ALL IN THE FAMILY
WHAT'S NewS Issue 11 November 1996
working relations
3
Left to rigbt: sitting/kneeling Marnix van Iterson, Mrs. De
Jong and daughter Sitske. StandingHernan ZarbónEvert
de Boer and Hanneke van Rbijn.
A projected visit to Rabobank London by Buenos Aires'
prospective cliënt, Milkaut, one of Argentina's top dairy
cooperatives, gave account manager Marnix van Iterson an
idea. CFO Hernan Zarbón and legal advisor Omar Darussel
were visiting London branch to discuss the cooperative's
forthcoming reorganization into two entities, one
cooperative, the other corporate. Van Iterson also
suggested they might like to visit Holland. 'But I had no
idea we would receive such a fantastic welcome, not only
from colleagues in Utrecht, but also from the Opsterland-
Oost member bank in Friesland as these prospects
discovered the total Rabobank experience.'
'I think the cliënt expected to be received
at head office and that we'd go through
the motions of a normal courtesy call,'
Van Iterson laughs. 'They couldn't have
been more wrong.' Milkaut's senior
managers had expressed an interest in
seeing something of the Netherlands,
which has one of the strongest dairy
sectors in the world. 'This turned out to
be a real exercise in networking and team
work,' says Van Iterson. 'I got on the
phone to Utrecht and asked what they
could arrange. Hanneke van Rhijn, who is
with the F&A account management team,
immediately began putting together a
program that would both impress and
charm our prospects.'
FLYING THE FLAG
The program involved a reception by
senior management in Utrecht before
leaving for Friesland - home to the
globally known typical black and white
dairy cows. 'Evert de Boer, the director of
the local bank, had really hung out the
flags for this visit,' says Hanneke van
Rhijn who accompanied the prospects and
Van Iterson on their northern trip and had
also arranged a visit to our Dutch cliënt,
Friesland Dairy Foods in Leeuwarden.
'This is a state-of-the-art condensed milk
plant that showed off Dutch expertise and
technology in this particular field. But I'm
convinced they were most impressed by
the dairy farm visit which had been
organized by Spanish-speaking Evert de
Boer.'
BACK TO THE FUTURE
The De Jong farm is very much a family
affair. Although production is fully
computerized - again, this is state-of-the-
art, it retains a homely atmosphere, which
also appealed to the clients. 'They made a
great fuss of the De Jong children who
were running around the yard,' says Van
Iterson, 'but they were also fascinated by
the intensive methods applied here. This
could be the future for many dairy
producers worldwide and they were keen
to understand everything about the
process.'
CITY SLICK
Milkaut is the third largest dairy
cooperative in Argentina. At present, the
ZUIVELDAG
Kantoor Buenos Aires
regelde voor haar
prospect Milkaut, de
derde zuivelcoöperatie in Argentinië,een
dagje Nederland: hèt voorbeeld van goede
samenwerking binnen onze organisatie. Een
bezoek aan onze bank in Utrecht, een
toespraak in het Spaans van directeur De
Boer van Rabobank Opsterland Oost en een
bezoek aan één van hun klanten, een
geautomatiseerde zuivelboerderij, ontlokte
de bezoekers enthousiaste reacties. Onze
presentatie als internationale bank met
kennis van de hele bedrijfskolom sloeg aan:
Milkaut is inmiddels klant geworden.
coop is in the process of reinventing itself.
The visitors were looking for solutions to
creating a corporate framework in trust
form. 'That was the original reason for the
visit. Our trust people in London were
able to show them a number of options.'
The Buenos Aires team had been hoping
this meeting would be a factor in
transforming Milkaut from a prospect to a
cliënt. 'Our London colleagues were
extremely professional and came up with
real options for consideration by the
cliënt. Yet I think I'd have to say it was the
total visit that convinced Milkaut. We
were able to show that we are not only a
top international wholesale bank, but also
have a long-standing tradition of insight
and expertise in their industry. They
understood we know their business at
every level. The great thing for me was to
see how the whole organization, from
grass-roots right through to sophisticated
international activities, really pulled
together to bring this cliënt in. I was really
quite proud.'
Today, the Buenos Aires office has USD 3
million disbursed to Milkaut under a USD
10 million facility.
