Product Knowledge Is Your Credibility

Lana J. Chandler
May 10, 2010 | COMMENTS

Product knowledge is your credibility,” maintains Rebecca Doepke, culture change agent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “No one will buy from or be loyal to a company or a person if they are not a reliable source.”

Financial institutions typically approach product knowledge with a traditional “feature and benefit” approach to learning. While it's important to understand product and service features and how to translate those features into benefits, employees also need to be skilled at learning as much as they can about the client.

“Too often we hear of a client inquiring about new accounts and a typical response from the employee is, ‘Are you interested in checking or savings?' Maybe it's not checking or savings that the client needs,” says Doepke.

First and foremost, be curious! Ask the client:

• How did you choose our institution?
• What brought you to us?
• What do you mean by new accounts?

“Learn as much as you can about the client—stop talking and start asking questions,” Doepke says. “The information this person shares with you will help you better understand their situation so that you can present solutions.”

Consider the Employee's Job Classification

Employees don't have to be experts on every single product your institution offers. You have classifications of employees; within those classifications, training needs for product knowledge are different. Doepke offers these rules-of-thumb:

1. “Every single employee, regardless of position and responsibility, should have an overall understanding of your initial offering,” says Doepke. “Whether you work on the front line or in a support or an operations department, you need to know what business you are in and what you offer that supports the business.” Your educational efforts need to be ongoing. A one-time introduction and overview isn't enough. “Keep all of your employees refreshed and updated,” Doepke says. “Your business and your offerings change. Make sure your employees are up to speed on why you are making the changes, what the changes are, and most importantly how to communicate and promote changes to your offering.”
2. Front-line staff are your most direct communicators with your clients. Front-line employees need to be the experts at the products and services they are expected to offer.
3. Specialized employees such as investment representatives, mortgage lenders, commercial officers, and wealth management representatives need specialized training and product knowledge. Typically, front-line employees make referrals to these specialized experts.

“Front-line staff needs enough knowledge and expertise to be able to identity these opportunities. Once an opportunity is identified, the challenge is to convert the opportunity into a sale,” Doepke says. “Mortgage, investment, and trust experts need to stay in front of front-line staff teaching them how to identify opportunities and how to best refer or hand off the client so that the sale doesn't get lost.”

Foster Development

Branch managers play a key role in building and reinforcing product knowledge. Doepke offers these tips:

• Build on the employee's initial learning experience. As a branch manager, you need to be the extension to the corporate training plan. You need to be aware of and know what product knowledge is taught during training, so you can follow up and reinforce what has been learned.
• Make sure you don't overload employees. There's a lot of information—take it in small bites. Keep it simple. “One of my favorite quotes is ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication' from Leonardo da Vinci,” says Doepke.
• Include marketing campaigns that tie into products. Keep your staff informed of marketing campaigns as they change in reaction to the market. Your marketing and retail elements are powerful in creating the ultimate client experience. Educating and training staff on how to use these tools can result in greater returns.
• Remember that confidence is key. The more your employees know about the products and services your institution offers, the more confident they will become in their approach with clients.

Requires Ongoing Education

“Building product knowledge isn't a one-time event. It's an ongoing initiative,” emphasizes Doepke. “New clients, new challenges, and new experiences need to be discovered, explored, and trained on. Ongoing education is the powerhouse behind getting employees confident and solid in product knowledge. You can't select a topic for a product knowledge session, train on it, and expect results.”

To build on your staff's initial learning and expand their ability, Doepke advises:

• Discuss client situations and challenges. Talk about clients' financial goals and problems. Make sure the advice and solutions presented are the right ones.
• Coach, coach, coach. Do one-on-ones based on real-world situations.
• Test your staff. Ask product-related questions at team meetings. Have fun with it! Turn it into a game or an activity. Highlight a product or service of the week—not as something employees have to sell—rather as tips, reminders, clues to look for, and opportunities that might surface

This story appeared in Branch Manager's Letter at www.branchmanagersletter.com and is reprinted with permission. Contact publisher Lana J. Chandler at 304-343-0206 or Lana@BranchManagersLetter.com.