SALES FORCE FUNCTIONS OF

UNITED BANK LIMITED (UBL)

Submitted To:
Mr. Khurram Nasir

Submitted By:
Ali Asghar (SP13-EX-0041)
Dr. Neelem Asif (SP13-EX-0045)
Usama Bin Adnan (FA13-EX-0079)
Urfiya Jameel (SM13-EX-0064)
Tauqeer Masood (FA12-MB-0017)
Mohammad Ali Jinnah University - Karachi

Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Executive Summary
The purpose of this report was to examine Sales Force Functions of United Bank Limited (UBL) and
how these are implemented.
Following are the elements on which this report is based:
Strategic Sales Planning
Sales Forecast
Account Relationship Management
Territory Design and Management
Recruitment and Selection
Sales Training
Compensating and Motivating
Research for this report is based on personal observations and interviews with Lower and Middle
Management of United Bank Limited.
Data was gathered from March 25th to March 27th, 2015. So this report accurately reflects the current
situations of United Bank Limited.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Acknowledgment
We have taken efforts in this report. However, it would not have been possible without the kind support
and help of many individuals. We would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of them.
We are highly indebted to Mr. Khurram Nasir for providing us with the opportunity of working in a
competitive environment and for their guidance and constant supervision as well as for mentoring us
throughout the semester.
Our thanks and appreciations also goes to our colleagues in defining the ways to how to complete the
report and people who have willingly helped us out with their abilities.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Table of Contents
Introduction to Organization: United Bank Limited.......................................................................................6
History...................................................................................................................................................... 6
Overview.................................................................................................................................................. 7
Main Services.......................................................................................................................................... 8
Consumer Banking............................................................................................................................... 8
Priority Banking.................................................................................................................................... 8
Commercial Banking............................................................................................................................ 9
Wholesale / Corporate Banking............................................................................................................ 9
Islamic Banking.................................................................................................................................... 9
Core Values.............................................................................................................................................. 9
Strategic Sales Planning............................................................................................................................ 10
Vision and Mission................................................................................................................................. 10
Vision.................................................................................................................................................. 10
Mission............................................................................................................................................... 10
Environmental Constraints..................................................................................................................... 10
Pressure Groups/Government............................................................................................................ 10
Economic Conditions.......................................................................................................................... 10
Political/Legal Conditions................................................................................................................... 10
Socio-cultural Conditions.................................................................................................................... 10
Technological Conditions.................................................................................................................... 11
Go-To-Market Strategy........................................................................................................................... 11
Segmenting the Market....................................................................................................................... 11
Go-To-Market Participants...................................................................................................................... 11
Advertising and Promotion.................................................................................................................. 11
Telemarketing..................................................................................................................................... 11
Internet................................................................................................................................................ 11
Sales Forecast........................................................................................................................................... 12
Estimating Potentials.............................................................................................................................. 12
Qualitative Sales Forecasting................................................................................................................. 12
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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)
Jury of Executive Opinion................................................................................................................... 12
Quantitative Sales Forecasting.............................................................................................................. 12
Trend Projections................................................................................................................................ 12
Account Relationship Management........................................................................................................... 13
Transactional Relationship..................................................................................................................... 13
Consultative Relationship....................................................................................................................... 13
Enterprise Relationship.......................................................................................................................... 13
Territory Design and Management............................................................................................................. 14
Generalist Structure (Geographical)....................................................................................................... 14
Product Specialization............................................................................................................................ 14
Customer Specialization........................................................................................................................ 15
Recruitment and Selection......................................................................................................................... 16
Recruitment............................................................................................................................................ 16
Referrals/Networking.......................................................................................................................... 16
School and Colleges........................................................................................................................... 16
Selection................................................................................................................................................ 16
Semi-structured Interviews................................................................................................................. 16
Assessments...................................................................................................................................... 16
Offer & Acceptance............................................................................................................................. 16
Sales Training............................................................................................................................................ 17
Compensating and Motivating................................................................................................................... 18
Compensation........................................................................................................................................ 18
Salary plus Commission..................................................................................................................... 18
Salary plus Bonus............................................................................................................................... 18
Motivation............................................................................................................................................... 18
Conventions........................................................................................................................................ 18
Certificate of Achievement.................................................................................................................. 18
Promotions......................................................................................................................................... 18

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Introduction to Organization: United Bank Limited

History
It begun with a vision, a vision of unparallel progress and unmatched excellence true to the spirit of the
era! November 7th 1959, Pakistan witnessed an event that would change the way we banked forever. It
was not just the inauguration of UBLs first branch at I.I. Chundrigar; it was also the birth of the culture of
service, a culture of innovation and a culture of financial excellence!
By June 1960, shortly after six months of opening its doors to the public, UBL had branches in:

