Abstract

Some of the key issues facing banks in the UK are analyzed in order to become better at selling in the personal banking market. These issues concern attitudes about organizational changes for sales, including those of personnel and physical organization. Implicit in them are matters of changes in management style, training, motivation, and recognition of branch sales personnel and the direct salesforce. Interviews were conducted with senior sales and/or marketing executives in the leading banks and a building society. Each of the organizations interviewed has made considerable advances in achieving the required cultural change, but Midland Bank is well on its way toward accomplishing a sales culture. The results indicate that the radical change called for in developing a true sales culture requires major alterations to management structure and style and is most likely to be successfully accomplished by top-down target setting based on corporate business objectives.