Listen to this article
It’s said that experience is the best teacher. But that experience doesn’t necessarily have to be yours. In this article, we have compiled some key learnings from decades-long experience of two of the top SIP distributors in India —Bengaluru MFD Ganesh Shanbhag and Rajkot MFD Ravi Kalariya of Investment Plus.
While Ganesh joined the industry in 2011, Ravi has been working as an MFD since 2006. Each of them has SIP book of over 3,000 accounts.
Let’s look at their story in their own words.
Ganesh Shanbhag
Constant learning is the key
Mutual fund distributors don’t work with bosses. In such a scenario, it is important for an MFD to keep learning new things to grow in this business. In my view, you can do justice with your job only when you are thorough with the subject.
Another important aspect is having knowledge of investor’s mind set and behaviour. You should know how to deal with their emotions to retain them.
Clients should be aware of what you deliver
Most of my clients are tech savvy, given their IT background. They do their research and learn about mutual funds on internet. Still, I have lost only a handful of clients to direct platforms. Reason - I keep them informed that I get commission in return for the value I add to their life.
Also, I keep guiding them on various aspects of investments and take them through behavioural coaching, which make them realize the importance of having a mentor.
Ravi Kalariya
Upgrade, upgrade and upgrade
You have to keep investing and upgrading yourself. As an MFD, you should keep upgrading knowledge, and focus on growing with team and adding more digital capabilities. You should always ask yourself this question — how can I improve efficiency of my business every day?
Also, invest in your business. Hire employees whenever you feel the requirement. You can focus on expanding business only when you are free from day-to-day operations.
Asking for referrals is an art
Referrals can be a big source of business. What we do is we track all the connections of our clients, be it their business associates, friends or relatives. Then during our regular meetings with the client, we bring up the name of the associate and try to persuade him or her to recommend us to the connection.
Make finance more relatable
The investment universe is filled with jargons and hence, it is important that we use examples from day-to-day life to better express ourselves. For example, I explain wealth creation by using the example of innings building in cricket. It goes like this - how good cricketers build innings by taking ones and twos, and hitting fours and sixes at the right moments. Investors can use the same strategy by way of SIPs and lump sum investments during market crashes.
I also use the example of train journey to stress on the importance of patience in investing. I tell them to imagine they are travelling from Location A to Location B. During the journey, train will sometimes slow down or halt for a few minutes or even hours. However, you do not lose patience and jump onto any other train in the parallel platform. If you do so, you may reach some other destination. A similar kind of patience is required to complete the investing journey.
