The Newest Member of the Money Family

The most colorful currency we have!

     United States currency is an amazing thing. The first coin was actually developed by a relative of mine, David Rittenhouse. Since then, our currency has evolved a lot. There are a lot of security features embedded in each coin and bill. Some of these features aren't known by many and create some good party tricks.

     Let's look at the newest bill. The $100 bill that was released in early October of this year:

• Watermark portrait of Benjamin Franklin in the blank space to the right of the visible portrait. The image can be seen in the light from the front and the back
• Blue security thread runs to the left of the visible portrait that says "USA" and "100." The thread also turns pink with ultraviolet light
• Tilt the front of the bill to see the gold "100" in the right bottom corner turn to green
• Benjamin Franklin's clothes have raised texture on his right shoulder
• The bank of the bill has "100" printed very largely to help the visually impaired
• Benjamin Franklin's jacket collar, watermark area, and along the golden quill have micro-printing. With a magnified glass, you can see small words and numbers
• The golden quill is marked with phrases from the Declaration of Independence 
• The bills are printed in Washington D.C. and Fort Worth in Texas. Bills printed in Fort Worth have a small "FW" on the front top left corner

Caring to Keep Customers

The worth of a customer

     Customers are extremely important in all sorts of businesses and organizations.

On average:

• A customer with a complaint will tell 9-10 people about it.
• A customer with a complement will tell only 5 people about it.
• For every complaint to the Headquarters, 19 other dissatisfied customers don't bother to complain.
• A customer with one bad experience needs 12 good experiences to overcome it.
• It costs 5-10 times more to obtain a new customer than it does to keep an existing one

Keeping that information in mind, it is vital to continue to please customers. Here are some of the things we do to ensure a good time is had by all:

• Customer Appreciation Day. We dedicate a Friday in June to simply appreciating out customers. We have food and giveaways all day long and decorate each branch in a bank wide theme. 
• Respond to all social media. When someone writes to us or tags us in social media, we always respond whether its a complement, complain, or a question! We love hearing from you.
• Always pick the phone up in 3 rings. We will dash and sprint to the phone if we hear it ringing. We always pick it up within 3 rings and never let a computer try to answer your questions. Real people for real customers.
• Listen. We know you have stories to tell and we will listen. Whether it has to do with financials or personal life, we are hear for you. 
• We love feedback. No matter your opinion on your experience with us, we would love to hear it. We are always open to suggestions to make your experiences better.
• Ask us questions. We will answer all of your questions. If we don't have an answer, we will find you one. 
• We are family. We want you to feel comfortable when you come in. If you tell us a story about your dog one day, we want to be able to recognize you and then ask you how Spot is doing. We are all about relationships

Here is a video about how Columbia Business makes a video about how to keep customers happy.

(source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePMJ05L49R4) 

Location, location, location

"This looks like a hotel lobby!"

     Working on the teller line, comments about how the inside of our bank looked were constant. At our newest location, outside of Bangor, we tried a new layout of the bank floor plan and I think we hit success. 
     For those of you who haven't visited this Bumble Bee location, let me describe its unique features to you. 

• We have pods. Instead of one straight teller line counter, we have three "pods." Each pod holds two tellers and the three pods are lined up behind each other. The first two are primarily for walk-in customers and the last is for the three drive-thru lanes. This design encourages customers to walk right up to us and even behind us. We can easy turn out computer screens to show you exactly what we are doing if there are any questions.
• We have ECRs. As mentioned in a previous post, we use three ECRs in addition to our vault. There is an ECR at each pod to assist the teller in counter, accepting, and giving back money.
• We have a Kids Corner. In addition to our "living room," where there is a large television, couches, chairs, and magazines to browse while waiting for service, we have a separate area with leather couches, a large television playing cartoons, and an Xbox for kids to enjoy while their parents are meeting with loan officers or doing their regular banking. 
• We have hand scanners. Like many other banks, we have safety deposit boxes in our vault (separate from where we keep the money) that people can rent from us to keep their special belongings. BUT, our unique feature is that you don't need to be escorted into the vault like normally, you can get in by typing in your ID number and placing your hand on a scanner. And since there is not one big teller counter preventing you from getting to the vault, you can literally walk right up to the vault and go right in.
• We have a touchscreen monitor. In the lobby, next to the downstairs coffee bar, is a touchscreen monitor with access to all of our account descriptions, interest information, and the ability to log into your account if you need to.
• We have a coin machine. Most banks either do not accept unrolled coins or need to use a coin machine in the back of the vault. This bank has an easy-to-use coin counter that customers and non-customers can use. This machine provides excitement to people of all ages!
• Giving back to the community. Most of the daily banking takes place on the ground floor. But, upstairs is primarily for the community and our Business Services department. There are two conference rooms and one large Community Room that is free of charge for any community organization to use. There are full bathrooms upstairs (including showers) and a full kitchen to use too. Each conference room holds up to 20 people and is equip with comfortable chairs, a large table, a large television screen able to connect to any laptop, free wireless internet, and access to our coffee bar. Our Community Room can hold up to 75 people with individual leather armed chairs that have individual movable desktops, three large television screens able to connect to laptops, a private coffee bar, wireless internet, and a view of the city.

     Bumble Bee Bank prides itself on the satisfaction of really giving back to the community. The bank does not belong to a couple of owners, but it belongs to the customers. The unique layout provides an efficient and unique layout that truly engages customers.

 The teller line and the pods

The touch screen

The living room