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Chokkalingam Palaniappan of Prakala Wealth, Chennai returned to India in 2006. He used to work as a Management Consultant for a leading company in US.
In 2007, Chokkalingam started his own PMS company. However, he surrendered his PMS license in 2008. In 2009-10, Chokkalingam stared MF distribution. Right from the beginning, he has focussed on educating people about money and investments. In just 12 years, he has built an AUM of over Rs.500 crore.
The best thing about Chokkalingam is that he does not approach any family member or friend. Nor does he ask from referrals. Still he never stops prospecting.
Interestingly, Chokkalingam has acquired over 4000 retail clients without approaching them. All these clients came to him to invest in mutual funds.
In conversation with Sunil Subramanian, MD and CEO, Sundaram MF, Chokkalingam took us through his ‘Kahaani Kaamyabi Ki’ at Cafemutual Ideas Fest 2023. Let’s hear from him.
Be visible
You have to be visible if you want people to approach you for business. I have created my visibility by writing articles on newspapers and magazines, putting videos on my YouTube channel and appearing on radio and TV shows.
In my experience, visibility attracts more visibility. When I started writing a column for a financial publication, I received similar requests from others. Gradually, they approached me to share my views on relevant stories.
Likewise, I post a lot of educational videos on YouTube in Tamil. I keep my videos simple and short. While many people post videos, I evaluate my videos based on number of views, comments and shares. If I don’t get a good response, I redo the videos to make it simpler.
Overall, continuous visibility creates brand awareness and boosts business growth.
Do not chase. Genuine clients always stay
Prospects may not realise the value of your guidance if you chase them. Whenever a client calls me to seek a meeting, I invite him/her at my office. I avoid going to their home. I believe meeting at office creates a sense of seriousness among them and only genuine prospects turn up to the office. When a prospect comes to your office, he has already become client.
Another activity is not asking for referral. If someone is happy with your services, he will refer his friends or family members on his own. However, question is how to make your clients happy. I feel three things play a key role here – be accessible, appoint a service management person to each client and address their queries and concerns immediately.
Also, in the very first meeting, I tell clients that they should consider equity funds only if they have 5-7-year horizon. This inculcates long term investment discipline.
Keep no targets. It creates a conducive work environment
I do not keep any targets and only focus on handholding investors through their financial journey. Also, I haven’t even given targets to RMs in my team.
In my view, targets could lead to work pressure and may impact productivity. Additionally, targets could lead to mis-selling which is not in clients’ interest.
I also tell my clients about the no-target policy, this increases their confidence in us. Additionally, I disclose brokerage details to maintain utmost transparency and create a loyal set of clients.
