Kotak Life Insurance: Sub-Standard Marketing Techniques

Hi All

I’m writing this blog for the public awareness & interest. I suffered from the sub-standard marketing technique(s) that were used by one of the corporate agents "Corporate Services" (IRDA-1284248 / A0005469) of Kotak Life Insurance in Jaipur.

This corporate agent makes calls on behalf of Kotak Mahindra Life Insurance. They inform that on the occasion of successful completion of three years of the company, they have selected 10 lucky BSNL numbers out of 200 numbers for a prize. So, company is awarding “Fancy Gold Set” for the promotional publicity. And for receiving the prize, one needs to reach their office by 06:45 PM. The program shall commence from 7 PM onwards for 1 hour. They emphasize multiple times to reach empty handed & also assured that they won’t be asking to take any insurance policy or any type of membership. They take assurance from the person multiple times to confirm their presence in Kotak Life Insurance office.

As the prize is quite luring & seems to be real since the call is being made from a reputed company (very wrong impression), there must be an actual celebration & the genuine gift. The person from this agency also says that there would not be any word for accepting any policy of the company.

However, when one reaches the office, in no time, one will understand that there is no celebration. It is just a shoddy marketing stunt to call the couples for presenting the life insurance plans. Himanshu, the manager there forces to take the decision there itself without giving any time to think over such an important financial investment. They insist upon signing the form & providing a cheque (without date) with identity proof documents. On the refusal, they get irritated & behave rudely while closing the discussion. They also act as if they are doing some great favour to the couple by providing an opportunity that one cannot get anywhere else. Finally, it is very disappointing & unexpected to receive a gift that is hardly worth rupees ten to fifteen (Rs.10-15) from such a reputed company (as one carries the impression).

It clearly reflects the vulnerable state of the company that is forced to use such cheap marketing tactics to lure the customers & sale its policies. The company wastes the precious & highly valuable time in the non-sense stuff that is in vain. In fact the image of the company that one might carry before going over there gets spoiled with such incident.

I wrote to Mr. Gaurang Shah (Managing Director – Kotak Life Insurance) that it was my humbly suggestion that while marketing, wrong statements should not be used by the staff to lure the prospective customer because that creates a bad image in the mind of the customer & it replicates exponentially with time through word of mouth. I believe this aspect should get percolated to the staff below, if the management also believes in the same.
So, kindly take care from this insurance company.

Reviewer: Tanmay Agarwal, Jaipur (tanmay@dentistswati.com)