One of the advantages that you have, as a mortgage broker, over larger financial institutions, is that you’re close to your customers and are therefore able to see issues from their point of view. This is a great strength, especially when it comes to deciding the type of customer service experience you want your clients to enjoy.

Unfortunately, administrative processes which were originally designed with the best intentions in mind, can result in the sort of experiences which discourage rather than encourage customer loyalty. Take, for example, my own recent experience with a credit card company, which happens to be one of the biggest brands in the UK.

When I received my latest statement I saw there was an outstanding balance of 62 pence, which had been there for the last two months. Oops, technically, I was in arrears! My mistake, but when I read the documents included with the statement it illustrated just how easy it is for processes and procedures to go badly wrong.

My 62p arrears meant that my statement included standard text notifying me that my bank is ‘obliged by law to send this notice when the amount of the minimum payment has not been received by the due date’. Fair enough, but why had I also been sent a large wad of additional paperwork?

First up was an insert from the Office of Fair Trading with the headline ‘Arrears’ and a prominent sub header of ‘Don’t ignore the problem’. Scary stuff. Statements such as ‘think carefully before borrowing money to repay debts’ and ‘doing nothing could make things worse’ seemed a bit harsh for someone with just 62p outstanding. A short letter or e-mail pointing out my oversight, or even a quick phone call, would have been sufficient to resolve the problem.

However, I was also provided with a total of ten website addresses and eight phone numbers which I could call for debt advice! Wow, I suspect that a phone call would cost more than 62p outstanding  - I’m starting to become annoyed.

The correspondence also informed me that ‘if you live in Northern Ireland phone 0800…’. OK, red rag to a bull – this was included in a letter addressed to me in Leeds!  By this stage, I realised I’d simply been hit with standard documents, verging on junk mail, because a poorly defined process had identified me as an arrears customer

But that’s not the end of it. The next flyer encouraged me to ‘Make it your new year’s resolution to holiday for less’. Yes, I was offered a range of foreign holidays, including a cruise costing just over £1100 per person. I can only assume the holiday brochure was included because I had a reasonably high credit limit on my card, which acted a sales trigger for the holiday promotion. It seems they designed this process from a product sales perspective and didn’t link it to their arrears process. Put simply, they haven’t thought about my experience as a customer.

Last but not least I find I have also been sent a booklet full of offers about mortgages, insurance, current accounts, investments and savings – time to head for the recycling bin!

This experience is a great illustration of why any firm, large or small, operating in the financial services market needs to constantly consider the service experience their customer receive. It’s easy to design processes based on products and pricing criteria, but the criteria which matters most is your customers individual service experience.

As a broker, your close relationships with your customers is one of your greatest assets. Protect it and use it wisely, especially when it comes to designing administrative procedures. A good starting point is to put yourself in your customers’ shoes and try to see life from their perspective. That’s the starting point for a lot of the conversations we’re having with prospective clients at the moment as customer experience is key to the service we provide as an outsourcer.

On a personal note, I feel I should write to my bank and play back my experience, because I could hardly feel less valued. If I do write, I’ll give them a bit of their own medicine and head my letter ‘Don’t ignore the problem’. And of course I’ll be sure to include the 62p payment at the same time.