Nitin Sawant who practices fee based financial advisory service in a small town called Vita in Maharashtra’s Sangli district narrates how he acquired his first client who was a doctor.
When I started fee based financial advisory business in a small town called Vita which is situated in Sangli, I found it difficult to acquire clients due to lack of awareness.
To tackle this problem, I decided to reach out to educated and wealthy people. I made a list of such prospects.
My first client was a doctor. I called him for an appointment. Initially, he refused to meet as he was under the impression that I would sell him some product. He asked me how I was different from agents. I explained to him about financial planning services and managed to get an appointment.
A day before the meeting, I prepared myself with all possible questions he might ask. Next day when I met him, I explained the concept and importance of goal based approach in investment. Since he was a doctor, I first made him realize importance of building an emergency corpus and having liability insurance. He was satisfied with my approach and gave me a fee to write a financial plan.
He had invested in a lot of traditional insurance policies. It took me almost a year to streamline his portfolio. He is still my client. In fact, he has given me quite a few references.
My first client taught me that if you make people realize about the importance of financial security, they are willing to pay fee. Also, the way you present your services and what value-add you can provide for a fee are most important aspects in advisory business.
IFAs should ask lot of questions to their prospects
Kolkata based Subhabrata Ghosh, Director, Step Ahead Investors Advisors got his first client in 2006 who was a senior relationship manager with an insurance company.
My first client was my wife’s ex-colleague. He was working as a senior relationship manager with a private sector general insurance company. He was 40.
I met him informally and discussed his plans for retirement. Like many people, he had not given a proper thought to this subject. I explained the concept of mutual funds. I recommended him to invest in mutual funds through SIP. He liked the concept of compounding. Impressed with the idea, he immediately started an SIP of Rs.5,000. Now, he has a monthly SIP of Rs.30,000.
I would like to share another story of my first client because I have changed my business model from mutual fund distribution to financial planning. In 2012, when I started my financial planning practice, a couple who was my wife’s colleague, came to our home. During an informal chat, I asked them about their financial goals. They had a few financial goals; however, they had no idea on how to achieve these goals. I explained the importance of financial planning and how I could help them achieve these goals. They found my approach holistic. This couple is still my client.
Both these experiences taught me that IFAs should ask lot of questions to their prospects. The questions may not necessarily be too personal. They should make them comfortable first. Also, IFAs should try to keep things simple and not bombard them with jargon.
