I’m getting used to the periodic phone calls from the Royal Bank to discuss the products I have with them. However, their latest contact by snail mail adds a new twist.
The RBC phone calls I get seem aimed at getting me to use more RBC products and always end with a pitch for a credit card. These calls are awkward because I don’t want to say too much until I’m sure that I’m really talking to a Royal Bank representative, and the person at the other end is trying to pretend to be interested in helping me save money, but is really interested in selling more products. The calls end when I’m sure that there was no important reason for the call.
My latest contact from RBC is a letter with the following printed in large bold letters at the top:
“Meet with your RBC Advisor before August 10, 2010 to review your ___ . Please book your appointment today.”
The body of the letter repeats the deadline and adds even more of a sense of urgency. I wouldn’t blame people for reading this letter and thinking that they should call the phone number listed to see what is wrong. The deadline is the part that really sells the feeling of urgency.
I’m going to assume that this is just an attempt to get me in to meet face-to-face with someone who will try to sell me more products. It’s either that or I’m going to pass up my last chance to stop my financial world from crumbling down.
@CC: They definitely wasted some trees. As for annoying customers, I'm guessing that those who actually go in to meet an advisor thinking that there was some real need for the meeting would be pretty annoyed.
ReplyDeleteThe comment above is a reply to Canadian Capitalist's comment:
DeleteRBC might have much more luck if they attract customers by offering them something. Last fall, TD offered digital frames for customers agreeing to a meeting with an advisor and I heard that it was enormously successful. RBC might have simply wasted a lot of trees and irritated some customers with this strategy.