Service marketing of Agrani Bank Ltd.

Abstract

The progress of today’s business world is unthinkable without a true functioning banking sector especially commercial banking. As a leading commercial bank in Bangladesh Agrani Bank Ltd. (ABL) is playing a major role in the growth of healthy business sector and a vibrant economy of Bangladesh. This paper is based on the services marketing techniques that ABL provides to its clients. In the GAPS model of service quality, ABL has a negative gap in knowledge, service design and standards, service performance and communication. After analyzing the ‘consumer behavior in services’ we can see the need for recognition of the consumers of ABL is nearly fulfilled but the information exchange is not good enough. At the ‘customers expectations of services’ part we can find that most of the people want high-social support and dependency or reliable needs from ABL service and their ‘adequate service expectation’ is fulfilled through the latest ERP T-24 and BMS software. At past customers use to have hard core perception about the services that the government banks use to deliver but these days the perceptions are changing and ABL is leading the way of this change. ABL is far behind from private banks when it comes to the research but still they are doing their best by using the limited resources they have. As a commercial bank ABL give its priority to the corporate level clients most and their research is mainly focused on them. To prepare this paper I have conduct a research and the outcome is more positive towards ABL. Building customer relationship is main priority for all service oriented businesses these days and ABL dose understand this and for that they are running various training programs and motivational tours to make proper use of relationship marketing process. ABL also considers the service recovery and for that it takes several strategies like- make the service fail safe, encourage and track complaints, act quickly, provide adequate explanations, treat customers fairly and learn from the recovery experience. For service development and design the ABL follow strategies of - major or radical innovation, initiatives for start up business, new services for currently served market, service line extension, service improvement and style change. The concept of integrated marketing communication is relatively new especially for the government banks in Bangladesh but the ABL is trying its best to adapt the concept and try to make proper use of it through its personnel, latest technologies and adequate knowledge. Agrani Bank is the largest commercial banks in Bangladesh but still they have long way to go and the current policy makers are competent enough to take the bank to its deserved and desired position in the financial sector of Bangladesh.