Karachi

Dacca

Lahore

Lyallpur

Chittagong

Narayanganj

In 1963, UBL became the first bank in Pakistan to have a branch overseas- on William Street in London,
United Kingdom. True to our promise of providing service and care beyond the ordinary to our customers,
UBL and You have had a history. The first saving scheme for school going children was launched as early
as 1960 or the formation of Pakistans first Staff College of employees in 1964, UBL, through the
motivation of its staff and the trust of its customers, continued to grow at a spectacular pace. In 1967, UBL
had hit the dawn on information in terms of technology, by introducing computer banking to Pakistan and
in 1971, UBL once again paved the way by launching 3 online branches in Karachi. The newly formed
state of Pakistan was witnessing the boom of industries and commerce cannoned by a bank that
believed in the potential growth of Pakistan. Small wonder then, by 1978, UBL had a pledged economic
department, had acquired two international banks. UBL also launched supervised credit and small loan
schemes for small to medium sized firms as well as agriculture and had made for itself, a strong
international presence for we had branches in 4 continents.
Throughout its history, UBL has kept pace with- and often exceeded the changing needs of changing
times. Keeping the tradition of innovation alive, UBL introduced Pakistans first credit card, the UNICARD
in 70s and left its mark by launching the Pak Rupees traveler cheques in 1971. Staying true to its roots,
UBL was also the first bank to have an Islamic banking division and the first to introduce e-banking
facilities at Hajj.
In the 1990s the government of Pakistan decided to change the face of banking by creating a blueprint to
privatize UBL. At this point, financial experts were called on board to set the bank back on course, and
with implementation of relevant changes, the government privatized the bank in the year 2002 Best way
and Al Ayaan collaborated, forming the cornerstone for the UBL of tomorrow.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)
Today, UBL opens its eyes to a new vision every day, a vision of resurgent excellence and renewed
commitment to our customers. 52 years into our glorious history UBL is now part of one of the worlds
largest financial services groups.

Overview
United Bank Limited is the second largest private commercial bank in Pakistan with over 1000 branches
nationwide and a customer base of more than 3.5 million. Results published for the first full years since
privatization show record growth in business volumes, and superior profitability, in comparison to peer
group. It posted a massive profit of Rs. 4.5 billion and declared a cash dividend of Rs.2.25 per share after
a decade in 2003. After that, it has successfully launched a series of products in the year 2004 such as
UBL Wallet -the ATM/Debit card, UBL Drive -car financing, UBL Address -home financing, You First Net
Banking - online banking service, UBL Cash line - personal financing and UBL Business line - business
financing . It has also to its credit the first complete drive-through branch in Pakistan.
In February 2005, UBL launched its credit card, which is the first EMV chip enabled credit card in South
Asia. In June 2005, UBL completed its full suite of consumer products by launching UBL Money, the
personal installment loan. UBL Commercial Banking has combated shrinking spreads and stiffer
competition, delivering an increase in total deposits and doubling the commercial lending portfolio.
The Corporate bank group continues to be a key business area for the franchise, providing multi-pronged
services to both Corporate and Financial Institution customers. Corporate Banking in pursuit of its house
bank strategy has been relatively successful in building up well-entrenched relationships and a strong
market presence during 2004. This strategy continues with an enhanced vigor as new Corporate Finance,
Cash Management and Treasury & Capital Markets products are rolled out providing CBG the product
depth; it needs to grow further. The Investment Banking Group is involved in several high profile and
profitable transactions, including Pakistans first listed and rated Asset Backed Securitization TFC.
Treasury & Capital Markets Group, a Primary Dealer in Government securities, has a strong focus on
professionalism, innovativeness, execution capabilities and above all a strong client focus. UBL is able to
compete effectively with local and international banks, in areas as diverse as fixed income sales and
trading, derivatives and structured products, FX sales and trading. It also pioneered the first Rupee based
derivative transaction in Pakistan and established a dedicated Equities Trading Desk.
The United Asset Management Company (United AMC) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the United Bank.
The company was established in April 2001, under the Companies Ordinance 1984. The company was
completely separated from its parent company UBL in June 2004 and allowed to operate under a
separate management. United AMC has recently been re-launched with a new image, a new logo and a
new corporate identity.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)
United AMC has been licensed to undertake Asset Management and Investment Advisory Services under
NBFC (Establishment and Rules) 2003. The company currently offers the United Money Market Fund
(UMF). The company was separated under the directives of the Securities and Exchange Commission of
Pakistan, which states that all Asset Management Companies need to be separate from their parent
companies. Hence, the company has been removed from the protective wing of UBL, and has been
allowed to test the waters of independence.
Another fund soon to be launched by our Asset Management Company includes the Regular Income
Fund. This fund will be open for public subscription tentatively in September 2005. This is also a Money
Market Fund and will invest primarily in longer tenor PIBs.
Post privatization, UBL has emerged to be one of Pakistan's most dynamic and aggressive financial
institutions with its customer-centric philosophy of becoming a world class bank where the customer
comes first, based on which all its products and services are designed.

