How to Improve Your Retail Banking Skills

As technology becomes more advanced and customer behaviour shifts, professionals in the banking industry are constantly looking for areas of innovation and ways to improve their retail banking skills to meet the demands of the modern customer.

Personal development plays a crucial role in career growth, especially in the continuously evolving retail banking profession. Retail bankers must attend to their customers’ needs and provide sound advice on their financial situations. These skills require competence and expert utilisation of existing tools to meet the customers’ goals.

The importance of improving your retail banking skills

Retail banking professionals have always played an integral part in the health and expansion of the Malaysian economy. After all, the country houses some of the largest banks in Southeast Asia. Many retail banking professionals desire to enhance their skill set by upskilling. Meanwhile, some even take an entirely new direction by reskilling. 

If you’re in the banking industry, then you would understand the importance of acquiring new skills and widening your knowledge. The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely caused an increasingly uncertain job market. And so, staying relevant in the field demands constant learning.

Exploring key areas of self-improvement in retail banking can open up opportunities for career advancement. Establishing direction for career growth and taking responsibility for your career path may seem like a tall order, but it will help you succeed and secure your future.

JobStreet explores how to improve your retail banking skills so you can become more capable and confident in your profession.

Ways to improve your retail banking skills

1. Practise active listening

Communication skills are essential in all industries, but most especially in customer-facing professions such as retail banking. You will need to effectively communicate solutions to your customers and introduce new products and services to them. 

Active listening is sometimes overlooked as a skill, but it can be argued that it is an effective form of communication. By practising active listening, you can respond in a manner that validates what the customer is saying. Active listening builds trust. It makes the customer more engaged. It can also help you gather important information from the customer.

Listening to your customers can help you improve as a retail banker. It can help you get customer feedback to better understand how they respond to the products and services you deliver.

2. Build emotional intelligence

Today’s most in-demand skills are increasingly technical in nature. However, the need for the uniquely human ability to regulate emotions and empathise contributes significantly to accomplishing important personal and professional goals.

According to a study by Psychology Today, the most successful professionals score high on emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence helps build stronger relationships with colleagues and customers. It can also help turn intention into action and make informed decisions that help with business success.

Learning how to improve emotional intelligence is a matter of self-awareness. With high EQ, you not only recognise your emotions but also realise how they impact your behaviour. Being more self-aware helps retail bankers address customers’ needs because they get to put themselves in the customers’ shoes. This way, they have a better understanding of the challenges they face.

3. Learn to personalise the customer experience

Changes in consumer behaviour and expectation have compelled professionals to remain competitive and relevant. Today, more and more customers are demanding a higher standard of competency from service providers. Given the increasing customer expectations, retail bankers must respond with personalised experiences. 

Now, it is more important than ever to give customers a seamless journey. You must be equipped to assist them as they deal with complex situations like handling finances. The ability to personalise customer interactions is a powerful differentiating factor in providing solutions to their needs and help drive sales, leading to an increase in customer loyalty. 

Retail bankers have access to a treasure trove of customer data. Utilising this can help create an end-to-end experience by understanding each customer's problems.

4. Outsmart anchoring bias

Retail bankers are prone to make assumptions based on surface information the customer presents. This often leads to anchoring bias — a tendency to jump to conclusions with little to no information in hand.

Anchoring happens when you need to make a quick decision or have the tendency to act hastily. Retail bankers can sometimes feel pressured to make rash decisions or assumptions based on the customer's communication style, or even age. This can affect the way retail bankers provide services and solutions; if prolonged, this may even lead to ineffective business outcomes.

Uproot your anchoring bias by having a thorough decision-making process. You can start by doing research and practising critical thinking skills to help counteract bias. Use checklists to help assess a customer’s problem or concerns. Make sure you have sufficient information before making a decision. Finally, remember to stay open-minded to better understand each customer's unique situation.

5. Ask the right questions

Various studies have shown that asking the right questions is a sign of intelligence. It displays an eagerness to learn and a high level of engagement, which are characteristics shared by highly successful people.

Asking questions is the most underutilised tool for driving personal and business performance. Retail bankers who ask the right questions to customers are guaranteed to boost business success. It is a sure-fire way to develop a unique understanding of their situation. Thus, it helps you generate solutions that could be hugely beneficial to your career growth.

A great way to frame your conversation with your customers is to speak their language. Relate questions to the customer’s frame of reference and use words and phrases that they understand. Avoid industry jargon and try to use neutral wording. It is also great to plan out your questions before opening up the conversation.

6. Lead with transparency

In the retail banking industry, establishing trust is one of the key components to attract and retain customers. Being transparent with customers affirms that they are getting their money's worth. Involving customers every step of the way will keep them engaged and make them feel a strong sense of collaboration.

Not to mention, putting transparency at the heart of your work leads to personal growth. It contributes to your career advancement. As a retail banker, you also need to educate your customers about their journey on making financial decisions. Ultimately, you want to allow them to have the freedom to assess your products and services.

 7. Translate customer needs into solutions

Once you precisely understand customers’ priorities, you can adjust your products and services to accommodate them. To build a solid business, every retail banker should have the prime focus of attending and meeting customer needs.

A great way to meet customer needs is by understanding their journey and how they interact with your products and services. You can map your customer journey by visualising their process when engaging with your products or services. If you have identified their needs and your products do not satisfy them, you can develop or modify the ones you have.

Finding Retail Banking #JobsThatMatter

There is no shortage of opportunities to improve your retail banking skills. Innovation and self-improvement go hand in hand in enhancing the customer experience. The Financial Planning Association of Malaysia (FPAM) offers courses for retail bankers to further their education and career advancement. Customer service is a vital component of retail banking, so it is essential to look for ways to improve customer service and thoroughly work on your existing skills.

Ready to use your retail banking skills to build a career path in the industry? Read our guide to a successful retail banker career path here!

Start looking for ways to improve on #JobsThatMatter to you. Make sure to keep your JobStreet profile updated to get notifications on the latest job opportunities. Visit the Career Resources hub for more valuable tips on self-improvement and career advancement