COMMUNICATION IS
THE KEY
12
customer value
WHAT'S NewS Issue 5 May 1997
Michel de
Konkoly
Tbege
The second in our occasional series of roundtable discussions
brings together international Rabobankers from around the world.
Newly appointed senior relationship managers financial
institutions Michel de Konkoly Thege (New York), Karei Lankenau
(Singapore) and Liz Merica (London) get together by phone with
Utrecht M&A specialist James Nolan for talk on customer value,
Communications and the realities of know-how exchange. What's
NewS invites you sit in on the discussion.
those industries, we're able to get to know
our customers well and to provide
solutions that work for them.
Karei: That's pretty much the story here.
We've been able to achieve a major
penetration in F&A, especially clients in
Malaysia and Indonesia where we finance
a substantial part of the palm oil business.
I'd suggest word-of-mouth is important in
building name recognition and business.
WNs: We've recently heard a lot about our
customer focus strategy as an
extrapolation of the cooperative concept.
Do any of you use 'cooperative' in your
marketing?
Liz: It can be useful, depending on the
customer. But I'd say what is more useful
is the discussion on customer value itself
and on what we are after: profit or
pleasing the customer. I would say that
clearly we need to make money and by
approaching the business relationship
from the customers' point of view, you're
taking a long-term perspective which will
ultimately result in greater profit and iron
out volatility in profitability.
WNs: But how do you mesh that thinking
with performance-based salaries. Is the
message going into the organization
ambiguous?
Michel: No way. There is nothing
inconsistent between customer value and
making a lot of money. What we need to
realize is that a lot of the products we
offer have almost become commodities
and you can't make much money on them
because they are not fresh ideas. But if you
can come up with new ideas, ideas very
much targeted at particular business
problems, and that can help your
customer make money, he will be willing
to share some of that with you. So, I don't
see inconsistency...
Karei: Neither do 1.
WNs: Can we look at customer value first?
In the Netherlands, Rabobank is a
household name. How does that work
outside the bank's domestic market? How
can you get to a point where you can add
value?
Liz:Lack of name-recognition can be a
handicap in certain markets because we're
not known for some of the products we're
pushing. Some of the sponsorship projects
have been really useful. For example we're
known in France because of the cycling
team.
Karei: We don't have a similar name
recognition here in Asia. You call a
prospect and they say: Who? Rubber
Bank? So, yes, that is a problem. But in
terms of building customer value, the way
we approach it is to try and get to know
exactly what clients are doing and to
generate products and services that would
support them. That's how we've defined
customer value here.
WNs: Does everyone have the same
definition?
Michel: I'd agree largely with Karei. Here
in the US, the approach we've taken is
focus. We've tried to position ourselves as
being very focused, especially in the food
and agribusiness sector and increasingly as
a healthcare bank; because we have a
pretty good level of in-depth knowledge in
CUSTOMER VALUE -
EEN SLEUTELROL
VOOR COMMUNICATIE
Onze tweede ronde tafel
discussie brengt internationale
Rabobankiers uit de hele wereld bij elkaar.
De pas aangestelde senior relationship
managers financial institutions Michel de
Konkoly Thege (New York), Karei Lankenau
(Singapore) en Liz Merica telefoneren
samen met M&A specialist James Nolan in
Utrecht. Zij voerden een interessant gesprek
over customer value, communicatie en
informatie uitwisseling in de praktijk.What's
NewS nodigt u uit om mee te luisteren.
Michel: The more money you make, the
more that suggests you have brought a
unique solution to your customer.
Karei: Sorry to inject a doubt here. We had
people from head office coming here to
interview people on customer value. All
the corporate account managers here
identify it as making money. Is that really
so very different to the experience of other
account managers around the world; the
idea that people feel customer value in
terms of dollars and income? Our
experience in Asia is that building a
relationship here takes a long time. It
appears to take a lot longer before you've
gained trust and confidence than, perhaps,
in the US.
WNs: So what about ROS?
Karei: For F&A it's no problem. But we've
certainly seen a lot of negatives to credit
proposals on customers from other sectors
because they don't meet ROS targets.
Michel: I'm assuming they're non-core
business. What I do think is that one of
the things that makes the bank unique
could be that, compared to other financial
institutions, we are willing to take the
longer view. If you talk about
'cooperative' and the advantages of being
a cooperative, then that is one of them.
However, I also think that the fact you
may have a lower ROS at the outset is a
hurdle. On the other hand, it is a tolerable
hurdle if you have a plausible plan on how
you're going to reach acceptable levels of
ROS. My experience is that we are willing
to make those commitments, particularly
Karei
Lankenau
