Abhay Dandekar, Thousands Lights
One of the important aspects to be considered while conducting an investor awareness program is to have a homogenous group of people who share the same background or age group. This way one is able to craft messages that they can relate to thereby adding greater value to them. For this purpose I have segmented my audience in 3 groups viz 25 to 40 yrs, 40 to 65 yrs and 65 yrs plus. By following a segmented approach I can deliver better results to my prospects. So, if I am delivering a session to younger audience who are largely risk takers I will tinker my script to suit their needs. I conduct these sessions in colleges, educational institutions, corporates, government offices and offices.
In these programs, I underline the importance of wealth creation, higher education, comfortable retirement and so on.
I try to enlighten them on how mutual funds are best suited for long term wealth creation when compared to other financial products (like recurring deposits, fixed deposits).
Real stories always have a way of convincing people. So to make the session interactive, I invite my existing clients who have benefited from my advice to speak with the audience. This kind of a testimonial has always worked well for my business.
Mukesh Patel, Khushi Insurance & Investment
I have been conducting awareness programs in the neighboring areas of Anand, Gujarat. We get a diverse set of audience here consisting of farmers, rickshaw drivers, agricultural labourers and so on.
As these people are largely illiterate, we have to spend lot of time educating them on different investment avenues and the importance of wealth creation.
The major challenge here is to tackle their misconceptions regarding equity. They feel only wealthy people can invest in equities and that they are not eligible for such sophisticated financial products.
To deal with this issue, I coined a slogan ‘SIP banao, Life Bano’. Since they do not have money for lump sum investment, I suggest them to invest through SIP. I personally visit and try to educate my prospects on ‘Role of mutual funds to promote savings’. I substantiate the claim by comparing the returns generated by fixed deposits and mutual funds. I also introduce them to the concept of inflation thus demonstrating the need to generate returns higher than inflation.
As these are low income groups, my primary focus is on getting them to sign up for atleast an SIP of minimum value. Getting these clients to spread the word once they are satisfied is the next step.
I also feel that MF penetration in rural areas is negligible and the regulatory authorities need to devise proper training programs both for investors as well for the advisors to increase the participation from these areas.
