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Mutual fund penetration is the most commonly talked about topic. The primary reason is - there still exist investors who are not keen to invest in mutual funds and as a result of this, mutual funds are scantly distributed in India.
But who is responsible for such low penetration?
In my view, we MFDs are solely responsible here. Don’t be surprised. Let me tell you why.
Most of us started our entrepreneurial journey as insurance agents and unfortunately many in the insurance industry believe selling policies is a skill. This inadvertently nurtured a sales person within us and it is but natural for a sales person to strive for higher numbers by selling as much as possible.
Now think about this - when a sales-oriented person accustomed to selling policies for years steps into mutual fund distribution, he tends to have a similar sales mindset even there.
However, being solely sales-oriented doesn’t work as we tend to miss on crucial things like - identifying investors’ true needs, cultivating strong ties, etc. Also, we fail to identify the several reasons behind investors making a particular decision (market risk, biases, etc) which in turn affects the wealth creation journey unfavorably.
We also need to guide investors to appreciate the features of mutual funds as against insurance products. Explain how mutual funds have something to offer every pocket size with different investment horizons in addition to easy exit and higher return generating potential.
However, the fact remains that insurance offers more lucrative commissions.
It is important to understand here that no client seeks only insurance solutions. In fact, even when we offer mutual funds along with insurance, there is still a huge scope for gaining more of his wallet share. Thus, instead of merely focusing on client categories, (retail, HNI, etc) commit to handholding them and offering multi-solutions. As it is said, be a solution provider and not a product seller.
Above all, strive to win a client’s mind share. And, here is where having a value proposition helps. Create your unique value proposition through sound processes and not merely products.
You can simply define processes as activities that we do at our job. Of course, pushing products or selling SIPs (Systematic Investment Plans) is not our job.
Our job is to identify the value that investors seek and how we can add that value to make a significant difference in their lives. This forms our value proposition and goes a long way in creating a loyal client base in addition to winning the trust of newer investors from different parts of the country. This is also the key to bringing as many possible investors under the mutual fund fold.
To note, clients have unique needs and seek different kinds of value addition. Likewise, every MFD has a different way of adding this value. Thus, the value proposition varies from client to client and MFD to MFD.
Prabir Sharma is an MFD and founder of Feel Bureau Investments in Sambalpur, Odisha. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the views of Cafemutual.