ROCHESTER, N.H.—(BUSINESS WIRE)—BrandPartners Group, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: BPTR), hosted its seventh annual Spring Symposium June 2-3. The event also commemorated the company’s 25th anniversary as a leader in the financial services industry, and examined customer experience trends in retail delivery, as more than 40 senior executives from financial institutions across the nation collaborated with customer service experts from the Disney Institute as well as gaining the opportunity to share ideas and network with colleagues.
Through the symposium, BrandPartners brought together some of the best minds in the financial services industry. Year after year the event continues to build in attendance and creativity, and has become an important way of advancing retail financial services thinking.
“This year’s event was a great opportunity to gather a diverse group of financial services professionals, discuss and provide solutions to issues affecting the industry and celebrate BrandPartners’ 25 years of contribution to the retail banking community,” said James Brooks BrandPartners, Chief Executive Officer.
The symposium was held at the scenic Sheraton Harborside Hotel in Portsmouth, N.H., and the historic BrandPartners Mill complex in Rochester, N.H. Attendees included senior executives from a range of financial institutions, including large regional and national banks to community banks and credit unions.
Applying Leadership and Employee Development to Retail Banking
Disney Institute trainer Dennis Frare led a two-hour interactive workshop, “Leadership and Organizational Creativity,” which was specifically developed for the BrandPartners’ symposium. Participants explored how leadership can influence and shape the customer experience by the way leaders motivate and inspire their employees. As the number one vacation destination in the world, Walt Disney World® Resort is also the largest single-site employer in the United States with more than 58,000 cast members. The Disney performance excellence formula engages customers through detailed environments to service-focused front-line employees.
Following Disney’s presentation, Neil Cerbone of Neil Cerbone Associates. Inc., conducted a one-hour session on “Behavioralizing Your Brand,” emphasizing and expanding on the Disney theme that customer engagement “hangs on your employees’ ability to keep you brand’s promise.”
“I truly enjoyed the diversity of speakers and the information that I was able to obtain from each of them,” said Mary M. Henderson, Federal Savings Bank.
Discussions on Customer Engagement, Growth and improving the customer experience.
Interactive work sessions at the BrandPartners Mill complex focused on “hot” topics of current importance to the financial services industry.
Eduardo Alvarez, BrandPartners Executive Vice President, Strategy and Marketing, hosted a panel-style discussion with Alice Babcock, VP Branch Administration & Marketing for Westfield Bank and Alice Cullen, SVP & Director Retail Delivery, SunTrust Bank. The two “Alices” presented a great contrasting approach to customer engagement from the point of view of a small community bank, Westfield Bank, and that of a large regional bank, SunTrust Bank.
Jerry Gassen, President and Director of Ameriana Bancorp and Ameriana Bank, and Michael Purchia, Vice President of Strategic Market Intelligence, BrandPartners led a presentation on Branch Growth in Uncertain Times focusing on the importance of a long-term growth expansion plan despite the current uncertain economic environment.
Guests were also able to witness a first-hand practical demonstration of AVAYA technology which among other capabilities, allows branches to have remote access to specific subject matter experts from other branches in the institution’s network. The technology not only improves the customer experience, but with recent technology advances, is also cost-effective as well.
Not only did the sessions provide strategic and current information pertinent to the financial services industry, but allowed for peer-to peer discussions and the exchange of ideas.
The event also served as an opportunity to showcase BrandPartners’ recently transformed design studio, recently renovated mill customer experience lab, and contract furniture showroom.
The newly renovated Design Studio houses a full staff of architects, space planners, environmental, graphic, and multimedia designers in an environment ideally suited for optimal project collaboration. The mill customer experience lab is a working area that incorporates cutting edge communication strategies integrated with BrandPartners’ versatile Retail Display System. The furniture showroom showcases the latest styles, brands and trends in financial services furniture, further showcasing BrandPartners ability to not only fulfill customer’s furniture and space planning needs, but also supports BrandPartners holistic and turnkey approach to providing a complete solution for its customers.
About BrandPartners
BrandPartners Retail (a Brand Partners Group. Inc. company), provides an integrated approach to customer environments through brand translation, business strategy, design/build services, retail displays and in-branch communications products and services, from concept and design through implementation and training. BrandPartners installations are in more than 2,000 companies at more than 30,000 retail locations. The company serves its clients from its Rochester, New Hampshire home office and regional U.S. offices.
Cautionary Language
Statements in this news release that are not statements of historical or current fact constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other unknown factors that could cause the actual results of the Company to be materially different from the historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained herein are also subject generally to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the Company’s reports and registrations statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
