Sachin Kharate, Varad Financial Services
I conduct my investor awareness activities in Nashik. Here, many people are not financially literate and don’t understand financial jargons. My audience includes drivers, daily wagers, factory workers and service class people. All they know are the benefits of having insurance policy and banks fixed deposits. For them these are the only investments that matter. Hence I try to educate them on the benefits of other financial products.
Here are two things I do for my IAPs-
- A typical power point presentation is strictly a no-no for me. Due to its structured format it becomes monotonous after a certain point of time. I try to make my sessions interactive through games, puzzles, and videos.
Besides I do not follow a structured format. I choose interpreting topics such as ‘How to be a crorepati in ten years, How to have a comfortable post retirement life, How to retire at 40, How to live a debt free life’ and other topics which catch the people’s attention.
- To increase my referral rate. I give my existing clients two extra passes for the IAP sessions so that they can call their friends and immediate relatives also. This ensures that my existing client gives me referrals and my audience is ready for the next IAP session.
At the end of the session, I ask the attendees to register the names of their family members and friends whom they would like to invite to the next session.
Virendr Pal Singh, Jai Jawan India
Apart from referrals, investor awareness programs serve as the best tool for client acquisition for me. I conduct a minimum of awareness programs all over India in a month. These programs are held in educational institutions, housing societies, corporates and social clubs. Being an ex-army officer I conduct IAPs for army families as well. The audience is around 200 people on an average.
This is how I go about with my IAPs
- In most of my IAPs, I focus on the client’s income and expenditure issues. Firstly, I tell them “We like to spend. For example we do not think twice before buying a smart phone. But when it comes to investing we tend to think a lot. We delay investing citing excuses. We also say risk attached to investments is higher and hence we choose products like FD”.
I make them realize that a product (e.g. smart phone) will depreciate its value over five years but an investment (e.g. SIP) for five years will multiply in its value. Most of my IAPs are based on long term planning and investing in disciplined and systematic manner. I heavily promote SIP for wealth creation.
A homogenous audience with similar age or background helps to deliver customized messages. For instance, if am talking to a salaried corporate audience I will be in a better position to educate them on tax saving products. However educating an audience from a mixed background also has benefits.For instance, if a middle aged salaried person raises a question on retirement planning, a fresh graduate student attending the same seminar can also gain knowledge and prepare early for his/her retirement.
- I try to conduct all my educational sessions during weekends in the late evening slot. Further, I try to keep the IAP in a central location which is easy accessible by public transport.
- Another secret of conducting IAPs is talking in the local lingo. I speak five languages. I avoid jargon and keep it simple. Delivering in familiar language creates an immediate trust and good impression amongst the prospects.
- I provide light meals/snacks especially if the seminar is for longer duration. There are two benefits of having meals in between or at the end. Firstly, I get time to network with my prospects, Face to face interactions help me to know them better and build trust. If the prospect is shy and not able to ask questions in front of a larger audience, here will be the chance for them to clarify their doubts. Secondly, nobody likes to be left starving!
By following above steps I am able to convert 35% of the IAPs audience!
