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Empowerment at its Best

Very few CEOs in the world understand the service strategy. The most customer service-focused and successful CEO I know is Vernon W. Hill, II. In 1973, he founded Commerce Bank and sold it in 2007 to TD Bank Financial Group of Canada for $8.5 billion. Hill alone made over $400 million. Commerce Bank grew to 460 branches and $48 billion in assets. After selling Commerce Bank, the lack of Empowerment started to permeate and the service reputation Vernon Hill had worked hard to establish began to erode. He told me, “It’s now just a bank.”

Forbes magazine lists the American chief executives in the “20-20-20 Club” for 2007 — 20 years minimum in the job, 20 years minimum publicly traded shares, 20 percent minimum annual return. Hill is right behind Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett and Oracle’s Larry Ellison.

Recently, Hill started Metro Bank, London’s first new bank in 153 years. As Metro Bank’s co- founder and vice chairman, Hill predicts that Metro Bank will go from zero to $31 billion in deposits in 10 years with 200 stores. He is duplicating what Commerce Bank did in New York City. In September 2001, it opened with four stores in Manhattan. It interviewed 3,000 people to staff the first two locations. Of those, just 42 were hired. They were hired for attitudes and trained for skills. When Commerce Bank was sold, it had 250 stores in Greater New York and over $25 billion in deposits.

The average-sized bank branch in America has $50 million in deposits; Commerce Bank had $120 million. The median new-bank branch grows to $19 million in deposits in five years; Commerce Bank averaged $87 million.

Commerce Bank was the most customer-driven bank in the United States. The secret of Commerce Bank was its ability to get the highest deposit growth at the lowest cost. This requires creating and maintaining an emotional attachment with the customer. Hill plans to duplicate this scenario at Metro Bank. Hill builds banks by treating every customer royally. His focus is on creating fans, not just customers. Great customer service comes through a business model focused on building “Fans not Customers.” Metro Bank, London, will bring this philosophy to a market devoid of customer service.

Vernon Hill built a company around Empowerment. The number one rule at Hill’s banks is that every employee is empowered to say “yes” to customers, but two are required to say “no.” Employees don’t hide behind bank policy to avoid helping customers. If an employee has to say no, wants to say no, or even believes no is the right decision, he has to go to someone with greater authority, who can waive a rule, make sense out of what the customer wants, or come up with a more palatable solution. This philosophy empowers team members to say “Yes!” to customers.

Hill said, “At traditional banks, it takes an act of God to get a fee waived. Employees must get senior management review and approval, or they will die.” At Commerce Bank, and now at Metro Bank, team members have the freedom to do the right thing for customers and for shareholders.

Hill built a bank with over 15,000 employees. At Commerce Bank they understood service recovery. He said, “Recovery is an art.” Hill sees errors as an opportunity to strengthen a customer relationship with immediate resolution through empowered team members and a “Satisfaction Guarantee” plan.

He had built a power retailer. He sees himself as a retailer, not a banker. The same success he had in the United States will work in Britain. Metro Bank will be the most successful bank in London. It will achieve incredible financial results, because everywhere in the world customers love getting great service from empowered employees.

Hill said, “Without customers, nobody has a job.” No CEO in the world better understands this message and walks the talk. Most CEOs send out a memo and wash their hands of customer service.

Customer service is the only strategy you can implement anywhere in the world and your competition will not copy you. No one copied Commerce Bank in the United States and NO one will copy Metro Bank in London. Hill has a better grasp of the power of customer service and Empowerment than any CEO in the world and will once again prove that money falls from the skies when you implement the service strategy. More importantly, with the service strategy and Empowerment, you have at least a 10 year lead time over your competition.

I’m not sure why CEOs don’t follow Hill’s lead. Maybe it’s just too much work, or the strategies are a bit too soft for them to deal with.