Ozaukee Bank extending retail concept; building operations center
The retail setting developed for Ozaukee Bank’s Grafton branch will be extended to the bank’s offices in Cedarburg, Port Washington, Thiensville and Mequon, according to Dean Fitting, the bank’s president.
The concept, in which the bank office is presented dramatically different from the traditional teller-station and bank office set-up, is meant to create an "experience" atmosphere for customers rather than a transactional experience, bank officers say.
The concept was introduced to the area last July when Ozaukee Bank built its Grafton office. Fitting said the concept would first be extended to the Cedarburg office, in the third quarter of this year, and then to the other offices.
Fitting said the changes are part of the 28-year-old bank’s efforts to innovatively deliver products and services.
Meanwhile, Ozaukee Bank, with total assets of about $540 million, is developing a centralized Operations Center in the Cedarburg Business Park. It purchased 5.6 acres there and is now building a 30,000-square-foot structure that will house business operations now spread among three buildings and five floors in Cedarburg. It’s expected to open late in the fourth quarter of this year, according to Jeanne Mueller, communications officer.
Fitting says the new retail concept involves remodeling bank offices to create areas that both make their respective purposes obvious to the eye and to encourage customers to "experience" the bank’s offerings.
"Walk into most bank offices and you see a large teller counter and a number of desks with people with headsets sitting there," Fitting says. "You know they’re working, but don’t really know what they’re doing. On the other hand if you walk into a hardware store or a department store, you immediately see areas with their services plainly designated. That’s what we’re doing here."
The Grafton branch features an Investment Center where customers will find investment books, a plasma screen with stock market quotes and other news scrolling across it, and a computer screen that’s linked to various information sources. "Our staff is readily available to help our customers in this department," Fitting says. "We also hold investment seminars in this area."
Customers will also find a Home Center that physically resembles a living room with a fireplace. The center has books and magazines on various home topics, a computer screen linked to various information sources, and a demonstration area. This spring the bank will have landscape architects putting on seminars for area residents.
Additionally, the bank has a community café which provides the bank’s own brand of coffee and computers which will enable visitors to access Ozaukee Bank on-line and mortgage information. "For grandparents who don’t have a computer at home, we’ll help them e-mail their grandchildren away at college or living in another state," Mueller says.
The bank also features a Vacation Together Center, where people can come in and research vacations, read travel books, and book vacations on-line. A direct line phone line to a vacation expert is also available in this section.
"This is all about interacting with our customers and neighbors, forming relationships with them and breaking down barriers in order to get them to come to the bank and experience our services," says Fitting. "As far as I know, we’re the only bank in the Milwaukee area to do this, although the University of Wisconsin Credit Union in Madison is going with the same idea."
Fitting says that customer feedback in Grafton since last July has been very positive. "That’s why we decided to remodel our other branches, one at a time, to set this up for them.
"Some other banks have depersonalized their services," Fitting said. "We, on the other hand, have taken the opposite tack. We pay a lot of attention to our customers. After all, they’re our best source for new customers. Our retail concept came about because we’re passionate about customer service and our customers’ success."
March 21, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
