Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format. With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Why Australians still can't switch banks

The study found that barriers to defection in financial services currently have a higher impact on customer retention than factors such as satisfaction. For transaction accounts, the effort involved acts as a deterrent to switching, while for mortgages it is the exit fee that locks customers in.

According to Petter Ingemarsson, senior analyst for Datamonitor and author of the report, dissatisfied transaction account customers frequently stay with their bank despite wanting to change providers.

In a 2009 Datamonitor survey, 29% of respondents said they kept their transaction account provider for reasons other than satisfaction. In fact, the proportion of transaction accountholders who switched provider in the previous 12 months actually dropped between 2008 and 2009 (from 7.2% to 5.5%) and is not expected to rise in 2010.

"The main reason for this reluctance to switch bank account provider is the effort of switching linked payments. Account holders frequently tie direct debits and direct credits to their accounts, which greatly increase the perceived effort of switching account. Forgotten direct debits and credits could cause inconvenience or potentially economic loss for the customer," explained Ingemarsson.

In 2008 the Australian government mandated a "listing and switching" service for banks, whereby a consumer can request a comprehensive list of direct debits and credits over the past 13 months in order to help them switch banks. The banking industry agreed to implement this service by November 2008, but Datamonitor's research found, in some cases, banks are still unable or unwilling to provide this service.

Similarly, for mortgage holders, the government is now in the process of introducing legislation to limit exit fees (which are generally charged when a customer refinances their home within five years of taking out their mortgage).

However, there is a balance that must be struck when approaching such regulation: "On one hand, consumer protection from unfair or deceptive practices should be guaranteed but, on the other hand, over-regulation can lower the efficiency of the overall financial system," concluded Ingemarsson.

Have you seen How To SELL Anything?

This incredible sales handbook distils an expert's lifetime of sales and marketing experience and hands it to you on a platter, in a simple, easy-to-follow format.

With existing customers being the most valuable source of income for any business, this book will teach you how to increase your return business and make more profit from your most loyal customers - and even how to reduce the costs of dealing with your least profitable customers.

You'll learn to sell yourself, sell your products, and sell your brand on the internet, writing high-conversion landing pages, social media posts, and more. You'll start attracting customers you didn’t even know existed, and learn the top trade secrets for customer retention.

You'll become a lean, mean selling machine. See how the experts do it and learn to adapt what they've done for your own profit. You'll learn to write strong, powerful, effective sales copy, whether it's for a sales script, sales letter, flyer, insert, advert or just about anything else.

You'll learn how to sell whether you're selling by telephone, by mail, or even meeting prospects face-to-face. You'll find out how to size them up, present yourself, nail down their true needs, close the sale, and learn to tackle the tricky ones.

You'll discover the biggest secrets of successful direct mail sellers, sales letter writers, and how to segment and choose the right prospects for each campaign.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)