DELIVERING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITHIN THE SME CLIENT BANKER RELATIONSHIP

The UK clearing banks, having significantly improved their customer service reputation in the UK SME (Small and Medium Size Enterprise) sector, may be revising their market position during the current recession. A survey of people starting a new business and bankers reveals that both owner/managers and bankers feel the quality of the customer-bank relationship may have deteriorated. This situation has implications for both the availability of funds for new small business and the future strategies of the UK banks when servicing SME sector clients. A customer management model is proposed as a mechanism for classifying variation in owner/manager needs for financial service. The model is used to assess the nature of customer service which a bank may wish to provide to their different types of small business client.