Case Study: Growing Transaction Banking & FX by Transforming RM Training.
Expanding in a competitive banking environment.
What does an international bank with an excellent credit rating, strong brand, and an even stronger global customer base do when trying to expand its transaction banking and FX revenue? Doing more of the same is hardly the recipe for differentiation. Instead, this bank believes that focusing on the customer and their business outcomes would drive long-term results in a commoditised marketplace.
The long but necessary journey in banking transformation.
A closer look at industry statistics provides a clue into why taking that step in driving business conversations might be crucial for helping clients achieve business outcomes. Transaction banking and FX revenue in Asia Pacific might be rapidly growing (in fact, profitability reached a 14-year high in 2022 with digital payments forecasted to reach $2 trillion in transaction value by 2030), but traditional banks aren’t guaranteed to benefit from all that growth. Especially not with rapidly growing Fintechs and digital payment providers hot on their heels.
So our international bank set out on a mission. Not a 3-month project sprint, or even a year-long endeavour, but integrating changed mindsets and capabilities into the BAU of Transaction Banking and FX — the flow business. This would require the development of required product capabilities, and ensuring that Relationship Managers (RMs) and other front-line sales staff understood how to link these capabilities to customer pain points and effectively communicate the business outcomes the bank could drive for their customers.
Identifying the next solution with Nulgarra Training.
Knowing your product inside-out should always be a prerequisite to sales. But as we all know, product knowledge is hardly ever enough — especially in a commoditised marketplace where banks have nearly identical products.
That’s where Nulgarra Training can help. By working side-by-side with the bank, we guided our client on a self-discovery journey to identify the skills, techniques, perspectives, and methodologies necessary to help them transition from having sales conversations to business meetings that go beyond product pushing and into value creation.
The customised training program designed by Nulgarra Training had four main components to help the Relationship Managers on their journey.
1. Understanding the customer's perspective.
To help clients achieve their outcomes, we need to have a clear understanding of their KPIs and the challenges they face in the current economic environment. How working capital goals are impacted by their business plans, technology, geopolitical changes, and competition.
2. Understanding how customers buy.
We need to be less focused on our sales cycle, and more focused on the customer's buying cycle. How do we uncover their needs with insightful questions and talk about the value we provide in terms of the business outcomes they can achieve?
3. Opportunity spotting.
With a clear understanding of the customer's goals and challenges, we can identify the product capabilities that would help them overcome those challenges and drive business outcomes.
4. Present solutions in a compelling way.
Customers don’t care about what you can do, they care about what you do for them. Presenting commoditised products does not differentiate you from the competition. Clearly articulating the business outcomes you can help them achieve and "dollarising" that benefit can set your pitch apart from the competition.
Collaborating for sales success.
Sales may be largely driven by individual KPIs, but realising the importance of collaborating and working towards a shared goal should not be underestimated. Nulgarra Training were able to help managers and sales RMs align in both their day-to-day actions and overarching training targets through a series of team-building and story-sharing activities.
The result was an establishment of pipeline opportunities, periodic deals review sessions, and the creation of new support resources. This allowed individual RMs to learn from their mistakes, reach out for help when necessary, and ultimately create a more sustainable sales cycle that is in fact focused on the customer’s buying cycle. Uncovering these needs is only possible when insightful questions are used within deep-focus discussions.
Training outcomes: Lasting sales transformation.
The Nulgarra team was able to help our banking client achieve all this and more throughout eight Asia Pacific countries and 10 major cities, including Bangkok, Delhi, Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney. In total, more than 150 RMs benefitted from our banking sales transformation program, and continue to create an impact by exercising best sales practices and imparting their newfound knowledge onto newer RMs.
“We’ve always been hyper-focused on selling our products. Now, we don’t just see things from the bank’s perspective, but walk in our customers’ shoes — focusing on driving outcomes to make our solutions more compelling.”
— Feedback from Bank RM
If you have a training program that needs to be delivered, contact Nulgarra Training today!
Content writer: Kyyte - content marketing that flies!