of the facts and circumstances of your individual situation.

Drew Thomas  41:46  
When it comes to customer service, most companies will tell you that theirs is excellent, but are companies really taking the time to encourage outstanding service? And how important is it really? Well, studies show that 73% of customers say that after just one poor experience dealing with an employee in your company, they would rather do business with a competitor. Considering how difficult it is for most businesses to bring in new customers compared to the relative ease in cultivating existing relationships, making customer service education a priority, should be high on the list of any successful business. Our thanks to Amie Stevens for joining us on the program today. And as always, I want to recognize Jeff Matevish as co-host and producer of the show. If you're not subscribed already, please consider tapping that button so you never miss an episode. AmeriServ Presents Bank Chats is produced and distributed by AmeriServ Financial Incorporated. Music by Rattlesnake, Millo, and Andrey Kalitkin. For now, I'm Drew Thomas, so long.