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Article: Banking on word of mouth - period. (Hudson Valley Bank)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- American Banker
- Article date:
- August 3, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 SourceMedia, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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When New York's Hudson Valley Bank is fishing for deposits, president John Pratt Jr. doesn't advertise. To reel them in he turns instead to 85 assorted Westchester County residents.
Eschewing more expensive marketing techniques, the $525 million-asset bank has used an unusual business development board to generate much of the deposit growth during its 23-year history.
Members of the board refer business associates, clients, or friends to the bank as potential customers, occasionally working with bank officials on conference calls or at lunch meetings to initiate the contacts.
The idea is that the new deposit accounts generated, mostly business demand ...