The firm has more than 5000 investors and plans to focus on client retention rather than new client addition. Cafemutual finds out how the firm has managed to build such a large client base.
DNS Financial Services is a 20 years old company started by two brothers, Sanjay and Rupesh Agarwal in Orissa. The duo got into financial services by selling FDs and then extended their product range to include IPOs, NCDs, share trading, insurance and mutual funds.
The duo was joined by their third brother in Vikash Agarwal in 2005 after completing his MCA in 2004. Though Vikash did his specialisation in computers, he too was fascinated with financial services right from his graduation days.
After working for a year in insurance to get hands on experience, he decided to join his family financial service business and pursue MBA simultaneously. Among all products, he saw a tremendous potential in mutual funds and decided to focus on it. Three years back, DNS Financials separated its mutual fund business into a new company DNS Wealth. Vikash looks after DNS Wealth primarily.
Vikash faced a lot of obstacles during his initial days in selling mutual funds. Distributors were not given proper training for selling mutual funds during initial days of the fund industry. So, it was difficult to resolve investor queries. “The main challenge which I faced in my initial days was that I didn’t have answers to the queries of my clients due to lack of knowledge. This I took up as a challenge & upgraded myself to such an extent that today I can answer almost all the queries of my clients. We have now launched a new initiative, Jago Investor, a helpline to solve investor query,” claims Vikash.
Vikash conducted a number of investor meets across Orissa to make investors aware about the potential of mutual funds.
DNS Wealth is one of the top distributors in Orissa. Currently the firm has more than 5000 clients and the three brothers have built the empire by serving their clients personally. The partners believe that clients are comfortable to discuss their financial matters with the owners personally rather than the employees.
Recipe of Success
The firm claims to provide solution to clients rather than selling products. It does asset allocation based on client needs and goals. “Even if a client comes to us enquiring about a certain product, we first try to understand his knowledge and need for the product. We then discuss with him the pros and corns and work out a complete asset allocation for him. We do not believe in investing blindly wherever the investor wants,” said Vikash.
The firm also reviews client portfolios quarterly. This service has made DNS popular among its clients and has generated a number of referrals.
Jago Investor is another innovative marketing campaign which is making the firm popular across the country. It is a help-line launched by DNS Wealth to resolve the financial issues of investors. (You can read more about Jago Investors here: http://www.cafemutual.com/News/InnerNews.aspx?srno=1738&MainType=New&NewsType=Industry&id=21 )
USP of DNS Wealth
Talking about their USP, this is what Vikash says, “We find out what our customers value most, identify the need gap and develop the USP accordingly. We have constantly transformed the client experience and found new ways to meet their needs. One approach that we used was to compare our offer with competitors by sorting product attributes into three categories: basic, differentiated, and exceptional. We then try to build competitive advantage and strengthen existing ones to make our products exceptional.”
DNS Wealth believes in the power of providing information to the client. They believe information encourages customers to buy and to get the maximum out of the service being provided. Also, businesses should be eager to accept information from the consumer in the form of customer satisfaction and feedback surveys.
Another focus area at DNS Wealth is on gaining knowledge and being updated with the latest market news, consumer concerns and cutting-edge technologies.
Future of the business
DNS is not focussing on expanding the client base but retaining it. To this end, it is soon launching its website where its customers will be able to monitor their investments from anywhere in the world. “We are still in the growth stage and so we give more emphasis to innovation and spreading financial literacy,” shared Vikash.