"The most important step I've taken to
encourage innovation is to hire people who have experience outside of
banking –
creative people who can apply what they've learned in dynamic, customer-centric
categories to our more traditional business," says Hal Tovin, a top manager
of Citizens Financial Group.
For example, Citizens Financial Group have put full service branches into
grocery stores. the group's in-store banking business is run by a person
with a sales and marketing background. The ATM business is run by someone
who used to be in real estate. Hal Tovin himself is a classically trained
marketer of packaged goods.
"Employing people with diverse skills and
talents helps us challenge the status quo when developing
business strategies," continues Hal Tovin. "Most banks, for example,
look at in-store banking as a service for existing customers. We take a
very different view; we use our grocery store branches to acquire new
customers. We hire people from retail stores like the Gap, Marcy's, and
Starbucks and screen them for
what we call BVAC
characteristics: bright, verbal,
assertive,
creative.
The staff go into the grocery aisles wearing their Citizens aprons, pushing
their Citizens grocery charts with promotional offers, and getting into
friendly conversation. Their objective is to develop relationships with
store customers. Then when shoppers have banking needs, they'll find a
familiar face at the bank. The result is that we've built a billion-dollar
bank in just our in-store branches."
Discover much more about best innovation
practices
in the mini-courses
Systemic Innovation
Winning Customers
