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Kolkata MFD brothers, Pradip Agarwal and Vishal Agarwal of Mudra Prime Wealth have built a SIP book of Rs.1.05 crore in just 20 months.
Both Pradip and Vishal used to work at a distribution firm. They started on their own in December 2022. Interestingly, the MFD duo did not take any clients from their previous distribution firm and decided to start from scratch.
From the very first day, the MFD duo has focussed on a niche approach i.e. they cater to individuals staying in small cities and rural areas and women clients.
Pradip and Vishal told Cafemutual that both the segments are uncharted territory. They said, “Majority of MFDs focus on big cities. No one reaches out to people in small cities with 20-25k population, gram panchayats and women clients. Hence, we thought there is a big opportunity in these two segments.”
The MFD duo share with us their recipe for success. Let us look at them.
Social welfare
The MFDs organise free health check-up camps in small cities and rural areas. They also set up cold water kiosks during summer and shelters for pilgrims during the auspicious Shravan month.
These activities help them to establish a relationship with local people and increase their visibility. Also, the MFD duo said that these activities help them to generate leads.
Knowledge sessions
The MFDs organise awareness sessions on SIPs for small groups.
They hold sessions for teachers, salaried individuals, small business owners and independent workers in small cities and rural areas. For women clients, they conduct these sessions for nurses and women self-help groups.
They use their client network to initiate these sessions in their native places.
In these sessions, they talk about opportunities in India through a campaign called Bharat Ka Shatak – Jo Tikega Wohi Jitega.
Another interesting thing that they do is asking participants to share their views on India’s growth story. “Majority of Indians are positive about India’s growth. This help us to encourage them to participate in this growth story through SIPs in mutual funds,” they said.
The MFDs also play a video of AMFI campaign in which Sachin Tendulkar says Mutual Funds Sahi Hai’. They said, “Everyone watches cricket in India. Also, many people admire Sachin and believe that he will not things which are not good for people like gutka or online betting apps.”
The brothers conduct at least 2 to 3 large sessions (for up to 50 people) and multiple small sessions (for up to 10 people) a month every Saturday and Sunday.
The MFD brothers conduct these sessions in West Bengal, Odisha and north eastern states like Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Mizoram.
Follow ups and individual meetings
Post each session, the Mudra team follows up with the attendees the very next day. In their experience, the chances of conversion increase if follow up happens immediately.
The team seeks their feedback and requests them for a meeting. Currently, their conversion rate is 40% through IAPs.
Business plans
The MFD brothers have set a target to open at least 150-200 new SIPs every month. Also, the MFDs aim to bring in 30 new clients to the MF fold through SIPs.
Solution based selling
Pradip and Vishal tell their clients to identify financial goals and link their SIP with it. They said, “Since the majority of people do not have any financial goals in mind, we help them identify their goals and tell them the cost of the goals after factoring in inflation. We finally help them chalk out a SIP plan that can help them achieve their goals.”
The MFD brother duo believes that investors invest for the long term if they link their investment with financial goals.
Currently, the MFD duo caters to over 1000 clients. Of this, 40% are in rural areas and 25% are women. The MFD duo aims to create a monthly SIP book of Rs.5 crore by 2026 and Rs.10 crore by 2030.