Issues leading to dissolution : a study of the relationship between private advisors and clients in Swedbank

Abstract: Many banks provide very similar services and that is why creating and maintaining relationships to clients is a differentiation strategy to get customer to return. Private advising is one service provided by banks where much interaction occurs and relationship is of great importance. The relationship between private advisers and their clients is therefore suitable for research. Knowing why a relationship ends is a strategic piece of information to improve the firm’s ability to keep customers in a relationship. The purpose of this paper is to identify the issues that lead to dissolution of a relationship and where they occur in the relationship development process between private advisors and clients. A pre-study was first made on Swedbank, through interviews, to obtain a holistic view of the situation. More in-depth interviews followed as well as triangulation through a questionnaire. The thesis presents seven issues that can lead to dissolution of the relationship: better offering from competitors, availability, personal factors, unachievable demands, no need for service, lack of certain services, and requirement not fulfilled. These issues have also been related to where in the relationship development process they occur and ranked in order to know how common it is for them to occur.