Today we have several records of successful cooperation between banks and insurers in the market. These are records of widely known sales of insurance programs to borrowers in banks departments and sales outlets, offers of financial products by phone and bank cards to clients of insurance companies, Internet use for promotion of various financial services.

Several years ago use of remote technologies for cross-selling of financial services in Russia was spoken about cautiously due to the actual lack of expert examination in the domestic market and weak engineering capability and regulatory framework respectively. At the present time Russian financial market is at the stage of active search for solutions that will allow to preserve and develop the customer portfolio, new sources of regular income, therefore interest in new projects and ideas increases.

Cross-selling by means of direct marketing allows many financial institutions to gain additional return on the already created client base and to retain profitable or perspective customers. Almost every bank has its call-center, and interaction with it is the service habitual for clients. An offer of an additional program on behalf of a credit organization or an insurance company is welcomed by clients. As a rule, the first step in cross-selling via remote channels is start of sales at own call-center of a bank.

The MetLife Alico Company, based on successful experience of telemarketing projects implementation with a number of financial institutions, has chosen an offer of individual protection of a client's life and health as a main product for cross-selling. Eight years' experience of similar projects implementation allowed to determine the main success criteria:
■ segmentation of clients based on the analysis of a client's interaction history and behavior;
■ easy-to-percept and necessary for clients products, the sense of which can be understood within 30 seconds;
■ selection of a correct product for the target audience;
■ accurately organized process from the moment of detailed project criteria preparation until the moment of sales results analysis.

It is necessary to understand that direct marketing is first of all the structured and transparent process. The important parameters are level of expert examination and availability of qualified resources. Practical knowledge in several areas is necessary for the start: besides the strong knowledge of insurance and banking business specifics a team shall be competent in the area of law on personal data, be great on remote technologies and, certainly, be able to combine skills of direct and telephone sales.

An aim of a bank and insurance company is that a good client uses their services as long as possible. Cross-selling is the efficient tool for this aim achieve­ment along with excellent service, a wide assortment of products and attractive prices.

Additional support through the loyalty program from an insurance company, in particular special offers, birthday greetings, informing and special offers to a certain date, for example a date of a policy or a card issue, loan repayment, etc., allows a bank to understand a condition of their client base and to influence it on real-time basis, and to introduce amendments timely. And it requires no additional efforts. Probably it is for this reason the combination "banking services + insurance" is so popular.

It is important to respect opinion of all bank clients and to be able to hear and understand their preferences and expectations. That is what allows to reach the best results: increase of loyalty and increase of income.

MetLife Alico was among the first who started to offer life insurance programs to bank clients in Russia remotely, and we have already created our own set of rules and standards of cross-selling.