2- What are financial services products which we can offer to deal with the so-called "highly profitable" segment?

3- What are the environmental conditions, which may influence the performance of marketing activities? Looking forward to hear from you.

Mahmoud
United Bank of Bahrain

A:

Mahmoud,

 1.    A highly profitable market segment, though very desirable can become unmanageable if the desires and needs of that market begin to differ.  It is very intelligent of you to not take this segment for granted. I would look at several options of segmentation for this market.  Look at:

·        Geographic                         

Segment by where your customers located.  This also allows you to serve these areas and customers with different services and products that that region may require.

·        Size                                   

Segment by the size of the customer, assets or deposits with your bank.  You can look at many different areas of uniqueness according to size.

 ·        Products/Services               

Segment by the types of products and or services each customer uses.

 ·        Needs                              

Some customers demand more of your time than others.  You can segment the high level of service customers into their own group and possibly even charge more for your services.

·        Emotion                                   

 What I call the “primal” needs of your customers. You can segment customers into groups based upon what they really want from your bank, products or services.  These would be the “core” values or needs that each segment would have in common.

 2.       Though I am not a banking expert and unsure of the banking laws which pertain to your country or the countries you serve, I will do my best to answer this.

First of all, think of yourself and your bank, as Tom Peters says, a Professional Services Company.  Within this term, what is the service you provide and list everything that might fall within that criteria.  For example, instead of saying you provide banking services, you instead provide financial services.  This opens you up to many more possibilities such as:

      ·        Insurance Services – Business, life, property, automobile

      ·        Financial Planning – Business and personal

·        Retirement Planning – Business and Personal            

·        Business Sales or Transfer of ownership

·        Financial Training for Businesses

 Think about as many possibilities as you can, then explore each one to see if it fits within your expertise, your focus, and your definition as a Professional “financial” services organization.

 3.       This is an extremely difficult question to answer.  The best answer I can give is to foresee and plan for any occurrence, regionally or globally that might affect the consciousness and feelings of your customers.  In our current unsure global situation, people have a tendency to want to feel safe above everything else.  Your goal might be to make them feel safe and market to that emotional need when the situation arises, so that adverse environmental considerations are marketed to, not against. 

Rodger B. Price