MFC : A Division of Nedbank : Finance Industry

Situation: MFC A Division of Nedbank is the result of a merger between MFC and Nedbank Vehicle and Asset Finance. The business strives to become Southern Africa’s most highly rated and respected institution for passenger motor vehicle finance by staff, clients, shareholders, regulators and communities. Part of its approach is to offer cost-effective services and use cutting edge technology, product innovation and, notably, the efforts of highly skilled and motivated staff.

Challenges: Ian Mostert was one of the provincial sales managers also responsible for nurturing the business’s joint-venture (JV) alliances with Imperial Group, Associated Motor Holdings and Auto Pedigree. “My portion of the business was responsible for around 20% of the entire division’s total sales,” says Mostert. “Some of the primary goals for us are to increase market share and ensure an increase our capture rates, which is the number of prospective finance deals that are converted into business for us.”

One of the ways that MFC A Division of Nedbank achieves that is to nurture key relationships with numerous MFIs, essentially the people who work from car dealerships all around the country and arrange finance for prospective customers. Ensuring good working relationships with those people is critical to the success of MFC A Division of Nedbank’s growth prospects and increasing capture rates.

“The market is characterised by tough competition,” he adds, “and so you need highly motivated people to face that challenge. Maintaining relationships with many people is fundamental to our business so it was important that our staff be highly motivated but also that they be able to work with a wide variety of personalities.”

Actions: Mostert’s business had been exposed to Kobus Neethling’s Beyonder programme when it sponsored teacher training as part of its socio-economic responsibilities and BEE commitments. It obtained Neethling’s services to perform the task and, after two years, when it established its new goals and vision incorporated whole brain teaching into its own programme. “You have to be able to work with many MFIs and knowing what makes them tick, as individuals, makes an exceptional impact on the relationship you can foster with them,” says Mostert. “When someone who is right-brain dominant interacts with someone who is left- brain dominant they can understand the other’s needs and help to meet them. In our environment that is invaluable.”

150 salespeople from MFC A Division of Nedbank completed Kobus Neethling’s entire Beyonder programme that consists of tools that help to stretch people to produce the ultimate personal and organisational performance; a further 400 operations employees are now experiencing the training and coaching from Kobus Neethling consultants.

Results: Mostert says “All employees are living their lives above the line and they really understand the benefits of a positive outlook combined with the tools they have to recognise people’s dominant brain hemispheres. It allows them to be far more effective and to achieve the goals they set for themselves.” He adds that employees are setting themselves targets of their own, over and above the business targets they have. They hold weekly meetings to gauge progress and establish new goals. “We examine our motivators and we have set ourselves a high standard, which we are achieving,” he says. “Our business targets are almost ordinary or mundane now and this is the case at our offices in Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. The people are exceeding their performance expectations for capture rates and turnover so this has been exceptionally beneficial for our organisation.”

Mostert says that the training and coaching is on-going to ensure sustainability. That works hand-in-hand with each person establishing a roadmap that they chart and measure. The 150 salespeople who have completed the original training are also attending an upcoming creativity conference.

“One of the key indicators that people have really adopted this approach and made a success of it is in the language I hear in the office these days,” says Mostert.

“I hear talk of Beyonder targets from our executives when they are talking about targets that go beyond the ordinary and I see it in the roadmaps that salespeople are setting themselves and achieving.”