Correspondence: Chantal Rootman, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Port Elizabeth, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Tel: +27 41 504 4063; Fax: +27 41 583 2644; e-mail: Chantal.rootman@nmmu.ac.za

¹is a specialist in the field of customer relationship management, specifically in services marketing and has five years experience in lecturing at a tertiary institution.

²is an expert in services marketing and has published widely in this regard. She has 19 years lecturing experience.

³has more than 40 years of experience of university teaching in the domains of business research, finance and investments. He has published in various national and international journals.

Received 19 December 2007; Revised 19 December 2007.

Abstract

Banks are important role players to the economy of any country. However, to survive in a competitive business environment banks need to focus on building and maintaining client relationships and to identify how their employees influence these relationships. This study investigates the influence of variables, with regard to bank employees, on the customer relationship management (CRM) of banks. A literature study explains CRM, the banking industry and employees' involvement with banking clients. To assess the impact of the predetermined variables from literature on the CRM of banks, a number of hypotheses were constructed and tested empirically among a sample of banking clients. The findings reveal that the variables knowledgeability and attitude of bank employees have a statistically significant impact on the effectiveness of the CRM strategies of banks. Based on the findings of the empirical investigation, strategies are provided for banks to improve their employees' knowledgeability and attitude in order to ensure more effective CRM strategies.