'This is a once
in a imarket
opportunity'
Rabobank International's increased focus
on the Food Agribusiness sector means
the bank is now planning to generate
more business from fewer clients. This
makes increasing cross-sell vital to RI's
future success. But what is the secret of
successful cross-sell?
"There is no secret recipe for cross-sell," says Ton Rottjers,
General Manager of Rabobank Antwerp. He believes
successful cross-sell is about three things: cliënt focus,
execution and teamwork. You cannot cross-sell successfully if
you don't know your clients intimately, and you have to put
yourself in your clients' shoes and ask yourself what they
need at this point in time. For example, what risks do
they have and how can you mitigate those risks? Cross-sell
is largely about timing. If you know your cliënt intimately,
you can anticipate their needs. This is even more true in the
current market, because those needs are changing quite
literally from one day to the next. "Basically, it's about how
can you add value for your cliënt, because adding value is
the very essence of cross-sell."
Of course, cross-sell is not a new phenomena, but you need
to be very close to your clients and have a really disciplined
approach to make it work, says Tamira Treffers-Herrera,
Executive Director with Rl Corporate Banking, in the Atlanta
office. "For me, it's about my cliënt clearly understanding my
targets and the strategy for delivering financial services to them.
And the cliënt has to have a certain level of commitment
issue 19 /vr; 20t THE WORD 33
