ERADICATING THE CYLO MENTALITY AMONGST DEPARTMENTS IN BANKS

Taking the Marriage of Personal Financial Services / Retail Division & Commercial / Corporate division to next step (Applicable for all BANKS as the structure is more-o-less the same)

Retail, Business Banking & Corporates are 3 divisions all banks have. How can we reduce Costs and Improve cross departmental sharing of leads and best practices?
The answer lies in taking the marriage of 2 departments to next level. "Dotted Line Mapping" may be used effectively for the same.

Example -
I am part of SME Factoring CMB business. We at Factoring are mapped to the Field Sales team. Mapping team to team, cluster to RM etc results in effective realisation of the leads generated. The mapping ensures the leads are lost in the processes and are effectively being followed up. A Dual way pressure ensures both the parties are on toes always. A bond is created which ensures good for both the teams.

We all know about the Retail - Corporate - Business referral programme where each lead submitted is rewarded monetarily through HSBC online system. Top Mgmt of HSBC is also keen to reap the success of marrying PFS & CMB (lead sharing). However i feel to actually derive the benefits and make it a long term proposition - "MAPPING RM to RM" is required.

E.g : - Let Each Team Leader in SME CMB (Corporate / Business Banking) be mapped to a Team leader in Retail selling Team. Once a month meeting will happen between the two where the month's business acquisitions / leads are shared with each other. Business coping can be done in the team meeting also where the field sales officer responsible for the same can give real time input of the probability of Retail or a Corporate sale. Thus each Team leader becomes one point of touch in Retail for Corporate / Business banking and vice versa. When given atleast 20% cross sales targets - this kind of mapping would do wonders for both the divisions.

Benefits -
- A Bank becomes both personal & business banker to the client
- Leads will not be lost in processes
- A news business acquisition will hold much more Total customer value & thus more revenues
- Eradication of current cylos - PFS, CMB etc etc. A Bank becomes ONE as to current MANY

ORGANIZATIONS NEEDS ROCKET SINGHS

ORGANIZATIONS NEEDS ROCKET SINGHS

When I joined Landmark Group Retail (lifestyle) post my MBA, retail was at a nascent stage in India and I saw an opportunity to exponentially grow with the industry. I wanted to start my venture -a country-wide franchisee company. The idea was to start with a few small franchisee outlets and as momentum builds, I will move on to take multiple regional master franchisees.

I prepared a business plan for owning franchise of sales-cum-service workshops of a 2-wheeler company – ‘Bajaj Auto’, did my primary and secondary research for project report to be submitted to the company and banks at later stage. Bajaj accepted my plan but agreed to proceed after I had finalized a property and closed the financing deal with banks. Selecting property required numerous visits and continuous coordination with agents, but my six-day work routine (Sunday mandatory working) at Landmark made these tasks challenging. Real estate prices were on pinnacle at that time (they still are) and demand far exceeded supply in land-locked Mumbai, so, to close any property deal one had to respond very quickly. Concentrating both on my professional career and proposed personal entrepreneurial venture was becoming difficult.

Finally, I decided to concentrate on my profession and dropped the business idea. I had worked hard to secure bank finance and convince the Bajaj team but failed to see the project through at the last stage. With proper time management I would well have been on my way towards my career objective. I learnt valuable lesson in ‘multitasking / time management’ from the experience.

Having learnt lessons and plugging all the gaps, the entrepreneurial fire started burning again when I joined HSBC; An organisation can reap benefits of inculcating a quality of entrepreneurship in employees by giving them enough freedom and room to take their own decisions and to do whatever one can to the benefit of the organization with adherence to the fundamental rules. Infact now I proudly call my self an ‘Entrepreneur in HSBC’ ,as the term holds a broader meaning for me than just someone who is having something of his own. World economies and industries are reeling from the financial crisis, business leaders are struggling to survive and growing means operating on a different plane altogether; this is the time to use entrepreneurship within an organization as the only effective ammunition to combat the same. I am an entrepreneur if I get things done, I am an entrepreneur if I ward off bureaucracy, I am an entrepreneur if I think out of the box and bring something different to the table, I am an entrepreneur if I stand beside my customer and also have guts to take a difficult call. I am an entrepreneur if i have my own way which gives better results, I am an entrepreneur if i can come up with a better way of doing things then just to follow a herd.

Its time for all Rocket Singhs to fly!!!