Main Services
Consumer Banking
Consumer Banking provides.

Deposit Accounts

Loans

Car Financing

Mortgages

Credit Cards

Insurance

Investments

Priority Banking
Priority banking is a new way of banking that understands what is significant to you through perfective
tense services unequalled benefits and solution.

Priority Banking Services

Priority Benefits

Priority Solutions

Priority Services

Commercial Banking
Commercial Banking provides services for Small to Medium sized companies to expand their enterprise.

Working Capital
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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Business Protection

Business Expansion

Yield Enhancement

Wholesale / Corporate Banking

Finance/Credit Extension

Corporate Finance

Trade

Investment/Cash Management

Islamic Banking
UBL Ameen Islamic Banking dedicated team offers comprehensive banking and a wide range of financial
products compliant with Shariah law based on Islamic values.

Core Values
Honesty and Integrity.
Commitment and Dedication.
Fairness and Meritocracy.
Teamwork and Collaborative Spirit.
Humility and Mutual Respect.
Caring and Socially Responsible.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Strategic Sales Planning

Vision and Mission
Vision
To be a world class bank dedicated to excellence and to surpass the highest expectations of our
customers and all other stakeholders.
Mission
Set the highest industry standard for quality, across all areas of our operation, on a sustained
basis.
Optimize people, processes and technology to deliver the best possible financial solutions to our
customers.
Become the most sought after investment.
Be recognized as the employer of choice.

Environmental Constraints
Pressure Groups/Government
In the banking industry the major pressure group is SBP where it can change the monetary policies
causing a huge impact on the banks business.
Economic Conditions
Economic conditions are mostly impacted if; new sanctions are imposed on the country which again affect
the interest rates of the country causing a major shift in the consumers saving/spending mechanism.
Political/Legal Conditions
Pakistan being a very instable country in terms of politics and legalities can be very uncertain and can
cause huge losses to the banking industry and therefore many banks such as HSBC, Barclays or Citibank
has decided to exit or cut their operations in the country.
Socio-cultural Conditions
In the country Islamic Banking is gaining a lot of popularity thus, SBP has made a compulsory notice for
all banks to start off their Islamic Banking.
Technological Conditions
UBL is a lot more advanced than other local banks, For instance, they have a product which allows the
customer to print their own pay-orders and cheques by giving online approvals. Another example would
be of the 8 minutes pledge of opening a priority account. Thus, the technological factors give the bank an
edge in the market and make it the USP.

Go-To-Market Strategy
Segmenting the Market
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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)
UBLs target market segmentation varies from product to product but if we talk about only Consumer
Sales Products its target market is divided into two groups:
1. Salaried Persons
2. Businessmen.
For Salaried persons it is necessary to have a salary of PKR 25,000 p.m. to avail the products and for
businessmen it is necessary to have income of PKR 50,000 p.m. to avail the products.

Go-To-Market Participants
Advertising and Promotion
UBL has been investing in TVC, Billboards and Newspaper in Above the Line (ATL) communications.
Telemarketing
It also has its telemarketing department which is for customer service, prospecting and lead generation
and cross selling products.
Internet
After Google has discovered Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), it is necessary for every organization to have
its presence and visibility over the internet with loads of information which customer is looking for.
Similarly, UBL has been using this channel for promotions over the internet and social media.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Sales Forecast
Estimating Potentials
Firstly, UBL estimates potential on the basis of the number of maximum potential customers and
maximum expected purchase rate in whole Pakistan by doing a research for a particular product. Then it
identifies number of customers in %ages city-wise.
Once it has been done UBL then checks for the number of branches available in each of the
aforementioned identified cities. Then according to rating of the branches, representatives are hired and
placed in those branches. The criteria for branch rating are deposit size of the branch, inflow of
customers, number of transactions etc. For instance, if a branch has an A rating which is the highest, two
to three sales representatives will be placed in that branch, similarly for a branch with a B rating would
get one sales representative and for a branch which has a C rating there will be one sales representative
who will be working for three C rated branches.

Qualitative Sales Forecasting

Jury of Executive Opinion
In initial year of product launch Jury of Executive Opinion sales forecasting technique is used to forecast
sales on quarterly basis in which senior experienced management mutually decides the amount of sales
which needs to be achieved for the year. Since no previous data is available.

Quantitative Sales Forecasting

Trend Projections
After a year has been passed, UBL uses trend projections sales forecasting technique to forecast sales
on quarterly basis in which previous trends are studied and new forecasts are based on the findings of
that study. Currently in most of the products this type of forecasting is being used.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Account Relationship Management

UBL has Relationship Banking as its strategy in which customer needs are focused unlike traditional
selling model. UBL customers are divided into three major categories.
A. Personal/Priority Customers
B. Small and Medium Enterprises
C. Corporate Clients
These categorizations are made on the sales revenue size. Thus, all of the three relationship strategies
are implemented in UBL.

