Bankers agree: Corporate lending has become so fiercely competitive that banks can no longer easily differentiate themselves on price. Instead, banks are looking to win new business and retain existing small business and middle market banking customers by wowing them with top-quality service.

The new customer-service arms race is raising the quality of coverage and service that companies receive from their banks.  Every year, Greenwich Associates recognizes U.S. banks that provide superior products and services in our annual Greenwich Excellence Awards in Small Business Banking and Middle Market Banking.  Award winners are based on the results of thousands of interviews with small businesses and mid-sized companies about their bank relationships. As part of this research, we ask these companies to rate their banks on a list of metrics ranging from Overall Satisfaction and Financial Stability to Bank Credit Policy and Website Performance. Also included in those categories are Overall Service, Relationship Manager Performance and other measures of client service quality.

From 2009 to 2012, the share of small businesses rating their banks as “Excellent” in Overall Service increased by approximately seven percentage points and the share of mid-sized companies rating their banks as “Excellent” in this category also increased roughly nine percentage points. Over the same period, the share of small businesses rating the performance of their Relationship Managers as “Excellent” climbed about nine percentage points  while the share of mid-sized companies assigning that strong rating to Relationship Managers increased by approximately 11 percentage points.  Comparable increases were recorded in Sales Specialist Performance, Treasury Management Overall Satisfaction and Personal Banking Satisfaction.

“There is no doubt about it, the bar has been raised,” says Greenwich Associates consultant David Heiner. “In order to differentiate themselves from competitors in this environment, banks need to go above and beyond what’s traditionally been offered in customer service. Since many banks have proven themselves willing to do this, companies should not be shy about taking advantage of this favorable situation to insist on the highest quality and most intensive levels of customer service.”

Greenwich Excellence Awards
A new report from Greenwich Associates entitled “Banks Raising the Bar in Customer Service Quality” features extended commentary from community banks, small banks and large banks whose improvements in Customer Service Quality have propelled them to win multiple Greenwich Excellence Awards.