Bank of America 2003 Annual Report Download - page 6

Raising the Bar for Consumers
what we call “customer delight”—
that is, customers who give us a
score of 9 or 10 for quality of service
on a scale of 1 to 10. This improve-
ment in customer satisfaction drove
strong increases in sales throughout
the year.
Across our banking center fran-
chise, same-store sales, as well as
sales of products such as loans, credit
cards, savings accounts and mort-
gages, increased more than 22% year
over year. And net new checking
accounts—our most basic relation-
ship-building opportunity—increased
135% to 1.24 million, which is equiva-
lent to building the checking portfolio
of the 25th largest bank in the country
in a single year.
In our ongoing research, customers
consistently tell us they want easy
access, lots of choices, fast service and
knowledgeable sales people. And they
want to enter any of the nearly 4,300
banking centers in our nationwide
franchise with the confidence that they
will receive the same consistent, high
level of service, whether they are in
Los Angeles, Wichita, Seattle, Atlanta
or Washington, D.C.
Much of our investment in sales-
and-service processes and training is
focused on delivering that consistent
experience for customers in every
location. One key is leadership. In our
banking centers, our managers—
especially during peak times—man-
age from the lobby, where they can
help to greet and guide customers,
ensure timely service, coach their
teammates and experience our bank-
ing centers the way customers do.
Other fundamental sales and serv-
ice processes include tellers trained to
listen and make knowledgeable refer-
rals, advanced mortgage training, the
presence of small business and invest-
ment specialists in many banking cen-
ters, and an online customer-needs
assessment tool that our associates
can use to build relationships in a
thorough, conversational manner.
Our focus on process excellence
includes improved ways for banking
center associates to stay linked with
their teammates in the mortgage,
investments and small business
areas—as well as those in telephone
banking, online banking, product devel-
opment and customer fulfillment—
enabling them to give customers a
more seamless, satisfying experience.
With this increasing growth in cus-
tomer delight and sales under way,
we’ve expanded our franchise by open-
ing the first 150 of the 550 new or ren-
ovated banking centers we plan to
build by 2006. This included our
return to Chicago’s retail market with
the first five of 50 planned centers.
We also used the opportunity to
rethink our banking center design,
based on extensive customer research.
As a result, our newly built banking
centers look and feel more like retail
establishments than traditional banks,
with associates on the sales floor
rather than behind desks.
Design features in our newer
banking centers include:
■Open floor plans to reduce
barriers between customers
and bank associates;
■Host stations just inside the front
door so that associates can
welcome and direct customers;
■Advanced technology, such as safe
deposit boxes accessed through
electronic palm scanners;
■Customer lounge areas with
comfortable seating, television
news programming and financial
publications; and
■Glass-enclosed rooms for
more private discussions
with customers.
We test these features and conduct
formal “voice of the customer”
research to continually improve our
centers and create a truly welcoming,
useful environment wherever our cus-
tomers visit us. Even with the remark-
able growth in online and telephone
banking, neighborhood banking cen-
ters play a fundamental role in sales
and service and continue to generate
the most new customer relationships.
8BANK OF AMERICA 2003 BANK OF AMERICA 2003 9
GROWING RETAIL DEPOSITS*
2003: $282.6 (12.1% growth)
2002: $252.0 (5.7% growth)
2001: $238.5
(Deposits in billions at December 31)
*Includes banking centers, Premier, Small Business and Associate banking
Hispanics are projected to account
for 60% of the population growth in
our franchise over the next decade,
and we are adapting quickly to make
it easier than ever for members of this
population group to do business with
Bank of America.
For Spanish-speaking customers, we
have established a Spanish-language
Web site, expanded our multilingual
telephone banking capability and
aggressively recruited associates with
second-language skills. In 2003, nearly
half of our new banking center associ-
ates were bilingual, with more than
two-thirds of them fluent in Spanish
as well as English.
We also have accelerated product
and service innovations to raise the
bar in serving Hispanic customers.
Examples include:
■Our international ATM transfer
card, SafeSend™, which enables
customers to send money to
loved ones in Mexico via secure
telephone and electronic channels;
■Easy access to banking centers,
ATMs and business-to-business
services for customers on both
sides of the border through our
relationship with one of the
leading banks in Mexico,
Santander Serfin;
■The Nuevo Futuro™ account,
the Spanish-language version
of MyAccess Checking®,which
features a low opening deposit
of $25 and, with direct deposit,
free unlimited check writing,
ATM access and online banking;
■Flexible loan underwriting
guidelines that take into account
multiple incomes in households
applying for home mortgages;
■Accepting “Matricula Consular”
cards as identification and using
our banking centers for financial
literacy training; and
■Aggressive sales efforts with
our Small Business Banking
teammates to serve the needs
of neighborhood businesses in
our ethnically diverse markets.
We also have significantly increased
our multicultural outreach efforts. This
includes partnering with Spanish-lan-
guage radio stations so that our
bankers can talk on the air from shop-
ping malls and other venues, answer
questions and sign up new customers.
As a result of these and other
innovations, we grew our Hispanic
customer base by more than
275,000 households in 2003.
It’s a key market for us.
Hispanics in the United States
represent an aggregate purchasing
power of more than half a trillion
dollars and comprise the nation’s
fastest growing ethnic group, with
a wealth accumulation rate that’s
double the national average.
New Ways to Serve Hispanic Customers