They say, “When there is a will, there is a way.” This old age adage holds true for a farmer and MFD Sahidur Rahman who hails from a village Bantir in Bardhaman district West Bengal.
Rahman did his first SIP drive successfully in which he received 110 SIPs in a single day. Interestingly, he did his SIP drive physically. Overall, 75 people including 23 new clients participated in this SIP amounting to Rs.1.82 lakh.
Let us look at his story:
The push
Reading stories about SIP drives on Cafemutual inspired Rahman to conduct a SIP drive on his own. However, he got confidence to execute one through an official working with ITI Mutual Fund. The official encouraged him by saying, “If you could do a SIP drive, who knows, you would be featured on Cafemutual.”
Rahman told us that these words motivated him to conduct a SIP drive on his own. On June 16, he decided to do his first drive on July 16.
The preparation
Of the total 350 clients, he shortlisted 65 existing clients who had invested through lumpsum in mutual funds. He also made a list of 38 prospective clients through referrals.
Over the next 25 days, he met 8-10 clients a day physically. He told his existing clients about benefits of investing in mutual funds through SIPs. He also recommended them that they should invest small amount every month in equity funds for 10 years to grow wealth and achieve financial goals.
For new clients, he educated them about mutual funds, benefits of SIPs and how mutual funds cannot run away with the money. Rahman said, “Since most of people in my village lost money in chit funds, I first took them through the structure of mutual funds, how it is regulated and why mutual funds cannot shut their operations. In fact, I gave them examples of fund houses which were acquired by new companies.”
The execution
Rahman did his SIP drive physically as his clients are farmers, government employees and small business owners and do not have access to internet banking.
He completed the application forms and collected cheques at least 2 days prior to the date of SIP drive.
The future plan
After the success of his first SIP drive, Rahman said that he will do three SIP drives in a year. He will continue to focus on strengthening his relationship with existing clients and reaching out to new prospects through referrals.
The learning
Rahman said that many people wants to invest in mutual funds. “While they heard ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’, they need a helping hand to understand ‘Mutual Funds Kyu Sahi Hai’. MFDs should focus on educating clients about benefits of mutual funds to grow business in B30 locations,” he said.
Another key learning for Rahman was SIP drive requires adequate time. MFDs should keep at least one month time to execute SIP drive. During this time, they should meet their clients personally to give them confidence on mutual fund investments, he said.
About Rahman
Rahman started distributing life insurance policies in 1999 to supplement his income. In 2017, he actively started distributing mutual funds to expand his offerings.
Today, Rahman manages assets of close to Rs.8 crore in mutual funds and has a SIP book of Rs.8 lakh per month. Interestingly, most of his clients are villagers.
Rahman is also into farming. He cultivates paddy and potato every year.
This is Rahman’s story. We would love to hear your story as well. Tell us your story in the comment section below.
