According to new research from Greenwich Associates, almost 3 out of 4 small businesses (71%) say that their relationship manager is their single most important point of contact with their bank.

Greenwich, which has trended channel preferences since the 1990s, had previously found that by December 2009, both small businesses and mid-sized companies ranked their banks' Internet platforms as having equal or greater importance than branch personnel in their interactions with their banks.

From late 2009 to July 2011, however, companies began putting more stock in the "human touch.”  Over that period, the share of small businesses citing the Internet platform as the single most important point of interaction with their bank declined to 18% from 24% and the share of mid-sized companies naming the Internet as their most important banking channel dropped to 21% from 25%. Meanwhile, the share of small businesses naming their relationship manager as their most important point of contact jumped to 53% from 48%; among mid-sized companies that share increased to 71% in July 2011 from 60% in December 2009.

"Before the start of the [recent economic] crisis, it was easy for companies to put their bank relationships on auto-pilot, with direct interactions initiated by companies mainly in connection with important events like loan applications, and with banks reaching out mainly in connection with new product sales," says Greenwich Associates consultant Duncan Banfield. "Today, companies need help solving broader business problems, and our data shows that they have stepped up interactions with bank relationship managers as part of that effort."

Banfield notes that despite stated preferences, the Internet remains by far the most frequently used bank channel by U.S. businesses. Among small businesses, 70% say the Internet is the means by which they most frequently interact with their banks. For 84% of mid-sized companies, the Internet is the mostly frequently accessed channel.  Among small businesses and mid-sized companies utilize the Internet to investigate the status of unpaid checks, initiate payments, request statement copies or view balance reports, issue a stop pay order, add or delete employees from payroll, and view paid check images.

A Banking Opportunity?

According to the Greenwich survey, only about one-third of small businesses say their banks have provided any advice on how to improve cash flow efficiency. While slightly more than half of mid-sized companies say their banks have initiated meetings to review and try to improve their cash flow situation, a full 46% of these companies say they've received no such advice from their banks. The switch in preferences from the Internet to personal contact, could mean that more businesses are concerned about their access to credit.  Banks could be taking advantage of this heightened sensitivity to build relationships and trust by initiating conversations to offering advice and cross-sell additional services.

Source: Greenwich Associates