FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

KTC plans to boost activity of outsourced sales agents

KTC plans to boost activity of outsourced sales agents

Krungthai Card plans to use "pricing" to improve the efficiency of its outsourced sales channel in attempting to achieve the target of 400,000 new credit cards this year after acquiring only 140,000 accounts in the first half.

“Only 3,200 sales agents are active [out of more than 10,000], so KTC might raise the commission to motivate them, and we hope the number of active outsourced sales agents will be 5,000 in the second half,” said Nutchanun Kengluecha, executive vice president for distribution.
KTC challenged itself amid the difficult political and economic circumstances by setting a goal to expand its credit-card base by 150 per cent this year. 
Despite falling short in new card issuance in the first six months, the company has stuck with the target, so it has to boost the efficiency of its distribution channel, especially outsourced sales.
KTC has seven distribution channels but outsourced sales are one of the two main channels, the other being Krungthai Bank (KTB), its parent company. 
 
Sales quota 
KTB’s branches were given a sales quota of 180,000 new credit cards and outsourced sales 150,000, with both channels accounting for 80 per cent of the overall target of 400,000.
After KTB restructured itself, frontline staff have more flexibility in working and more time to communicate with customers. 
KTC can share networks and customer databases with KTB as seen in such programmes as home-loan payments by KTC credit cards. The bank’s payroll customers are targets for KTC, along with first-jobbers. 
KTC has separated first-jobbers from the mass market to offer campaigns tailored to their lifestyles.
KTC wants to increase first-jobbers from about 15 per cent of its 1.6-million credit-card base to 20 per cent by year-end through the outsourced sales channel.
First-jobbers are people aged up to 26 years. By giving them their first credit card, KTC hopes to get an early start to building brand loyalty.
“We have to encourage applicants to activate their cards immediately upon receipt for the first use. 
“We believe that a good first impression when using our card will translate into more spending with our card in the future,” she said.
nationthailand