ESG potential in corporate banking sales at an Austrian savings bank
An interview with André Hasken, Senior Manager at zeb.
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Was it the bank’s goal to find out which ESG offerings would appeal to companies?
André Hasken, Senior Manager at zeb: Yes, exactly. We were asked to identify all ESG potential – i.e. pinpoint the ESG-related services with which the bank can best earn money in corporate banking and derive recommended actions for the sales department from this. One of zeb’s particular strengths is that we can break down our findings from the strategic level into very specific suggestions for day-to-day business. We were able to tell the sales staff clearly: take a look at these industries first, focus on these customers.
In the process, zeb calibrated the ESG needs and risks of all of the savings bank’s corporate customers ...
André Hasken: ... to create an “ESG priority matrix” that makes it easy to see which customers should be at the top of the bank’s list. We collected large amounts of data and specified it for the region in order to quantify the potential financing requirements and risks associated with ESG. The companies with the greatest financing ambitions and the lowest risks were then given the highest priority in the sales approach, while the other companies were divided into three further categories. Our work clearly showed the bank’s management and sales staff the next steps – and the expected increase in earnings.
How did the corporate customer advisors react to zeb’s very specific suggestions?
André Hasken: They absolutely understood the reasoning behind our recommendations, which is essential for good implementation. We involved the sales department in the project from the very beginning and always considered both strategy and sales practice – at zeb, we call this “from thought to action”. The sales department experienced how we demystified and interpreted ESG. Previously, many employees had reservations about talking to their customers about ESG because these conversations held the risk of quickly drifting towards politics. Today, the advisors are able to approach the topic in a very company-specific way. Whereas they used to be afraid to “get into the saddle”, now they really hold the reins.
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