No Small Change

CHAPTER 4Why Not Then? And Why Now?

We've put forward two of the main planks of this book's argument in previous chapters, and in this chapter we look at them more closely. They are:

1. The retail financial services industry has enjoyed much success over many years with little need for marketing (and even less need for good marketing).
2. Things are changing, and we're convinced that good marketing will be much more important to ensure continued success in the future.

Itemising the factors that support these propositions means making two lists that are at least to some extent mirror images of each other. For example, the first list will say that for many years the regulator wasn't much concerned about marketing, so various bad practices could continue: the second list will say that these days the regulator is much more concerned about marketing, so much of the bad is being driven out by good. Still, the factors are interesting, varied and important enough that a little repetition may be no bad thing.

In Chapter 2, we discussed the growing importance of marketing from the point of view of financial services providers. With the help of the CIM, we defined marketing as the set of processes that enable firms to develop an understanding of their customers, and so to provide products and services that meet their wants and needs.

Exactly the same story can be told in terms of the benefits it offers to the customer. From the customer's perspective, if marketing is the set of processes ...