Bank tele-marketers could be a tring of the past

Not interested in a product? They won't call you for the next 3 months.

If you are irked by incessant calls made to your cell phone by some stranger trying to hawk one bank product or another, help may be at hand.

The Indian Banks Association's (IBA's) new guidelines for direct selling agents (DSA) suggest that a customer who shows no interest in a particular offer should not be disturbed for another three months.

What is more, uninterested customers will have to be classified and put aside in a "do not call" list. This list, say IBA officials, must be updated on a quarterly basis.

Direct sales agents (DSAs) wll have to follow this 'fair practice code' once the Reserve Bank of India and member banks clear the IBA's recommendations.

The IBA's draft guidelines also recommend marketing calls must be limited to between 10:30 am and 7 pm. And if a customer is driving, the IBA says the sales agent should try again later in the interest of the driver's safety.

The guidelines specify the sales agent should call, identify hmself or herself and the company he or she works for, request permission to proceed and, if permission is denied, apologise and politely disconnect within the next 10 seconds.

They also insist that the agents should provide feedback to the bank on customers who have expressed their desire not to be disturbed.

To be sure, this is a far cry from banning all unsolicited sales calls as many a cell phone user might wish. But, says an ICICI Bank official, "The DSAs and the field staff are the feet on the street for us. Our customer feedback indicates our delivery of services at the doorstep is very popular."

The IBA has found that 40-50 per cent of credit cards "" that is, at least 300,000 cards a month "" and up to 25 per cent of retail loans are sold through tele-marketing. Bankers have also found that tele-sales are 40-50 per cent more economical than other options.

Tele-marketing and field sales activities account for 15,000-20,000. The private sector ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank and foreign banks like Citibank, ABN Amro and HSBC are very aggressive tele-marketeers.