SBI Cards

Mr Yashwant Goel was appointed the new ASM of the Kolkata territory for SBI cards. Kolkata already had
2 ASMs managing the sales in the city.
SBI cards operated under the SSP system (Sales Service Provider), wherein instead of using direct sales
agencies they tied up with entrepreneurs as channel partners who provided them with infrastructure and
manpower in return for a retainer fee. An ASM headed each SSP and was responsible and accountable for
the performance and productivity of the SSP.
Kolkata had two SSPs running by the name of Leo and Capricorn. Leo was the oldest of its SSPs, which
started out in 1999 since the inception of the company and commencement of operations in the city.
Currently Leo contributed the lions share in the number of cards sold per month with was almost 55%. It
had the largest share of sales force under it with 45 SEs (Sales Executives).
Capricorn was incepted in August 2001 and had been consistently increasing it numbers both in terms of
FOS (Fleet on Street) and number of cards sold. At present it contributed to almost 30% of the number of
cards sold in Kolkata whereas the strength of its FOS was 23. The other contributors in the sales pie were
from other channels like branch sales (from the Bank's branches) the Internet, the Helpline and existing
customer base through various sales promotion schemes.
The company SBI Cards was a joint venture between GE Capital and SBI whose only business was selling
credit cards. The other players in the market were all banks who didn't have dearth of funds to invest and
pump into another of its product line extension. SBI Cards on the other hand, though belonging to cash rich
parent companies had to fend for its own funds which is why all its marketing, sales and operational
activities had been at a frugal scale and it was known to be a highly cost conscious organisation.
As has been the case with other organisations' geographical source of revenue contribution, in the case of
SBI Cards too, the eastern region contributed the least, which is why there were high expectations from the
Kolkata territory to deliver the much-needed numbers.
Mr. Yashwant Goel, 26, joined the company 2years ago and was in charge of Allahabad prior to his transfer
to Kolkata. He was awarded one of the best performer's awards for notching the highest sales in a quarter in
the fourth quarter of 2001. He was an extremely organized, dedicated and ambitious manager.
The sales of Kolkata market had been on a decline since December 2001 whereas other metros and major
non-metros where SBI Card had its operations were delivering numbers and meeting, at times exceeding,
targets.
Industry grapevine revealed that other credit cards were doing well in Kolkata, which meant that there was
a market and there was tremendous potential for SBI Cards as it was one of the cheapest cards available
and Kolkata was known to be a price sensitive market.
On joining office at Kolkata, the outgoing ASM, Mr. Subrat, told Yashwant that in order to increase the
scale of operations with a view to pump the market with SBI Cards, Yashwant was given the responsibility
of opening a new SSP and heading its operations.
Within a month of joining, Yashwant started Personal Touch but it had been almost 2 months since its
inception and PT registered a sale of only 20 cards which was disastrous when compared to Leo with 125
cards a month and Capricon with 98 cards a month. Moreover the average number of FOS of PT was
hovering around 12.
The attrition rate of sales force had also been increasing in the past 6 months, and Yashwant felt that this
was one of the prime reasons behind increasing costs and lower growth rate in sales in the city.
The biggest problem facing him at the moment was sourcing the right kind of manpower and retaining the
same.
Although he had been placing catchy ads in the leading dailies every fortnight and received desired
response, he ended up being able to recruit only 6-8 people who fit the bill. In sheer desperation he was

compelled to take on 8-10 others who were not that good but he had to bridge the gap between the number
joining and the number leaving every fortnight.
His experience in sales taught him that attrition of salesmen was a common problem in most sales driven
organisations and PT was no exception to the rule. A glance at the attrition data of Leo and Capricon
revealed that they too suffered from problems of high attrition but since they were huge in size, it somehow
never affected their output greatly.
He knew that PT's success and his KRA (Key Result Achieved) was dependent on the survival of PT for
which controlling attrition and retaining the right people was critical.
He observed that while recruiting and interviewing, whenever he came across a truly promising candidate
his bio data showed past experience in selling credit cards for some bank. He was unable to recruit the
person because it was corporate policy not to recruit anyone at SE level with prior experience in selling
credit cards for any organisation in India. (This decision was taken jointly by the company heads and the
fraud control department)
Given the nature of selling credit cards, which was a high pressure job, where sourcing the right prospect
and converting the same required high selling skills, and pay comprised a large variable component, most
salesmen quit within 6 months to a year and joined rival agencies to sell credit cards of another bank. In
this way, most of the salesmen would revolve around the clout of direct selling agencies of most credit card
companies in the city.
He tried targeting salesmen with prior experience in selling financial services like loans, mutual funds etc
but he did not get a desirable response because they preferred selling a portfolio of financial products for
most agencies to earn a greater variable pay.
Others who came from more educated and affluent backgrounds applied for the posts as a means to earn
some pocket money during vacations or while preparing for higher education. They would generally sell
the products to a known set of people and once that was exhausted they would quit. In order to attract a
large number of such people, PT would have to dole out more in terms of pay package which due to a host
of considerations (few of which are mentioned above) it was not in a position to do.
He considered other sales channels for e.g telemarketing to fill in the numbers but he felt that the nature of
these channels was secondary and complementary to the core channel. If the core channel wasn't
performing then investing into the secondary channels would not be a prudent managerial decision.
Moreover while setting targets both weekly and monthly, he tried showing juicy carrots by way of lucrative
bonus but he saw that most of the bonus earners instead of delivering numbers regularly, held back
application forms to show at the end of the week or month to earn the bonus.
Many others also traded application forms between themselves so that one of them earns the eligibility for a
bonus and then share it between themselves. Whenever he would catch them indulging in these unfair
practices they would be sacked. This led to some good performers being made to leave which also depleted
his precious resource of good manpower.
At the end of the day he would often remember the words of his ex boss '70% of a sales managers job is
sourcing and retaining the right manpower and if he isn't able to do even that much then he has lost the
battle'.
Yashwant wants to win the battle and the war- but how? Can you suggest the strategy to Yashwant ?