Engaging at every
link in the food
chain'
Successful cross-sell is
about three things:
cliënt focus, execution
and teamwork 9
Ingrid Hagen
Global He ad RI
Communications
Breaking ground
people and shown consistently that it can deliver.
"It sounds like a cliché, but without teamwork nothing
would happen. A lot of cross-sell products require input
and commitment from a wide range of departments
within the bank, from commercial to support. I think one
of the most helpful things we've done is to align targets
across departments to ensure that we do take advantage
of cross-sell opportunities. And thankfully, there are fewer
and fewer discussions about fee sharing, which can take
some of the focus away from the ciient. Management
has played a key role here. We need to keep up the
good work and carry on removing the boundaries to
cooperation."
Client focus, teamwork and execution were all factors in
Rabobank USA's success in winning a significant amount
of cross-sell business in US food giant Mars' acquisition
of gum producer Wm. Wrigley in 2008. First, Rabobank
tookon a significant portion of the underwriting of the
USD 23 billion transaction, which was oversubscribed in
a very difficult market. The second phase was a perfect
example of cross-sell, Treffers-Herrera says. On the back
of the underwriting deal, Rabobank pitched for the lead
on a USD 4.6 billion floating debt hedging deal, and won
the mandate on a 50/50 basis with Citibank. "Not many
people would have believed we could pull this off. But
my philosophy is that if you have the right products, the
right people and the execution capability, you should
never be shy to pitch for the big deals. This was also our
first deal with both Mars or Wrigley. Both companies now
see Rabobank as a top tier bank, which bodes well for
the future."
Both US companies were very keen to have Rabobank
on board, a sure sign of how powerful the bank's
financial stability has become in these turbulent times.
This puts Rabobank in a very strong position to push
'The bottom line for Communications is to leverage the
value of the brand, with the emphasis on getting more
from Rabobank's roots in F&A. We've basically rebuilt the
department to break away from silo thinking. So rather
than working for one business or one product group,
we're now all on the same team with the same priority:
to profile the F&A business and retail segment. What
we're doing in effect is pulling the silos together, using
lateral, or crossover themes within F&A that apply to
multiple business lines."
"For instance, we have fantastic F&A and economie
research and we can use that to leverage our brand
externally. One thing that worked brilliantly in 2008
was dient intimacy events based on lateral themes, like
bringing together 25 CEOs to talk about the commodities
market, or bringing together 80 treasurers to talk about
macro-economic conditions. But even simple changes
can have a big impact, like putting F&A at the forefront
of all our Communications, both externally and internally
- especially if we want people to tap into the expertise
we have across the bank and generate more cross-sell
business and increase ciient value. Our customers have
to know just how much we can offer, so we as colleagues
should know this too. Our job in Communications is to
create incentives and increase awareness, for instance
through success stories. This is why we have special
features on Meeting Point, called Collaboration at work,
and why we're launching a quarterly cross-sell award this
year. The message to our international clients is: we have
much to offer at every link in the food chain."
ISSUE 19 THE WORD
