I work at a local community bank, and we are working extra hard to go above and beyond to make banking with us a little more special. I know we are all competitors, but most of us are in different states, so I was hoping I could still get some feed back from you.

Is there anything special that you guys do at your bank that you wouldn't mind sharing? We have coffee and cookies on Fridays, and want to do a little more. Anything comments that you have would be greatly appreciated.

Also, we are thinking of doing a "senior program" for people over 50. Any ideas of what to call it?

Thanks for any help you can give!!!!!

if you PM me I'll share some info with you

Some of our branches spotlight local commercial customers (including an occasional non-profit) in a corner of the lobby.

The financial institution where I do my banking (but not the one where I work--<<gasp!>> <<whisper!>> Don't tell anybody!) has a feature in their teller software that prompts the teller to wish customers a happy birthday if they come in on that day. It may sound silly, but there have been a few birthdays when I went to make an extra deposit or withdrawal just for the enthusiastic greeting.

You may also PM me and I will share a few things that we do that I know about.

We have a program in place for customers over 50 and it has been instrumental in building brand loyalty, especially as we have branched into new communities.

Send a PM and I will share some more details.

In designing a program like yours, remember that ECOA defines elderly as 62. IMHO, you cannot offer credit products more advantageous or give any preferrential treatment for those between 50 and 62 that you would not offer/market to a younger applicant.

This can sneak up on you with credit for overdraft protection, credit cards, coupons for loans, etc. offered to members of your "classic club" where the sole criteria is being over XX age (younger than 62).

We had coffee available every day. Cookies were common as well, at least in the mornings.

Some banks give out doggie treats in the drive up when they see a pet in the car.

The database indicating bdays is a good one too. Just be careful a teller doesn't say something like "hey, this birthday check will cover your overdraft."

Some banks help sponsor trips for the senior club customers. This may be to another country, a local site of interest, the big city, sin city, etc.

All of our banking centers make coffee available.

We do movie-theater style popcorn machines every Friday.

A couple of our newer banking centers have internet cafe's - complete with stocked refrigerators of soft drinks, juices, bottled water, coffee bars - plasma TV tuned to FOX news, or something -

WE do have a Platinum Reward 50 account that includes a travel club.

And each banking center is encouraged to find ways to appreciate/celebrate their customers - in the past we've had Ice Cream Socials, Bar-b-Q's, etc

We are a $1.1B bank, 24 banking centers - so we're pretty diverse in our locations.

We also have coffee and cookies available daily and do popcorn every Friday, and have a plasma tv in the lobby tuned to CNN or Fox News.