Tellers and sellers don't mix

From the Rip van Winkle school of analysis:

"Retail banks must add skills in sales and service to tellers' current transaction processing responsibilities" - TowerGroup.

Where have they been the past twenty years?

Makes you wonder if anyone from TowerGroup has actually stepped foot inside a bank branch lately, since I get hit upon every time I go in to make a routine transaction.

And believe me, after standing in line for 20 minutes waiting to cash a cheque in my lunch hour, the last thing I want is a stilted sales pitch from the suit behind the counter.

In fairness I haven't read the report, and maybe TowerGroup are advising on a more appopriate way for banks to handle sales in the branch environment (as in: don't do it, radically reposition the branch instead). In which case, I urge you to buy it now, and cut out the lame sales chat from behind the counter.