The retention game: it's important for a financial institution to keep those customers coming back--tomorrow and forever. Here's how to play 'finders keepers' successfully. (Cover Story).(Cover Story)

Bank Marketing, June, 2002 by Bernstel, Janet Bigham

Depending on which expert you talk to, you'll hear that it costs between five and 10 times more to find a new customer than to keep the current one. It's not exactly classified information. Unfortunately, it's another one of those facts that everyone seems to know, but few are doing anything about, according to business development consultant Richard Wemmers.

"What's keeping bankers awake at night is not the competition, but federal regulations, privacy laws and the new government acts to thwart terrorism that are increasing scrutiny on the bank," says Wemmers, founder of Wemmers Consulting Group in Atlanta. "Banks today are not being aggressive enough about keeping or seeking customers because they've been so profitable for the last 10 years."

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