•Quality update - 2
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Bank notes
WHAT'S NëwS Issue 6 October 1995
short news
5
Of the 31 projects in the 'As good as the best' drive, some are
already completed and bringing in results. Others are still
ongoing. As promised What's NewS brings you up to date on two
very different projects.
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
Kim Egger, marketing services: 'Position-
ing CBS as a major wholesale bank was
seen as very important and a number of
external projects were set up to ensure
that the message we wanted to get across
to clients was really pressed home. These
projects included media training for all
members of the management committee,
^Bnproving tomb-stone advertising, high-
^rquality seminars for clients, relationship
marketing and an adapted brochure line -
the Group Profile is one example here. In
addition, all of our senior managers will
Kim Egger of marketing services (right)
receives the IAA/M&M award in the finance
and banking category.
^^ttend a course on presentation tech-
niques. 'Essentially, the message is perfor
mance, professionalism and, of course,
partnership. These are sometimes known
as the Triple-I' factors. There's not really
much point in us knowing we're a good
bank if you don't teil people about it. This
was one of the reasons we also opted for a
strong international advertising campaign.
I remember that not everyone liked the
new advertisements - they thought
them a little too self-congratulatory.
Now, congratulations are in order, and
not front ourselves, hut from the
IAA/M&M. This is a joint award organiz-
ed by the UK's International Advertising
Association and the English advertizing
journal. Media Marketing. Our interna
tional campaign - the 'We're a Swiss
^^tank, except we're Dutch' ads - won the
^Banking and finance category for I 995.
This is the top UK advertising award and
we got it because "our positioning was ag-
gressive and proud with humour added to
the mix". One of the judges actually said:
"They know what they want to do and do
it proudly." Of course, one award doesn't
mean we're there. But it is great to see
your efforts acknowledged. We'11 have to
do even better next year.'
FRONT OFFICER TRAINING
Ruurd Weulen Kranenberg, financial mar
kets: 'This project is still ongoing in our
division - some of the others have already
completed what I suppose you could call
an "inventory" of training requirements.
We also looked closely at what we needed
if our culture was to change from a trad
ing to a sales-orientation. The ultimate
goal is to improve overall performance
and you do that by promoting a positive
attitude in our people. You can do that in
lots of ways, but one of the best is to
make sure people have the skills they need
to achieve that goal.
'What we are doing at the moment is de-
veloping a training program aimed at very
specific sales skills. We want everyone to
have a theoretical framework as a base for
- improving their performance. And we cer-
tainly need to work on shared values - I
know its one of those buzz words, but we
have been recruiting quite strongly this
year. People are coming into the bank
from very different organizations. The
idea is to give people the same skills and
the same goals.
'The training course will consist of different
elements - the RabobankAcademy is cur-
rently working on it with us. It will help
initially salespeople and later traders to
identify with clients. These days, you have
to know so much about a cliënt if you want
to provide the service they expect. We all,
including management, have to have a
broad range of skills and perceptions so
that we can really do our work well.'
Ruurd Weulen Kranenberg - we all need a
theoretical frame as base for improving our
sales performance.
(CBS organization)
Where were we? Oh, yes. Cross-guarantee
systems and the cooperative concept. What
we always have to both understand and re
member is that even though it has all the
appearances of a 'head office', Rabobank
Nederland was actually developed almost
exclusively as a centralized service organiz
ation for the member banks.They are our
equivalent of shareholders and the oper-
ations initially set up twenty years ago were
designed solely for the purpose of meeting
the needs of the member banks.You could
almost say that 'dient'lread: member bank)
orientation is in our blood because that is
what we were and are for, although per-
haps not exclusively these days. But let's go
backa bitfirst.
Rabobank was created in the early 1970s
when the two major dominant cooperative
movements in the Netherlands joined to-
gether - that's where we get our name and
a grand mouthful it is,too.The Raiffeisen
member banks operated mainly in the
north and west of the country, while Boe-
renleen banks were widespread in the
south. Both bank organizations favoured
the merger, but, being extremely 'cooper-
atively' inclined, neither wanted to step the
other's toes by insisting that the main cen
tral organization be located at their head
office. So a very 'Rabo' compromise was
reached and a new headquarters was open-
ed in Amsterdam. It was a very politically
correct decision, but the logistic problems
it generated were a real disadvantage - re
member, these were the days before every
one had the kind of Communications tech-
nology we now take for granted. External
advisors recommended Utrecht as the main
base.The reason was its geographic loca-
tion right in the heart of the country - Eind
hoven is further south. But again, the newly
merged banking organizations weren't
keen on that idea.They decided there was
no reason why the bank couldn't have two.
Over time, certain activities have been
located in either one or the other head
office, usually based on efficiency and
logistical considerations.The whole of the
domestic-based CBS organization ended
up in Utrecht - international, operations,
corporate banking, corporate finance and
financial markets. But it didn't start as an
organized group of divisions. Over time, tt
grew and is still growing gradually - keep
watching this space...