What’s on Special?
It is well known that supermarkets have specials of the week. Those items that are advertised to entice the customer to come in and buy say, the soft drink on special, and then spend more on the high priced items, Eg meat.
Have you considered that banks may in fact be doing the same thing?
The traditional view of banks is that they are where we go to ask for loans and we accept what they have available. Banks are in fact highly professional retailers. Internally, this is why they call their branches stores.
Banks are all selling essentially the same product, money. In order to differentiate, they each have a specialty in some area. The trick for the customer is to find out which bank best suits them.
SALE! Each bank will have something on sale at any particular time. A low 3 year fixed rate home loan; an introductory interest rate for one year; a fee free account; a low rate credit card. These products are just the same as the sale items at the front of a clothing retailer’s store. We look at the cheap sale rack and then go in and pay full price for something else.
At a less obvious level, banks have a specialty in a few areas in order to increase the overall profit per customer on other things that they sell. Sometimes this concept is not even apparent to the bank manager. The strategy is decided at a much higher, corporate marketing level where the bank decides not to pursue say, business overdrafts but instead to specialize in equipment finance.
Further, the banks know for example, that if you have your business loan with them, there is a good chance that you will accept another of their products at a less than competitive rate. For example, a merchant facility.
The trick is to know which bank specializes in what area.
Here are a few tips.
- Shop around. Do your research.
- Look at the whole parcel of banking services that you require and consider the total cost of your banking.
- Consider split banking using a couple of banks for different purposes. The banks know that the more products that you have with them, the harder it is for you to shop around and leave them.
- Don’t accept the first price. Everyone knows if the price tag says RRP, ( Recommended Retail Price) that is not necessarily the price you pay.
Good luck with your shopping.