Company Culture: three attributes Metro Bank invest to guarantee they execute quality customer service

At gunnercooke, our model is based around a culture of innovation.

Challenging the way more traditional businesses serve their customers is something we’re no stranger to at gunnercooke, and it’s great to see other businesses at the forefront of providing brilliant client service.

Take Metro Bank for example, as Britain’s first high-street bank in over 100 years, it is a genuine challenger to the way traditional retail banking serves its customers.

Founded in 2010, the bank has now moved to the forefront of this cultural shift, priding itself on service rather than price… but what is it exactly that is so different about their services?

They focus on experience

Employees of Metro Bank are not subject to sales targets; their reward structure is purely based on customer satisfaction scores tracked on Net Promoter (NPS). The idea is common sense, more than anything: whatever you incentivise, that’s what your people will go out of their way to achieve.

Metro Bank stores also open and close ten minutes earlier than advertised. This means if you’re running a little earlier or later than expected, the doors will be open.

They exceed expectation

It’s often the little details that make the biggest difference to our perception of service and convenience in a homogeneous market. Metro Bank are the only bank open seven days a week, 362 days a year, for instance. If a customer loses their bank card, they are able to cancel the card and have a new one reissued in-store, on the spot. This exceeds expectation and positions their service as unique.

They treat their customers a ‘fans’

Every business looks to inspire loyalty and devotion among their target market, but few talk about people who use their service as anything other than customers. Brilliant client service is about making each person who walks in the front door feel values on an individual level.

Their business is littered with stories of personal touches; meeting people at airports with a new credit card; driving out to people’s houses when they’ve forgotten their purse; providing bowls of water for customers’ gods; running out with an umbrella when they see people stood outside an ATM in the rain. Here’s a business that takes every opportunity to develop their service and make it unforgettable.

Found this interesting? Take a look at our other blogs included in our Company Culture Series:

Three best applications of Apple’s excellent customer service

Three approaches Lush have taken to apply expertly crafted customer service

Three practices Virgin Trains use to ensure they go the extra mile

Three techniques Ritz-Carlton use to cater extraordinarily for their guests