Transactional Relationship
This type of relationship mostly prevails in Branch Banking network where there are walk-in customers
(personal/priority) or direct mail customers. and most of the times they know their requirements whether
they want to open a current account or saving account, whether they want a credit card etc. It also exists
when a sales representative is called for a meeting once an appointment has been made and the
customer knows why he has called the sales representative.

Consultative Relationship
This type of relationship is the core type of UBL since they are specialized for this. They are many
scenarios from which you can identify this relationship. For instance, in branch banking network when a
SME walk-in client approaches sales representative he barely knows what sort of product he wants, all he
knows is that there is a requirement of working capital for his business. Rest, a sales representative
would make him realize that UBL Cash Line would be perfect match as per his requirements.

Enterprise Relationship
Normally this type of relationship exists in Corporate Banking where we have separate team specialized
for corporate clients but there are some cases in which sales representative (liabilities) from consumer
banking managed to close a corporate account with the help of his managers and their bosses.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Territory Design and Management

Generalist Structure (Geographical)
UBL has divided its regions as follows.

National Sales
Manager

Cluster Manager
(South-I)

Cluster Manager
(South-II)

Cluster Manager
(Central)

Cluster Manager
(North)

Product Specialization
UBL has specialized people for every product category.

Cluster Manager

Regional Sales Head

(Liabilities)

Regional Sales Head

(Assets)

Regional Sales Head

(Wealth)

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Customer Specialization
UBL has segmented its customer in three major categories.

CEO

Head of Consumer
Banking

Head of Commercial
Banking

Head of Corporate
Banking

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment
In UBL direct sales force is on third-party contract (People, HRSG, Fulcrum etc)
Referrals/Networking
Referrals and Networking is the most adopted and effective type of recruitment in the banking sector
whether we talk about initial/entry level job or senior level job. UBL mostly uses referrals for recruiting
sales representatives (third-party contract) in which the concerned departments line manager or head
asks people for referrals.
School and Colleges
There was an instance when UBL needed a sales manager (permanent slot) and they placed their AD on
Universities notice boards. On that particular instance UBL preferred graduates from Iqra, Bahria and
PAF-KIET rather than IBA and CBM because they believe that for a sales job it is better to hire a street
smart person.

Selection
The selection process varies from situation to situation.
Semi-structured Interviews
Since UBL mostly hires experienced sales representatives, semi-structured interviews are the best for this
type of scenarios in which the concerned departments head or line manager conducts interview. And
evaluate the candidate based on that interview.
Assessments
The next step after conducting interview is that the interviewer has to fill an assessment form along with
salary recommendation of the candidate interviewed and submit it to third-party contract companies.
Offer & Acceptance
As soon as the third-party contract company receives that assessment form, they make an offer letter for
the candidate and post it back to the concerned department. Then the candidate is called again to receive
and give acceptance of the offer made to him.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Sales Training
In UBL, mostly experienced sales representatives are hired through referrals so there is no formal
training.
After the induction of the sales representative he is given policies, procedures, brochures and other
documents to read and asked if he has any questions regarding those documents.
Then there are weekly meetings on every Saturday in which regional sales head also actively participates
and discuss issues and problems faced by sales representatives and provide solutions and techniques to
tackle those issues.
Moreover, there are case studies which are given to sales representatives and through which they learn
how to tackle critical problems.
In some cases where a fresh candidate is hired on the basis of his presentation and pleasant personality,
he gets hooked up with a senior sales representative and is sent with him on sales call so that he could
learn from observing his senior.

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Sales Force Functions Of

United Bank Limited (UBL)

Compensating and Motivating

Compensation
Salary plus Commission
In UBL, sales representative are on third-party contract. Therefore, they receive basic salary and fuel
allowance as gross salary. Furthermore, they get a medical insurance of approx. 100-150K from Jubilee
Life Insurance (JLI). Moreover they get commissions on sales of products and on the basis of their
performance as well i.e. achieving sales quotas.
Salary plus Bonus
And for the first-line managers (sales manager) or middle managers (regional sales head), they get
salary, annual bonuses, incentives and other financing facilities at very low percentages.

Motivation
Conventions
In UBL, there are sales conventions twice a year in which they set a target for a certain quarter (normally
much higher than the budgeted number) and whosoever achieve or over achieve that number, he/she is
taken on a trip to whatever country/countries are mentioned in that convention.
Certificate of Achievement
Then there is a Certificate of Achievement or Certificate of Appreciation which is given to the Star
Performer of the month/quarter.
Promotions
Then there are other promotions in which TV, Microwave, Kitchenware, Smart phones etc. are given to
people on achieving certain targets.

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