I had an opportunity to attend Forrester's Financial Services Forum last week in New York City.
Looking back, there were three major topics that stood out in my mind.

One was the continued focus on the importance of customer advocacy ("does my financial provider look after my best interests and not their own?”). Walt Bettinger of Charles Schwab explored this idea in his presentation. Upon taking his role at Charles Schwab, Bettinger said he spoke to 100 customers who had recently left the company and asked them why they chose to leave. I’m sure it was a great source of insight, and one that led to a much more customer-centric model. He also discussed Schwab’s move away from complicated fee structures – just one of several customer-friendly product improvements the company made in order to reinvigorate performance.

Fred Reichheld addressed another hot topic. As always, he did an excellent job of encouraging companies to move away from "accounting methods of evaluating success" and focus instead on newer measurements of success – like his powerful Net Promoter concept. With the theme of the conference being the “power of customer experience,” both of these topics fit well.

In addition, the Gen X/Gen Y/Millennial issue was prevalent throughout the conference. In one session, a marketing group described how it helped a regional credit union in western Canada find a spokesperson. It also shared an award-winning presentation explaining the difference between banks and credit unions. The best part? The presentation was created by a teenager who was discovered through the marketing group’s spokesperson contest. Check it out!

The attendee list was a who's who of major financial institutions - a really encouraging sign since it’s critical they embed these customer service themes into their daily operations.