Vinay Sikka is a very sincere Mumbai based mutual fund distributor (MFD) with around 150 families as clients and Rs.30 crore of AUM. Though he has been working very hard for the last 10 years, he feels that he has not realized his full potential. He was doing everything for his clients in terms of products but just could not achieve the breakthrough he was expecting. Like many, he was totally focused on products, markets, returns and things. However, the best part was that he knew that this was not working, and something had to be done. We met by chance and he loved the vision we shared with him and most importantly, he saw us as a real team who could add value to his life and business.
Fast forward 5 months into the new COVID-19 world, he hit a Hat-Trick. He was so happy that he called and spoke about his experience. He mentioned that for the first time in his life, he had acquired 3 clients without meeting them and one of them was a Rs. 2 crore investment and Rs. 1.8 lakh SIP. The best part was that he did not even know them. He said, “I still cannot believe I did it and I cannot tell you the high that I am getting from these experiences.”
So how did he do it?
One of the fastest ways to grow for MFDs beyond getting 100% of their client assets is referrals. Vinay did not have a structured referral process in place. We created a nice referral letter to be sent to his current clients. He also sent an interesting script offering his help to folks within his network. The referral letter generated around 8 names who he could now reach out to. His second call was with MadhuriBhave (a lady corporate executive in her fifties- name changed). She told him “I already have an advisor who is my brother in law. I am not sure if I will be able to do any business with you. So, I don’t want to waste your and my time.”
Vinay told her “Every person like you is likely to have an advisor and all my clients did have an advisor earlier. I am confident that you will find value from going through this experience. I do not know whether you will sign-up with me or not, but I know for sure that I would have done something great for you. In the process, I will at least earn your blessings and good will. So, I don’t think it is a waste of my time.” The lady liked what Vinay said and took up Vinay on his offer to go through the experience.
Vinay took Madhuri through his company’s process and for the first time, she was thinking about what was really important to her. The irony is that most people do not get time to think about what is important or do not know a structured way to think about what they want their money to do for them.
Think about it… What do you want your money to do for you?
Higher returns or happiest financial life?
Each and every person will pick up Happiest Financial Life but what does this really mean and how do you translate this into dreams and meaningful goals.
Vinay was able to guide Madhuri to figure out what was important to her and to get her to think on this front. She figured that she could do all that she had ever dreamt of in the next 10 years and save enough till her age of 100 (Not getting into the details of the goals here).
She said “Wow, I have never had this much clarity about my personal finance and money ever. I will send you my portfolio and investment statements, take a look and I will talk to my brother in law.” Vinay went through the investments, mapped investments to her financial goals and did the second meeting. The brother in law obviously did not like what was presented (means he actually liked) but what could he say. She was smart enough to realize that this was her money and she needed to do what was right for her. She asked Vinay to guide her on her financial life and signed up with him.
Vinay could not believe that the first 3 virtual meetings that he did respectively with Madhuri, a business owner, and a Doctor all ended in closures. He is on a virtual high and I see him becoming a solid professional in the years to come.
I was speaking with another senior MFD (Chartered Accountant) and he said that he was waiting for the lockdown to be lifted and he had not done any business for the last couple of months. I asked him what he was waiting for. The whole world is moving towards digital or virtual meetings. However, not all virtual meetings are the same; it is all about client experience.
If you simply do what you did pre COVID-19 and call it a virtual client experience, chances are you won’t find the level of success Vinay found (The best part in Vinay’s case is that he is finding far better success than in person meetings because now he has a client experience that is delivering far more value to his prospects than by just meeting them with products or markets).
There are some people who will keep waiting and there are some like Vinay who will do something about it.
I repeat one of Brian Tracy’s quotes “If you do what successful people do, nothing can stop you from eventually getting the same results they do. If you do not do what they do, nothing and no one can help you”.
P.S. I personally think anyone can do this and this is not a sales pitch (It is a persuasive call for teaching and educating). I know there will be people who might think this is not possible. If you think so, challenge us to do this for you… I am sure you can at least do that. There is no point cribbing and saying it does not work. Yes, it does work and to those who still continue to crib, Continue Cribbing (It won’t make a difference to anyone and most importantly to you).
Amar Pandit, CFA, CFP is the founder of HappynessFactory.in and author of several books on personal finance. The views expressed in this article are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cafemutual.
