Ravi Samalad catches up with the regional head of a leading fund house in Mumbai and finds out that distributors were very much like his family
Mumbai: Vikram (name changed) sets the alarm clock at 5.40 am but finally wakes up 50 minutes later at 6.30 am. After getting ready and having a rushed breakfast, he leaves home around 7.30 am. Commuting from his Borivali home to Fort office takes an hour and 20 minutes during which he scans two pink dailies. Sometimes he directly heads to meetings from his home.
Vikram reaches office at 9.15 am and starts work by attending to emails. Leading a team of 30, Vikram assigns work to his team and resolves any issues that may come up in the office. After an update from his team about their day’s schedule, he plans his meetings.
As a Regional Manager of Mumbai, Vikram has to interact with a host of partners like IFAs, bank channel distributors, national distributors and their relationship managers. Vikram’s main challenge is to make sure that his products have larger visibility and acceptance among all channel partners and meet up to their expectations.
His job requires him to maintain an ongoing warm relationship with his channel partners which do not end with one-time sales. He bonds with them, mentors them and often socializes with them. To him, they are almost an extension of his family.
He spends a substantial part of the day meeting channel partners, updating them on his fund house’s perspective on the markets and relevant products. He reads a lot and gets insights and knowledge from his fund management team on market trends.
As a vital link between the distributors and his top management, he often transmits feedback from distributors on products to his seniors. Recently, based on this feedback, his fund house launched a unique product.
With his distributors, he tries to position his products in their short list. Being responsible for sales, his job is not merely to push his products. He has to understand the psychology of advisors and investors and position his AMC’s schemes accordingly with each channel partner.
Vikram guides IFAs on how to take their business forward and suggests appropriate schemes for constructing client portfolios. He also gets to interact and imparts knowledge about investing to his advisor’s clients in seminars.
Even greatest selling and marketing techniques don’t help if your funds are not living up to the expectations of investors. Vikram believes that a brand name, superior fund performance and good customer support is also pivotal when he has to pitch his products among partners. He feels happy that his fund house is blessed with all these qualities.
Vikram is not perturbed by his job pressure. His mantra is - more the pressure the stronger you become. However, he concedes that his day is made when his region delivers good sales numbers.
On most Saturdays, Vikram attends training sessions organized for distributors. His branch offices are also operational on Saturdays.
To relax, Vikram tunes into latest bollywood hits. He also enjoys reading. Vikram is married and has two kids. He spends his time with his family on Sunday.
He winds up his day at 7 to 7.30 pm. During his return journey, he makes a few phone calls and scans through official documents on his Blackberry. He carries print outs of articles and market updates so that he can read them on his long journey home. He hits the sack at 11.30 pm, tired but satisfied and eager to face another day and another challenge a few hours later.
