Innovative marketing peppered with a human touch helps Ritesh Sheth win over his clients, Ravi Samalad reports.
On a busy
traffic junction at Manchbhai Road in Malad, kids are handing out red roses to
drivers. A small note attached to it reads: “We understand your frustration.
You would have experienced the same frustration with your investments.” Some
500 roses were distributed.
This simple yet innovative initiative helped Ritesh rope in a mix of upwardly mobile clients, bus drivers and auto rickshaw drivers. He added 200 new clients in 2 months through that one-day exercise.
Ritesh has adopted such out-of-the-box yet emotional campaigns very often. He had organized a one-day picnic to Lonavala, a hill station near Mumbai, for 112 retired people from his neighborhood, entirely funded by him. He didn’t talk about his services during or after the picnic for soliciting investments. In return, he got a lot of referrals through them.
He has also sowed the seeds of financial planning among the Mumbai police force. He goes to talk about investments at various municipal ward offices as well. He used to sit at health counters of municipal ward offices and distribute free contraceptives. “Both are necessities of life,” explains Ritesh.
I am at his office on a busy street which leads to Mumbai’s suburban Malad station. His mother Kalpana Sheth, who had taken up distribution of small saving schemes 30 years back to supplement family income, is sitting in a cubicle next to him. One of his clients, a young guy has come to redeem his investment in a mid cap fund whose value has fallen below the initial investment value. The fund was recommended by Ritesh. The guy was advised by a relationship manager of a bank to redeem it ‘as the market is heading for a freefall’. Ritesh is trying to convince him that he should not worry about the market and in fact should pump in more money now. Ritesh shows him the fund portfolio to convince him that the fund has been performing well. The guy is convinced and we head to a nearby restaurant to find a quiet place. We settle for two plates of idlis followed by cola.
Ritesh has seen the industry as a teenager when his parents operated from a small office in Malad. He used to spend a couple of hours after school at the office, lending a hand to his parents. After completing his college education, Ritesh joined the family business.
Ritesh has always tried to do something different ever since he took over the reins of his family business. To market child plans, Ritesh dressed a man in a cartoon character suit and got him to distribute educational brochures among children in nearby housing societies. The brochures illustrated the benefits of investing through cartoons. This activity got him 90 applications from parents, who got those brochures from their kids.
Ritesh is not an advisor who likes to chase HNIs. Instead, he is proactively spreading the word of financial planning among groups like Mumbai police, navy and army officers, who need financial planning the most. The roadside florist around his office is running a Rs. 500 per month SIP with him. Ritesh is involved in health awareness campaigns as well.
Ritesh and his parents have always believed in giving back to society. He and his father are the trustees of some schools. Ritesh also runs a small school, where he is providing free education to underprivileged children. He is reluctant to disclose more details about it because he doesn’t like publicizing his charity.
Ritesh has also been organizing counseling session. His idea is not to tell them that they have been sold a wrong product by a fellow agent or poach clients. “Being a part of the distribution fraternity, you can’t talk ill about others. The entire advisory community then appears to be in a bad light. All I give them is a solution to come out their problems,” says Ritesh.
Apart from giving financial gyan, Ritesh also keeps his clients up-to-date on the usage of social media and technology by roping in experts.
Both Ritesh and his mother have been awarded by the state government for excellence in distribution of postal schemes. He was chosen by Maharashtra government to talk about investments for navy officers. He has done at least 3,000 odd events so far.
He does all the activities independently, without taking any help from AMCs. Not surprising then, Ritesh has roped in 6,000 clients with his unique marketing techniques.