Early days
After getting his engineering degree, Nitin Patel took up a job in the Gulf. After working in the Gulf for four years, he came back to India to do something on his own and be closer to his family.
One of his relative who was into distribution of medical instruments suggested Nitin to join him. “I heeded my relatives’ advice and got into distribution of medical instruments to hospitals since it was lucrative,” recalls Nitin.
But life had different plans for him. Nitin was always fascinated with markets. He invested some portion of his savings in stocks. One of his friends who had discovered the benefits of mutual funds recommended Nitin to invest in MFs.
Nitin followed his friend’s advice and started investing in mutual funds. When he checked his a/c statement after a few years, he found his investments had generated good returns. He spoke about his returns among his friends and acquaintances. Impressed with the returns he had got through mutual funds, his friends and acquaintances started approaching him for seeking his advice to invest in mutual funds. He sensed a good opportunity in MF advisory and decided to take the plunge by discontinuing his medical instrument distribution. Since then there has been no looking back.
Foray in MF distribution
Nitin’s initial set of clients were his friends and family. Gradually, his clientele expanded through referrals. Today, he manages assets under advisory of Rs. 200 crores and serves more than 550 families. He has an ambitious dream. “I want to set up an AMC after building Rs. 50 crore net worth,” says Nitin.
The crorepati formula
Nitin’s pitch to his clients is - ‘Become a crorepati by investing in MFs’.
Nitin says that nudging clients to achieve their dreams through mutual funds helps him convert clients. By citing his own example, he is able to made a credible pitch to his prospects. “Everyone is capable of becoming a crorepati if they follow a disciplined approach in investing to achieve their goals,” says Nitin.
Nitin claims that 50% of his clients have become crorepatis by investing in mutual funds. “I want to make all my clients crorepatis,” says Nitin.
He talks about his crorepati clients to prospects which help him acquire new clients. Also, Nitin has bought a Mercedes from his personal investments in mutual funds. “I also shows my personal portfolio to prospects and tell them that I bought a Mercedes from my MF investments. This inspires them to invest in mutual funds.”
To make sure his clients do not have any unrealistic expectations from his crorepati pitch, he has put a tabular chart behind his business card which shows the monthly investment required to build Rs. 1 crore portfolio with different rate of returns.
Business Development
Nitin gets a majority of his new clients through referrals. To increase his visibility, he also writes personal finance articles for a Gujarati newspaper.
Words of Advice
Nitin believes that this profession has a great future for advisers who have a long term vision and conviction in their business.
