Ad:Tech Sydney: http://www.ad-tech.com/sydney
Host: Jenny Williams, Idea Garden (far right)
Panel: Harry Wendt, GM, Westpac; Roger Grobler, CEO, Real Insurance; Gerd Schenkel, GM, UBank
I enjoyed this panel – not so much because of the digital discussion but because of the discussion around values: having them, hiring to them and letting people do what they do well because they share them.
Key takeouts
- A values-based business model is key to out-performing rules-based competitor businesses
- Establish values, hire people who fit the values and let them do what they’re good at
- It’s hard to train people into digital and social roles – the good ones are interested in it
- You have to be human
- Social networking is hard work, requires constant effort
Favourite quote
This is an obvious one but it winds me (in the tummy) every time I hear someone say that this crazy new world we live in is all about relationships with brands. No. It isn’t.
“People don’t really have relationships with brands; they have them with people.” Gerd Shenkel
Gerd Schenkel, UBank
- GFC has been a catalyst to bring forward natural changes in the financial industry
- A bank has to be conservative – that’s why we survived the GFC
- Ensure you have clearly understood brand values that staff adhere to
- Social media was a ‘natural extension’ for UBank
- People don’t really have relationships with brands; they have them with people – the people behind the brand or company. If they have an issue and know someone in the organisation who they trust, they’ll use that relationship to sort it out
- Must have an email address and mobile phone number to become a customer of UBank – to have a simpler business model for the digital world
- We hire staff against values then let them do what they need to do
- Banking isn’t a destination – it will become more like Paypal. We need to think about how we can interact with people elsewhere (ie not on the banking website)
- It’s much better to be ten seconds of someone’s life than to force them to your website and have them quickly go back to where they want to be
- What’s key to out-performance – softer assets – values, leadership and management style. Businesses who create a very strong value set, culture and have a leadership and management style to foster that and grow that will be able to out-perform other businesses. Values-based business model
- We take flag-bearing staff and get them to interview and rate potential staff – in order to propagate the values of the business
- Not innovation for innovation’s sake – it needs to be customer-driven. Thing is, people want predictability from their banks. (HENRY FORD)
- Westpac’s error made the brand more endearing – it added a human dimension to the company
Roger Grobler, Real Insurance
- If a customer states a problem publicly, we respond publicly – most of the time they ‘come around’
- There should be a lot more consumer rating of companies instead of self-appointed companies who assign stars to businesses and products… and sell those stars
- Better ratings – authentic and real-time – will be great for the industry
Harry Wendt, Westpac
- Ignoring customers is not good practice so you need to be present in social networks
- It’s hard to train call centre operators and turn them into good Twitterers; better to find people who are passionate about it and get them to do it
- Bringing back the bank manager is an attempt to say that we really lost sight of what was important – values of responding, people who can make a decision locally rather than someone buried miles away – it’s hard and takes time
- Banking reached a plateau in 2002 and hasn’t really done anything since – it’s only really been Mint and Wasabe who’ve done anything interesting
- On the ‘over it’ incident (a Westpac tweeter accidentally tweeted through the Westpac Twitter account: ‘oh so over it’): it was just a mistake; we could have responded quicker, people tweeted about hoping that the guy who tweeted it didn’t lose his job – but it was just a human error
My point of view
Values. Values. Values. Great to hear this discussion. This panel was also the first time I’ve heard Gerd from UBank talk – I like how he thinks. He did make a point I would have liked to hear more about: banks don’t necessarily need to innovate quickly because people aren’t asking them to; they want predictability. He’d know this Henry Ford quote: “If I asked people what they wanted I would have invented a faster horse”. Gerd, if you read this – perhaps you can explain your thinking on this a bit more. I’d love to have less financially-oriented logins – like Mint. One place I log into and can conduct my entire financial life from. I’d like not to have to use Paypal – again, one financial institution. Etc etc.
The Twitter stream: #atsyd1
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