Marketing can be traced to the early days of trade by barter adopted centuries before now. Since there was no legal tender at the time, goods had to be exchanged in order to make a win-win situation for the people that were involved in the barter process.

 

The interesting world of marketing has taken a lot of dimensions ever since but what is marketing? Simply put, it is the identification of needs and wants of consumers and providing products that meet the consumers’ needs. It would not be out of place to say that the issue of marketing has and will continue to remain an important aspect of our lives. 

 

Businesses would not have gone underground if not for some form of marketing or the other. The true and unbreakable business model states that for any organization to survive in a tough business environment, money coming into the organization (account receivables) should exceed the money going out of the organization (amount payables). It is therefore in the interest of every employee to ensure that money comes into the organization. 

 

The man at the entrance into an office has to be polite to visitors so that they are encouraged to make further visits to the same office. The finance department has to make sure that invoices are prepared early and the dispatch officer(s) have to ensure that these invoices are received in due time. However, the basic way by which money comes into an organization is through marketing of goods and services that the organization provides.  

 

The banking industry is not oblivious to the whole concept of marketing. The Nigerian banking industry has experienced a lot of changes in the past few years. Back in the 1980s, banking operations were simplified – no dress code, fewer customers (considering the number of banks at the time) but after the end of the 2006 bank consolidation exercise, the banking industry has been revolutionized with the players expanding far beyond their primary functions.

 

Quite a number were very skeptical about the bank consolidation process but we are beginning to reap the fruits as people are more accessible to loans and banks supporting the small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs). While this is a welcome development, there is one thing pertaining to the banking industry that needs to be tackled head-on.

 

Marketing as it relates to the banking sector calls for great concern. As earlier documented, for any business to survive, account receivables should be more than account payable but the major concern is the way money comes into the organization. In banking, emphasis is placed on deposit mobilization. The visible and if not obvious way is through the efforts of the marketing officers (MOs) of banks. They have to make sure that individuals and corporate organizations patronize them and ultimately improve the bank’s top line.

 

These MOs happen to be some of the prettiest girls on the Nigerian soil (by the way, I wonder where they recruit them from!) and their job descriptions are very simple ‘get in money into the organization by any means necessary’. These MOs are often given ‘targets’ - amounts of money they are supposed to bring into the organization. 

Now there is a fundamental flaw as it relates to target marketing. The ‘targets’ given are usually not attainable. For every target or objective that has to be met it has to follow the acronym ‘SMART’ but the targets given to these officers are far from reality. For example, an MO could be given a target to bring in a sum of N300 million and could be higher in several circumstances.  It is also a known fact that once the target has not been met, the natural

consequence is to hear the most dreaded words an employer could ever tell an employee:”YOU ARE FIRED!”

 

Now in the process of meeting this target, a lot of effort is put in by the MO to make sure that he or she makes the target and at the same time some compromises have to be made. Unconfirmed statistics say that over 50% of female MOs compromise in the process of doing their job. How does this issue play out in the process of doing their jobs?

 

The pre-defined target market for these MOs are High Net worth Individuals (HNIs), multinationals and other large corporations. In the process of getting the monies from these people, a bait is thrown into the whole marketing mix- a young girl between the ages of 22-26 years old, tall , complexion is not really a preference, engaging , have a good dress sense (usually seductive),  very interesting personality as well as good negotiating skills. These are some of the qualities needed by an MO in her quest to climb the corporate ladder in her career. 

 

Since the target market consist of mostly men, there has to be some value added service which they have to provide, something that I would call Corporate Prostitution. Young and intelligent women are sent out to bring in deposits into the bank by whatever means necessary. Their bosses are aware of the challenges they face and how some have to sleep with their clients in order to obtain the accounts but do they care? Not in the least. What is more important to them is that the money came in and when the appraisal period comes, there is no cause for alarm.

