怎样把顾客变成粉丝

    三年前在一次华尔街名流云集的曼哈顿鸡尾酒会上，一个独自站在一边的人引起了笔者的注意。他穿着一件带有金领针的双色拼接衬衫，手里抱着一只约克夏小狗。这位绅士没有忙于应酬，正在喂那只头发梳成爱德华式的小狗餐前点心。我不认识他。但我知道我必须知道他的故事。直觉告诉我，这个人一定非常成功，或者至少很有趣。结果他既成功、又有趣。

    “我是弗农•希尔，”他说道，同时介绍说他的约克夏叫“杜菲尔德伯爵”，昵称“杜菲”。谈起他最新的一项创业投资——宠物保险，希尔充满激情。在这之前，我甚至连听都没听过这一行。“它将成为美国最具增长潜力的行业之一！”他宣称，还说，保险刚刚涵盖了杜菲大量的看牙费用。随后，交谈的内容转到了他与唐纳德•特朗普之间有趣的高尔夫比赛，两位个性鲜明的企业家都力图用俏皮话来让对方退缩。

    我很快发现，弗农•希尔是这个星球上最具创意、而且特立独行的银行高管。从1973年从一家分行起步，希尔已将Commerce Bank打造成为美国增长最快、盈利最佳的银行连锁机构。它在20多年的时间里年均回报率达23%，能超越这一水平的只有甲骨文（Oracle）的拉里•埃里森、Forest Labs的霍华德•所罗门和伯克希尔－哈撒韦公司（Berkshire Hathaway）的沃伦•巴菲特。2007年，希尔将当时在美国东北市场已经占有相当份额的Commerce以85亿美元卖给了Toronto-Dominion。接着，2010年初，他将自己的模式输出到了英国，在那里创立了Metro Bank，这是英国100多年来第一家新成立的零售银行。

    当年7月，笔者参加了Metro在伦敦繁华地段霍尔本地铁站对面的旗舰店热热闹闹的开幕典礼。当我乘坐的出租车行驶接近这家银行时，司机看着高高的玻璃幕墙和缤纷闪亮的色彩，情不自禁地说：“看起来简直就像迪斯科舞厅，哪像一家银行！”门外有高跷游行表演，迪克西兰爵士乐队的嘟嘟伴奏，狗狗们舔食着碗中美食，它们的主人在开立账户，8,000袋爆米花让到访者大快朵颐。这一景象彰显了希尔的理念：愉快、友好和微笑服务是在银行业获胜的途径。

    Three years ago, at a Manhattan cocktail party sprinkled with Wall Street celebrities, I became intrigued by a figure standing alone, nattily attired in a gold collar pin and two-tone dress shirt, cradling a Yorkshire terrier. Instead of working the room, the gentleman was feeding the Edwardian-coiffed canine hors d'oeuvres. I didn't recognize him. But I had to learn his story. Something told me this fellow was wildly successful, or at least outrageously entertaining. He turned out to be both.

    "I'm Vernon Hill," he announced, introducing the terrier as " Lord Duffield, or 'Duffy' for short." Hill burned with enthusiasm about one of his latest ventures, a business I'd never heard of, pet insurance. "It's going to be one of America's great growth industries!" he declared, remarking that the carrier had just covered Duffy for extensive dental work. The conversation then veered into a hilarious account of his golf game with Donald Trump, in which two flamboyant entrepreneurs vied to see who could most unnerve the other with unrepeatable wisecracks.

    I soon discovered that Vernon Hill is the most creative, contrarian, tradition-busting banking executive on the planet. Starting with a single branch in 1973, Hill built Commerce Bank into the fastest-growing, most profitable banking franchise in America, posting annual returns of 23% over more than two decades, a feat exceeded only by Larry Ellison of Oracle (ORCL), Howard Solomon of Forest Labs (FRX), and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA). In 2007, Hill sold Commerce, by then a giant in the Northeast, to Toronto-Dominion (TD) for $8.5 billion. Then, in early 2010, he exported his model to Britain by creating Metro Bank, the first new retail bank in the UK in over a century.

    In July of that year, I attended the rollicking grand opening of the Metro flagship opposite London's buzzing Holborn Station. As the taxi approached branch, with its tall glass façade and merry bright colors, the driver gushed, "This looks like a bloomin' disco, not a bank!" Stilt walkers were parading, Dixieland bands were tooting, dogs were lapping from bowls while their masters opened accounts, and visitors were devouring 8,000 bags of popcorn. The spectacle epitomized Hill's vision that a culture of fun, friendliness, and service-with-a-grin are the way to win in banking.