Cold calling out, web marketing in for HDFC Bank

Home loans major HDFC Bank has decided to do away with those pesky unsolicited calls to sell their products, and switch to the internet instead. It will soon set up an interactive website the customer can log on for details.

"We see the cold-calling method (unsolicited calls) going off, especially considering the way regulation is headed. The web is the future - it is non-invasive, gets the really interested people and also allows the customer to keep a record through histories," the bank's senior vice-president, unsecured loans business, Sanjai Raina said on Saturday.

HDFC Bank has firmed up plans to start selling group company Housing Development & Finance Corp (HDFC)'s home loans from later this month through web chat before the kick-off of the Diwali festival, and a pilot for the same is already on, he added.

Web chat, Raina said, is a more transparent medium and there will be no mis-selling.

For the last six months, HDFC Bank has been selling personal loans through the web chat option as a pilot, and already one per cent of its Rs400 crore sales have happened through web chats.

"We are confident of taking it to three per cent in six months and to five per cent in a year's time," he said.

To get of a home loan, anybody can log on to HDFC Bank's designated web page and fill in details like amount required and salary drawn after which he chats with a sales representative.