Asoke, a regular reader of Cafemutual came across stories of many IFAs successfully running SIP drives in different parts of India. However, he noticed that there were no such success stories from the east. In addition, as a joint secretary of Independent Consultant Advisor Association (ICAA) he interacted with many IFAs who were dejected about the new expense ratio regulations. This further motivated him; he felt that by successfully running a SIP marathon, he could inspire other IFAs to focus on ways to grow their business rather than worrying about matters that were beyond control.
Client targeting
He started working on the SIP marathon after Durga Pooja and finalised Dhanteras as the day for the SIP campaign. To identify possible investors from his existing clients, he shortlisted clients who had not invested through him recently. Overall, 240 existing clients participated in the SIP marathon.
Besides targeting existing clients, Asoke and his two-member team also requested his existing clients for referrals. He acquired around 10 new clients during the SIP marathon.
Convincing clients to invest
To encourage clients to invest despite the market volatility, Asoke shared articles and videos (in Bengali). The articles and videos propagated the message that correction is an opportunity, investors would benefit from it by investing now.
Simultaneously Asoke and his team got in touch with the clients through calls and emails. They helped clients understand that they were investing for long-term goals. Sharing historical market data, they convinced the clients that historically Sensex has gone through multiple rallies and corrections. However, it is clearly visible that over long-term, the market trajectory has been upwards. He urged clients not to panic and in fact increase their investment as the correction provided an opportunity to accumulate higher units.
Talking to new investors, he compared mutual funds vis-à-vis traditional investment options. He made them realise that owing to higher return potential of mutual funds, an investor can achieve his goals faster through the MF avenue.
Ensuring hassle-free operations
To prevent any last minute hassles, the team completed the KYC of new clients well before the SIP login day. Moreover, the team collected all applications by Friday. Over the weekend, the team punched in the transactions. He completed transactions of all existing clients through NSE NMF II portal while the new client transactions were done through cheque.
Overall, he activated 327 SIPs with an average SIP size of Rs. 3083 from 250 clients.
Talking about the SIP marathon, ICAA Secretary, Goutam Karmakar said the initiative was in line with the association’s motto of helping advisors identify ways through which they can grow their business. “Asoke’s achievement has helped boost confidence of many advisors as they see that there are still opportunities to grow and they should target long term client relationships rather than worrying about upfront,” he said.
