IFAs today are facing competition from fellow IFAs, large banks, national distributors as well as direct channels of mutual fund houses. One of the ways to overcome this challenge is to get a bigger share of the wallet from existing customers, while continuously looking for opportunities to expand the client base.
Deepen engagement with clients
IFAs need to understand the needs of his clients only then will be able to review the portfolio of the client according to his changing needs. This can be achieved only by staying in constant touch with the clients.
Shifali Satsangee, Founder & CEO Funds Vedaa says that IFAs can ask for more business from their clients in their regular meetings only if it relates to the primary objective of the meeting, which is to review progress against the financial goals of the client.
“I segment my clients by age and the income levels of the clients and their preferences. Also, I keep our communication process proactive and consistent, via calls, emails, newsletters, etc. I share interesting articles pertaining to investments,” says Shifali.
End to End Servicing
Advisors can offer to service the entire mutual fund portfolio of a client and then gradually expand to life insurance policies, fixed deposits, etc. Servicing the entire portfolio of a client not only deepens the client advisor relationship, but also provides insights into liquidity events.
Financial advisors need to be focused on capturing a portion of the proceeds from these liquidity events to grow their share of wallet, believes Shifali.
Develop expertise in multiple products
Financial advisors should build knowledge in multiple asset classes, to expand their scope of financial advisory to their clients. Advisors should keep their services not only to one product but to be a one stop solution for all the financial needs of his/her clients, says Mumbai based advisor, Vatsal Shah.
“While the company’s predominant focus has been broking, the shift in investor behavior, we started focusing on mutual funds, which offer a far superior alternative to participate in markets," says Vatsal. However, financial advisors should always ensure that focus on multiple fronts should not take away their focus from the core business that will help them increase their wallet size.
