Client focus
BEARS FRUIT
Training 1
AT THE TOP
1 J
-(working relations)-
What's News Issue 3 June/July 1995
Many Utrecht-based CBSers will remember the input of Hero's Sjoerd Zittema
at the kick-off meeting last September. In fact, the Dutch preserve and
soft-drink market leader's financial director has proved exceptionally
active in working with the bank on the success through partnership
drive. Account manager Hans van de Weerd 'spent a day' with the company
which shares the philosophy of partnership banking.
Hans van de Weerd
Zittema himself has
very clear ideas on
how the relationship
with a banker should
work. 'You don't
learn about a com
pany simply by read-
ing annual or quar-
terly reports,' he
says. The only way
to gain real insight is
to come by and see
us regularly and to get to know our
people.' And his theory works both ways
as he is also a regular visitor to Rabobank.
'Sjoerd Zittema has actually been very
cooperative,' says Van de Weerd. 'He not
only worked with us on the kick-off meet
ing, he also participates in the cliënt panel
discussions that were subsequently intro-
duced to help us discover what our cus-
tomers want from us. Plus, he was a
speaker at the marketing day for manage
ment trainees a couple of weeks ago.'
DYNAMIC OPERATION
The Dutch subsidiary of the major Swiss
food concern is market leader in its two
main product groups - preserves and soft-
drinks. In 1994, it had a turnover of over
NLG 350 million and increased net sales
by 15 percent. In addition, it exports soft-
drinks to the CIS states and has recently
begun exporting fruit to France following
a successful move
into the German
market. 'This is a
very healthy com
pany,' says Van de
Weerd, 'and it is
poised for further
growth. It is also
a dynamic com
pany because if 1
you're in the con- °l
sumer business, |l
you have to be
dynamic or you
don't survive. The whole Hero operation
here in Holland was reorganized around
two years ago. The new management in-
jected a new spirit into the company
which shifted focus to people and person-
nel. You feel that. As 1 see them, they are
looking for real relationships on a long
term basis, and in that sense they're pur-
suing the same goal we are.'
EQUIPPED FOR SERVICE
In view of this active cooperation, Van de
Weerd was not suprised to find a corn-
prehensive program had been arranged at
Hero's Breda operation in the south of the
Netherlands. 'I spent time in literally every
department - from fruit processing to
marketing strategy,' he says. 'For me, the
most valuable aspect was hearing people
talk about their own particular jobs and
how they interact with other sections of
the company. That really gives you insight
into the inherent structure of a business.
'It was a fantastic day, but one day is
really too short. You piek up so many
impressions and you need time to digest
them. This kind of insight is really essen-
tial. If you know a company from the in-
side, you are far better equipped to pro
vide the service they need. I'd advise all
account managers to go visiting like this.
And if the company is like Hero, then you
don't need the "Spend a day" reason to do
The bank has launched a tailored Execu-
tive Marketing Course (EMC) specifically
aimed at top management. During the
three-day course, general managers of in
ternational offices and department heads
are trained in developing marketing stra-
tegies and putting them into practice.
'The idea,' says Harry Keizer of the
human resources department, 'is to show
participants how a strategie market pos-
ition can be translated into concrete mar
ket development.' The course comprises a
number of main elements, such as how to
discover cliënt needs in an unknown mar
ket, how to define core competences and
apply them to the market, how to pos-
ition the bank in the market, and so on.
'In the future, budgets will be linked in-
creasingly to marketing effort and mar
keting plans, so it is important for man
agers to have the necessary skills to
define these activities and to execute
them.' Where possible, the course itself
draws on real situations. 'We actually in-
corporated London Branch experience
into the case study managers use in the
marketing format exercise,' says Keizer,
whose department worked closely with
external consultants to create the course.
'What is needed is material which meshes
closely with the reality confronting
people in the field. That is why the contri-
bution of people in London, Frankfurt
and departments of head office, was so
important.' The EMC is currently being
given to managers in Europe. Over the i
coming six to nine months, it will travel
to the Americas (both North and South)
and then to the Far East. It is the first in a
series of three tailor- made courses - the
other two are designed for account man
agers and for so-called professional ban
kers. The account managers marketing
pilot course will be held in September
and will build on the EMC in the sense
that it will aid account managers in put
ting marketing plans into practice. The
professional banker course has been cre-
ated for Rabobankers who know all the
bank's products - everything from pay-
ments to structured finance. However,
the aim is to train them in approaching
the cliënt from his point of view, rather
than from the bank's. 'What we're trying
to do here,' says Keizer, 'is to base our
point of departure on cliënt needs and
cliënt norms and values, rather than
simply turning up at a corporate's office
with a suitcase full of products and
saying: "Take your piek".'
