DAY 1

Session 1 – Setting the Field

• Range of Products from Services to Financing.
• Risk Entry and Exit Points.
• The trade cycle and the constructing the marketing grid.
• Why Business can only come from relationships and NOT vice versa.
• Competition, how to deal with established banking relationships.
• Strategy 1 the “Test Case” sale.
• Realistic Delivery Issues, problem ownership and communication.
• Resourcing from within at all levels from Supervisory to FI to Treasury.
• Identifying Exceptional Targets.
• Classification of clients and the “Living” grid.

Session 2 – The Trading Cycle

• Identifying input of trade finance and transactional services.
• Selling Open Account, non-risk business.
• Collections and pure documentary transactions.
• The whole trade cycle: Purchasing Raw Materials, Transport Finance, Warehouse and Inventory Financing, Short-term Manufacture, Import and Export Letters of Credit, Mining and Metals Finance and Pre-Finance, Agri-Finance, Documentary Services and Payment/Negotiation, Asset Based Lending.
• How Banks achieve funding and its costs.
• Selling Transactional Solutions and Operational Relationships.
• Strategy 2 Problem Ownership and Solutions. Utilising your resources.
• How to break the ice.

Session 3 – Understanding the Risks

• What is a confirmation? Silent Confirmation/ Standby L/C.
• Guarantees Conditional and Unconditional.
• How to make “No” sound like “Yes”
• The reality of security.
• Avoiding Joker Brokers and Time Wasters.
• The multi-departmental and multi-office function of risk mitigation.
• Fraud avoidance checklist.

Session 4 – Beginning The Face-to-Face Process

A tactical group workshop in which delegates are divided into groups and are given practical, selling situations. How will they approach this business?

DAY 2

Session 5 – The Tricks of the Trade

• Self- perceptions and avoiding confrontational Q & A.
• Pricing Objections.
• The “Bottom Drawer” Problem as a teaser for a fair business spread.
• Asymmetrical Information…Lemons and Cherries, differential pricing opportunities.
• Assessing the Market awareness of your client.
• Meeting Banks for Risk Shares and Syndications. How they differ.
• Presentation techniques.
• One to One Meetings.
• Identifying a Cross Sell.
• Locating and Isolating the REAL ISSUES.
• Presenting to SME’s and Majors.
• The External Primary, Secondary and Broking Markets and how they work.
• The Inter-Bank Syndication as Presentation.
• How to leave the meeting with business rather than diary entries.
• Strategy 3 Resourcing THEIR receptionists, PAs, Supervisors and cross pollinating with your own team.
• Understanding Trade Finance Products from a Client’s perspective.

Session 6 – Workshop – The Goldfish Bowl

Worshop: After critically assessing a presentation and one to one sell with the Course Director the delegates sell to each other, make presentations and critically assess the bottom line of their performance. Feedback and de-brief.

Session 7 – Technical Issues

• How Supply Chains work, Working Capital and Commodity Financing by receivables. Factoring. Comparison of Recourse Factoring and the Supply Chain.
• Transactional Funding in Inventory Financing. The “V” Factor.
• Commitment and Letters of Credit.
• The Middle Office Function.
• Cash Flow considerations.
• Back to Back L/Cs and serious RISK issues.
• Funded, unfunded participations and financing against bank lines.
• Developing watertight EXIT strategies.
• Our Client suspects that the whole deal is fraudulent. Action Steps.
• Our consignment of product has gone missing.
• Question and Answer Session covering all problem situations.

DAY 3

Session 8 – Workshop

Worshop: Delegates are offered 5 main types of Payment Obligation from an African TV main buyer and evaluate (And sell to the client) the best option. Here, the objectives of the client and bank are different so both sides will choose different product solutions. The job of the bankers is to convince the client that the Bank solution is best for them. This can only be achieved by overcoming any objections and selling the product to the client.

Session 9 – Workshop – Presenting Solutions

Worshop: Sometimes departments do not communicate effectively. This is particularly true of Trade, Transaction Financing and the Supply Chain. Here we have Risk Managers, Lawyers, Marketeers, Credit Managers and sanctioning authorities all looking at a deal from their point of view. The Internal sell leading to a sanctioned deal is as important as the external sell and is likewise subject to the same sensitivities as any sale eg. the avoidance of confrontation. A systemic grid, risk-flow is produced to ensure that the deal is both understood and approved by all partners in the decision making process.

End of Programme

The Selling Trade Finance Masterclass course director information is strictly confidential and can only be viewed upon a brochure request.

The venue of the training is always in a centrally located 4-5 star hotel. The venue is confirmed 2 weeks before the programme once registration is closed and we know the exact number of delegates attending. We have exclusive rates with the hotel, if you require accommodation during the programme.