Bankers See Room To Improve Cross-Selling

By Staff Writer

September 03, 2008 at 08:06 AM

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Bank managers and salespeople are generally satisfied with their banks' ability to cross-sell investment and insurance products, but they think their institutions could do better.

Researchers at the Bank Insurance and Securities Association, Radnor, Pa., have published data supporting that finding in a summary of results from a survey of 375 managers and salespeople at 120 U.S. financial institutions.

About 58% of the survey participants said they are satisfied with their banks' basic cross-selling strategy.

When asked to rank the most critical success factors in successful cross-selling, 89% of the participants said a trusted relationship between people in sales and those who generate their leads is most important to success, and 72% said their institutions are doing a good job in this area.

Generating referrals from the banks' branches ranked second, with 79% of the participants citing this as important. But only 38% of the participants said their banks are doing a good job of generating branch referrals.

The bank's image ranked third and was cited by 68% of the participants. Only 35% of the participants said their institutions have established a strong brand image.

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