The  West Bromwich Building Society
The West Brom is one of the oldest building societies in the UK and operates from 50 branches, mainly in the heartland of the West Midlands. The society’s success has come from recognising that its clients respond better to a personalised service. Many of its customers come from ethnic minorities and thus have different cultural and linguistic needs than its traditional customers.
They began to improve this personalised service by running a simple training course in Punjabi, which enabled those dealing with customers to greet them in their own language. Many staff members went on to further their language skills and the West Brom now boasts several staff who, from nothing, have become fluent in a community language.
The success of the scheme encouraged the West Brom to undertake a more systematic analysis of the cultural backgrounds and language preferences of its customers. That analysis now drives many aspects of the society’s strategy. Promotional material for customers is now made available in Punjabi, Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu, and Bengali in addition to English, and their distribution is guided by the language make-up of their customer base.
Staff are recruited and deployed to ensure a good linguistic match between the employees and the ethnic make-up of the branch catchment area. Radio advertising and community broadcasts paid for by the society are also tailored to the cultural and language needs of the communities they serve.
Serving a multilingual clientele is no easy challenge but the West Brom has demonstrated that for a company committed to the community, service and business performance can go together hand in hand.
Commenting on the rewards of being able to communicate with her clients Alex, an Assistant Branch Manager who has learnt Punjabi, said:
“I can understand what customers are saying to me and am able to give basic responses, not just talk through usual greetings. If I hear a word I don’t know, then I’ll ask colleagues what is being said. I find it easy to pick up languages, and the customer reaction is brilliant.”
For more information about the West Bromwich Building Society visit www.westbrom.co.uk
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