To whoever writes the customer letters for "Deposit Operations" at our large bank:
Please stop writing letters that contain:
- Requests for documentation without saying what the necessary documentation is (especially when the customer has already provided documentation).
- 24/7 phone numbers to call, at which the service representatives do not know how to handle the issue.
- Expressions such as "if you are a business" for personal (non-business) accounts and "if you are an individual" for business accounts. I would like to think that my bank can tell my personal accounts from my business account.
- Menacing statements such as "If we do not receive this requested documentation, the Deposit Account referenced above and any other Deposit Accounts, Service Agreements and IRA Plans you have opened with _______ [bank name] on or since October 1, 2003, will be closed." Do you really want to suggest that approach for your long-term customers with multiple accounts?
Bureaucratic, impersonal business letters undercut the people on the front lines–in this case the personal bankers who are trying to satisfy customers and sell services. One call from our personal banker would have taken care of the "documentation" issue much more effectively than the generic, computer-generated letters we received.
If you work in the corporate office of a huge bank or another large organization, please consider this question: Why would you want to write and send junk letters to your customers, when personal bankers, account executives, and others who know the customers can handle situations smoothly and diplomatically?
Lynn
Syntax Training
