One of the best ways for a financial adviser to grow her practice is through Investor Awareness Programs (IAP).
Unlike the traditional way of meeting prospects individually and spending 30-60 minutes, an adviser gets to address a group of investors (typically 30-50 people) through IAPs in one go. “One to Many” way of communication is not only very cost effective but also a great way to build your credibility, firm’s brand awareness and position yourself as a domain expert.
Based on our experience from 200+ IAPs in the last one year, here are the top seven strategies which can help IFAs conduct super successful IAPs.
1) Tap the corporates and salaried class
Advisers can conduct four different types of IAPs: 1) Corporate employees 2) Associations for their members 3) Housing societies for their residents 4) Open house session by inviting clients, referrals and through word of mouth. Of all four, getting IAP opportunities in corporates tend to be easier and also more effective. HR department and management of companies have a responsibility of organizing employee welfare activities. An IAP fits in very well into this objective. The only challenge when trying for a corporate opportunity is to assure decision makers about credibility, authenticity and impact of the program content and the speaker.
2) Take help from your existing clients
Your clients are your true brand ambassadors. They have experienced your advice, your services and know the importance of proper financial planning. The best way to get a corporate opportunity is through your clients who are part of mid/senior level management of a company. Approach your clients to help you connect with their HR / Admin team who is in-charge of employee welfare activities. An endorsement from your clients goes a long way in ensuring your proposal to conduct an IAP is considered seriously and pushed forward.
3) Engage your audience
Audience don’t enjoy a typical PPT presentation. The subject itself is boring anyway for the general public. Use a PPT to help you give a structure and flow to the session. However, the speaker should make good use of games/puzzles, videos, live calculators, stories, case studies, Q&As etc. to make the program livelier and interactive.
4) Audience want takeaways, not gyaan
Many IAP programs content is filled with lot of charts, graphs, definitions, list of benefits / advantages, theory etc. This knowledge or gyaan is something audience do not connect to. It’s boring for them. People at the end of 45-90-minute session want some takeaways on which they can take action. Focus your session flow on some three key action points like buying term insurance, starting SIPs, goal based investments etc. Let the audience be able to develop their to-do list soon after the camp. Many will approach you for further help.
5) Offer something for free
After the first touchpoint during the IAP session, advisers have to figure out a way to create a second touchpoint to engage the audience and potential clients. An IAP helps you position yourself as an expert, helps you to gain trust and opens up the possibility of future dialogue. Now is the right time to let the potential clients experience your expertise/services on a one-to-one basis. Offer some kind of 30-minute free no-obligation meeting offering either a basic financial plan or financial health checkup or risk profiling or something like an existing portfolio review. This meeting should be ideally held within one week after the program at employee office premises. HR officials are open to this idea as it’s of help to their employees.
6) Take help and support from AMCs
After SEBI mandated AMCs to spend 2 basis points on investor awareness activities, many AMCs have come out with some really good IAP tools and materials. AMCs are more than happy to support IFAs by providing them with these materials without any business obligations. For example; ICICI Prudential has Health & Wealth Guide and Snake & Ladders Game, Infographics; IDFC has One Idiot movie, T Puzzle and SIP Pen; Axis MF has Global Education Guide, Lifecycle Based Guides and Healthcare Costs Guide; Birla MF has Jaanoge Tabhi tho Maanoge Guide, My First Investment Record Book etc. You can also take help of AMCs to support costs related to venue, refreshments, projector/screen etc.
7) Help people get started, even if in a small way
After the IAP is over, you will see many participants willing to get started. Many of them want to start small, say with Rs. 2,000-5,000 SIPs. They want to get a taste of mutual funds before committing to the idea fully, the way they do with FDs, gold and property. Advisers may find this kind of retail clients very small to take on. But these clients can give you a larger wallet share in future and also their investible surplus will keep growing. So find a way to onboard them, get them into your system & nurture them. Help them get started within months after the program. And it’s also a great idea to get them to subscribe to your educational newsletter which will help in “Top of Mind” recall. Someday they will come back to you.
Success with IAPs comes only with proper preparation, consistent efforts and good strategies. Advisors have to commit to conducting 4-5 IAPs before starting to see real benefits to their practice. Start with one and try to do at least 1 IAP every quarter to see the magic of this strategy in growing your financial advisory practice!
The views expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cafemutual.
