Customer value What do you do when your bank branch becomes a fish market, where customers grow irritable

while waiting in long queues, and the staff feel stressed about handling so many queries? This was what HDFC Bank faced at its Fort branch in Mumbais business district, which saw average footfalls of over 3,000 customers a day. Not only was this overcrowding leading to general customer irritation, but the bank could not even ensure that its best customers (Preferred and Imperia) were served better. The answer was better lobby management, felt the banks Quality Initiatives Group (QIG), which defined the problem as one of high turnaround time for customers (over five minutes of waiting for key transactions), and a very high ratio of transactions to customer base (defined as average daily transactions at the branch as a percentage of the total customer base). To turn the situation around, the QIG first mapped the situation at the various teller, enquiry and ATM counters to figure out what was causing the delays. Among the answers: a few big corporate deposits (running into lakhs) would hold up an entire line of customers who could be dealt with quicker. At the ATMs, the cash refills were being done around 1pm, just when lunch-hour customers were queuing up for cash. Solutions: shift the cash refill time to mornings, and put in more ATMs. Says Ratan Kesh, head, QIG: We created a bulk counter for huge sums, where someone wanting to make large transactions could go to. Also, when the capacity of the ATMs was augmented, several people started doing their transactions through the ATM rather than the branch. This reduced crowding in the lobby, says Kesh. Furthermore, the welcome desk helped acquaint customers with mobile banking and net banking. All this not only resulted in effective crowd management, but also enhanced customer satisfaction due to the reduced wait-time, says Kesh. Today, the average wait-time is down and the value of business done from the branch has risen from around Rs 1,000 crore to Rs 1,500 crore.