Peerless is classified as residuary non-banking finance companies (RNBCs), which is now required to invest 100 per cent of their deposits in approved securities, including government bonds, fixed deposits with banks and mutual funds. The RBI has also asked the company to submit alternative business plans. This was anticipated by PGFI and plans were put in place to to migrate to a new business model within the next three years.

Challenge:
How would PGFI create alternate business model with the existing pool of employee. The Impetus would be to identify core strength, in this case knowledge of financial service. A large pool of junior level employees were involved in pursuing ‘back-end’ work with adequate knowledge of the core business of RNBC. The opportunity therefore was to convert this knowledgably oriented group to become more customer centric and get out of their comfort zone.

From the strategic side, PGIF had tied up with Iffco Tokio General Insurance for distributing the latter’s products. Peerless is also the corporate agent of Max New York Life Insurance. It carries out the insurance distribution business through one of its subsidiaries Peerless Developers. Solution

Dale Carnegie assisted the team junior most team members in the branches across India connecting to the new reality. The focus was on listening, and gaining willing cooperation. An important component was linking technical skills and process improvements, to a commitment to enhanced customer service. The fact that Dale Carnegie’s Trainers are equipped with regional language skills aligned to all the major languages in India made it easier for the junior team members to connect to the new reality and challenges. They therefore adapted to the situation with remarkable speed.

Results:
There has been a significant improvement in the teams transition to achieve customer centric goals. The timeline is shorter, the team aligned, and business results are on track. The company was accorded recognition in the Insurance Products Distribution Business.

In addition, the business skills developed in the process serve as a platform for the next set of strategic initiatives.