Corporate Clients Nederland says the only thing standing between it
and market leadership is 'the will to win.' And it's not all talk and no
action, either. The department has reorganised and even launched a
successful Communications campaign. The Word investigates.
Close to our clients
Culture scan
Cilian Jansen Verplanke, who was appointed Director Rabobank
International Medium Enterprises Nederland last June, isdeter-
mined to take her department from its current MidCaps (compa-
nies with a turnover ranging between 30-250 million) market
share of 23% to over 30% - a position that would challenge the
current market leader, ABN AMRO.
'In order to achieve this, l'm following the course that Guido Vos,
my predecessor, set,' Jansen Verplanke says. 'His vision involved
a major internal reorganisation to get our specialists closer to our
clients. In our market, this is a key advantage. He implemented
nine specialist teams at host banks countrywide and placed them
on Rabobank Nederland's payroll so that we can control the
quality and talent. With this in place, I believe that we are now
well positioned to compete in the marketplace.'
'Of course, putting the cliënt first is not a new strategy for
Rabobank,' she continues. 'What makes us unique is that we
were willing to reorganise in order to progress even further.'
'While other banks may try to claim customer intimacy, we
really are close to our clients. So, if we do a deal in Drachten,
for instance, it's actually booked in Drachten. The only thing
that comes from the outside is a team of specialists from the
regional team or central bank. This enables us to solve any
type of problem and to serve clients in the best possible way.
Moreover, we've empowered these regional teams to steer the
direction of their cliënt relationships.'
An assessment, called the culture scan, was commissioned to
see whether the newly appointed regional teams had the skills
and ambition to take the division all the way to the top.
It looked at the culture of the teams, their attitude and their
blind spots. This information is now being used to develop
people, where necessary, through on-the-job training and
workshops, with further assessments to follow.
'The culture scan has shown me that we have a very good
cache of talented people. They have the right attitude, a will to
Issue 13 February 2007
The Word
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