What I learnt from my Guru
This Teachers’ Day, IFAs share their learnings that they imbibe from their gurus.
Principal Business Champions - Winning Ideas, a joint initiative between Cafemutual and Principal MF - provides advisors a platform to share their experiences and business insights with the advisory community.
In the latest edition of the contest, we asked advisors to share learnings from their gurus that they would never forget. The contest started on the eve of Guru Poornima and concluded on Teachers’ Day. It has received overwhelming response from the IFA community.
Here are the entries that received the highest votes.
Winner on Website: IFA Bibhuti Kumar Panda from Berhampur, Odisha
My guru is a senior IFA who taught me the nitty gritty of advisory business.
When I started advisory business in 2005, I primarily focused on recommending lump sum investments in equity funds to my clients.
However, when I met a senior IFA of Berhampur, Ram Krushna Sahu, he advised me that I should recommend SIPs as it helps investors in rupee cost averaging. He also counselled me to look at asset allocation i.e. recommending investment in both equity and debt funds depending on the risk appetite of clients.
His advice came in handy when market crashed in 2008. Though investors had lost money in the global economic crisis, most of my clients were happy as their fixed income exposure cushioned the impact of downfall.
I must say he is more than a guru for me.
Winner on Twitter: IFA K. Ravichandran from Salem, Tamil Nadu
My guru is Lord Saibaba. I have learned patience and perseverance from him.
‘Shraddha and Saburi’ that is patience and perseverance are the two words engraved in every temple of Lord Sai Baba. Imbibing these teachings in my life, I have learned to remain calm and optimistic in face of tough situations such as regulatory challenges, business concerns and difficult clients. I have also learned to persevere - that is I make it a point to schedule at least one meeting with a prospective client daily irrespective of the outcome.
Winner on Facebook: IFA Vimal Pandya from Vadodara, Gujarat
My boss is my guru. He taught me to be client-centric.
It was just last year when my boss taught me an invaluable lesson in customer centricity. In April 2018, my boss Bhadaresh Jhaveri, MD, Jhaveri Securities called the staff for an urgent meeting. Based on the macroeconomic factors and market PE, he feared that a correction was imminent. He asked us to connect with all the clients and advise them to shift a portion of their investments from equity funds to low duration and high quality debt funds. I was surprised by his decision, as it would significantly affect our commissions. Brushing aside our scepticism, he told us that we have a fiduciary responsibility towards our client’s money and we need to safeguard their interests first.
This episode taught me that client trust is more important than commission in advisory business.
