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the netherlands
WHAT'S NewS Issue 2 February 1997
L.
Eveliese Luiting
bank. It has finally penetrated
the organization that advertising
and building image is
indispensible. We were weak on
the youth market for a long
time. Then we began sponsoring
the Top 40 and suddenly we're
market leader. The professional
cycling team and hockey
sponsorship are two more really
sound initiatives. It gets
Rabobank into the news and
goes a long way to build an
image of a dynamic
organization that is a lot more
than just an agri-bank.'
SURPRISING SOLUTIONS
The Harderwijk team is not
simply sitting back and waiting
for the central organization to
do the work for them. As an
autonomous operation, they are
responsible for building and
expanding their own business.
And they are doing nicely,
thank you. 'We've stopped
pussy-footing around when it
comes to calling,' says Bakker.
'In fact, we're a bit cheeky in
that some of our calling is not
even cold. We just stop by. And
it works. If you call on clients
in that way, without all the fuss
of appointments and
presentations, it turns out that
they really appreciate what they
see as interest in their
company.' The bank has
adopted a slogan of its own for
all its market segments. 'We say
our aim is to surprise, to come
up with surprising solutions,'
Gardenbroek confirms. 'By
seeing more of our clients, even
though that represents a real
investment, because we have
targets for each cliënt as well,
we are able to come up with
"surprises" that can engender
loyalty. That's the pay off in the
end.'
BUSINESS PLATFORM
Surprising their clients has
resulted in 50 new corporate
customers in the last year and
an 80-percent acceptance rate
on deals. But even though these
numbers are impressive, the
team stresses that staying ahead
of the competition requires
continual innovation and
proactivity. 'A few years ago,'
Gardenbroek recalls, 'we
decided to start an annual
seminar for our clients. Our
idea was to create an
entrepreneurial platform for the
region. The first year it was
very difficult to get 500 people
to attend. But last year, we had
more than 1,000. They are not
all clients, although our
intention is to win them as
customers. What we've found is
that people come to see and be
seen. The program is never very
heavy, it's more of a social
occasion. But it certainly works
in terms of networking. And it
does great things for our image
as an active, creative bank.'
BUILDING KNOW HOW
While Harderwijk is clearly
doing more than holding its
own in an environment where
value added is increasingly the
key to cliënt retention and
acquisition, the team is
continually looking for new
ways to serve customers. 'There
are small things you can do,
like visiting a trade fair where a
cliënt is exhibiting, building
know-how in his specific
sector,' Gardenbroek says. 'But
we also have a very particular
product that as local banks we
don't use to best advantage.
That is international. When the
network was first initiated,
there was a lot of talk about
international serving national. I
can also remember when we
had about four offices outside
of Holland being invited for a
fascinating presentation on
working abroad. Now we have
a real network, we rarely hear
from them. We use the
international network, as Peter
will have told you, but
primarily for relatively straight-
forward transactions -
payments, L/Cs, that sort of
things. We do not use it to
distinguish us in the market. At
least - not yet.'
INTERNATIONAL AS TOOL
The team recalls one of its first
A group of Harderwijk 's accout managers and payments people.
major customers with
international activities. 'We
quoted for their business on the
basis that we did not have the
experience,' Meester says. 'Our
proposal was that we would
work for 50 percent of normal
commission if they would teach
us what they knew. The
contract was for two years. We
learnt a heil of a lot and the
customer stayed with us, even
though our charges went up to
normal. But I'd agree that even
though we now have extensive
knowledge of specific cross
border products, our
knowledge of what our
international network can offer
us is a scarce commodity. When
I looked through the copies of
What's NewS you sent to us, I
was really impressed by what
was going on in the bank
abroad. We know that
Rabobank International has its
own goals and targets, but I still
think you could do more to
give us the know-how we need
to make best use of the
network. It's not a one-way
street, of course. We have to do
more ourselves. Yet, it would be
very useful for us to know
exactly where we are in the
world, and what each office can
handle. That would give us a
real tooi in our marketing.'
Harderwijk recently put its
mind to finding a surprising M
solution for high net worth
private investors who like
handling their own investment
portfolio. 'We came up with a
club style construction,'
Gardenbroek explains. 'It
creates a forum where these
people can meet and we bring
in speakers who can prove
useful or interesting to them. It
means we offer something the
competition doesn't have. In my
view, we're going to have to
come up with something similar
for our international network.
We'd be interested in any ideas
from around the world.'
BENUTTEN INTERNATIONAAL NETWERK
Alhoewel Rabobank Harderwijk zelf goed op de hoogte is van de mogelijkheden van cross-border producten voor haar
internationale klanten, is de kennis over ons internationale netwerk gering. De toegestuurde nummers van What's NewS gaven hen
een idee van waar ons internationale netwerk mee bezig is. Men is hiervan onder de indruk en wil graag weten waar Rabobank International haar
kantoren heeft en wat de mogelijkheden voor klanten van hun bank zijn.