 

Rachael* (real name withheld) is a young and enterprising woman. She got a degree in Psychology from a premier Nigerian university and started work in one of the top banks in the country. She is very passionate about her work and has a wonderful personality. One day, news floats into the office from the grapevine that a certain indigenous company wants to open a corporate account with the bank. This is great news to everyone as this means that total deposits will increase by about 30-50% but there is a challenge in making these projections become reality.

 

The lot fell on Rachael to make sure the account comes to the bank and she was reminded of the need to use whatever means at her disposal to make sure the account does not go into the hands of another bank. Rachael’s bosses had apparently scheduled a meeting with the Managing Director/CEO of the company. The meeting was to hold at a restaurant in the evening. All that was required of Rachael was to show up at the restaurant, engage the MD/CEO in a little chat, engage in some rigorous yet symbiotic physical activity and the golden egg would be in their possession.

 

In order not to incur the wrath of her bosses she decided to go. She wore a simple black dress with spaghetti strap that exposed a bit of cleavages. She got to the restaurant on time and the man was already waiting for her. After exchanging compliments, they had dinner while chatting about topics that were not related to either her job or the reason why she came.

 

It was an interesting 30-45minutes of stimulating conversation and Rachael thought that once dinner was over, her job was done. She got into the car and they drove into an exquisite hotel. She decided not to act surprised and played along. They drank, chatted and laughed over some very dry jokes as the night dragged on.

 

Then the most dreaded thing that had run through Rachael’s head all evening finally came true. The MD/CEO invited her upstairs for a continuation of their ‘chat’. Without a second thought, she refused to accompany him to his suite. After much persuasion and without success, the MD/CEO got angry, ordered for a taxi and instructed the taxi driver to take her home. We all know the rest of the story. She presently works with a renowned advertising agency in Ikeja.

 

This is a typical scenario most female MOs are faced with while carrying out their jobs. I have a friend who just started work in a bank and her target is N100million. To my surprise she was not fazed over the target that she had been given. When asked how she intends to mobilize the deposits, she simply replied that it is going to be very easy meeting her target. Do you think that she will not compromise? Your guess is as good as mine.

Situations like this have become the norm that some of these female marketers see it as one of the perks of the job and have no problem making their physical targets sexually elevated while they itch to meet their monthly targets. Surprisingly, female MOs of banks are not the only ones going through this. 

 

I was of the thought that marketing officers were only ladies but I was really surprised to know that some young men (obviously tall, dark and handsome) have their own target market, which in popular parlance is referred to as ‘sugar mummies’. I would not know if their job is more tasking than the female marketers considering that their target market are in demand for the same thing but I would presume it is close. I guess what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

 

The truth is some or rather most of these marketers do not enjoy what they do or what they have to go through in order to meet their targets. The unemployment situation in the country is on the rise and once someone gets a job, he/she tries to protect that job with everything they have got. The dilemma that stares them in the face is simple ‘where would I go from here if I lose this job?’ Being unemployed could be very disastrous except one has a thick skin. The fact however, remains that something built on a weak foundation cannot stand the strong winds. One could be meeting up with his/her targets, but when the moment of truth comes, would the individual be able to deliver?

 

No doubt this situation portends a negative image for the industry if it is not aggressively addressed. Young men and women who are supposed to use their creativity and come up with ground breaking ideas and concepts are not engaged in such activities but selling their bodies for price tags. The regulatory authorities and professional bodies (i.e. CBN, CIBN) have important roles to play if they are interested in salvaging the situation. They cannot deny that they do not know what is going on in the industry. 

 

In 2003, a meeting of banking institutions and regulatory bodies was held in order to address the issue as it had reached unprecedented heights at the time. Decisions were taken and resolutions were reached but these resolutions have taken little or no effect on the activities of these marketers five years after. 

 

Today, while a number of banks in Nigeria are known to frown at indecent acts by their MOs as contained in their employees’ code of conduct, many still indulge in these activities till date. 

 

Indeed, something drastic needs to be done if the banking industry wants to be held in high esteem by the people they provide their services to.

God help us!

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