-in quest for maximum customer engagement
REPUBLIC Bank (Guyana) Ltd, in its continued quest for maximum customer engagement, last Thursday launched its third annual customer panel at its Promenade Court Head Office on New Market Street in Georgetown. General Manager (Credit), Mrs. Patricia Plummer, who delivered the feature address to the many managers, staff and customers present at the function, noted that since the panels were launched in 2010, each successive one has provided the Bank with invaluable insights, thereby allowing the company to view itself through the eyes of its customers.
She said that over the past twelve months, the combined knowledge, experience and expectations garnered from 2012’s panel has not only helped shape the Bank’s understanding of customer perspective, but also it make informed decisions on how to serve its customers better.
Some improvements from which the partnership has benefitted, she said, were more focused customer education on the products and services being offered; identifying offers to improve communication effectiveness – especially mass communication and direct communication; and develop offers for customers with a primary emphasis on the value to the customer.
Of greatest significance in the exercise, Plummer said, was the discovery of customer perceptions, as this had allowed the Bank to reflect on them and take necessary action to ensure that those visions align with Republic Bank’s corporate vision.
Plummer said that as in the previous years, the customers selected for the 2012 panel were drawn from across the Bank’s network of branches, and reflected varying ethnicities, genders, social status, professional backgrounds and financial products used, in order to ensure that the panel is representative of the bank’s wider customer base.
She said all she asked of the panel is that its members be frank and open. The group, she said, would meet four times per year to discuss a pre-determined topic in sessions that would last for no more than 90 minutes. Each panelist is asked to make a special effort to attend at least three out of the four sessions.
Other participants in this year’s programme were Chairperson, the Manager of Marketing and Communications, Ms. Michelle Johnson; Officer-in-Charge of Vreed-en-Hoop Branch, Mr. Shridath Patandin; Officer-In-Charge of the Diamond Branch, Mr. Joel Singh; and Customer Panel Member Mr. Dabria Marcus.
To date, the Bank says in a release, some 83 customers, representing the wider cross-section of the Bank’s customer base, have participated in the initiative.