" A satisfied customer is one who will continue to buy from you, seldom shop around, refer other customers and in general be a superstar advocate for your business" - Gregory Ciotti

Just imagine you have shifted into a new apartment, and you get up in the morning and your wife asks you to get milk. So, you go to the nearest milk booth which is almost 200 meters from your place and the shopkeeper greets you with a smile and hands over the milk packets to you. The next day, you go to the same milk booth, exchange smiles, buy milk and come home. This continues for 6 months, you greet each other, exchange smiles, talk about random things at times; you have developed a bond with the milk vendor. One day you see that a new milk booth has opened and this one is almost 100 meters from your home, while for the old one, you had to walk almost 200 meters everyday. What would you do? Would you dismiss your earlier booth and buy milk from the new vendor or would you choose to walk another 100 meters? You would go to your old vendor because of the rapport you share, the bond of trust that is built between you and the milk vendor.

This holds true for any business. People buy relationships and not products.

The World is getting bigger, the number of companies and the products are increasing, businesses are expanding as well as getting complex with the advent of new things, new requirements, increasing competition, etc., yet the fundamentals remains the same; working on trust is still the best business strategy.

In advisory business, customer is not just at the center, it is actually all about them. A financial advisor can survive only if he is good at winning the trust of his clients.

How do I win my Clients' Trust?
Each advisor has his own style, personality traits and a set of unique skills through which his clients develop affinity towards him, yet there are certain tried and tested tips which you may apply and win your client's trust:

• Do Not Overcommit & underperform: The primary cause resulting in trust issues between you and your client is committing what you might not be able to execute. He believes in you and if you promise something, you are setting an expectation in his mind and if you are not able to fulfill your promise, your client's expectations are being shattered. There is loss of trust. So, next time if you tell him to invest in a product, he might not do it because he does not trust you anymore. So, be conservative when you set expectations, under promise and over perform.
• Knowledge: This is the basic. An investor is looking for someone who knows about investing, the products available and the ones which are best suited for him. He is not looking for a layman because he himself is one. You should be really strong in technicals, the new products being launched, any important financial news. The point is you should not be blank when your client is in doubt, at any time he shouldn't get a vibe of unawareness. So the client trust you that his money is in the hands of someone experienced and knowledgeable.
• Show them you care: "Your customer doesn't care how much you know until they know much they care" – Damon Richards

Your client must not at any time get the feeling that your inclination towards a product, or your sales targets, etc., are the reason behind him investing. He should be at the centre always. They should feel that you are attentive to his needs and problems. Your relationship with your customer is like your relationship with your wife, both of them should feel that you care.

• Be Empathetic: Learn the art of stepping into his shoes and understanding his perspective. Equity might be an ideal product for him if you consider his age and income factors, but he doesn't want to invest in equities because he wants to contribute this money for his sister's wedding which is happening a year hence. And he is not ready risk his principal. Or may be his father has had a bad experience with equities in the past, so he is unsure. It is your job to evacuate that aversion, explaining the probable reasons for his father's loss and justifying why is equity the best product for him. You must understand his position and advise, so that he is clear and believes in his investment.
• Don't ignore: Don't ever commit the sin of ignoring your clients, especially when there is volatility in the markets. Your clients are concerned because it is their hard earned money which is falling, they are bound to panic. "Do not not respond to their calls", they need you the most, and it is your responsibility to to listen to them, assure them and make them believe in their decisions.

A financial advisor is a combination of Knowledge, experience and Trust. You can win the battle only if you build the right proportion of the three elements.

Get closer than ever to your customers. So close that you tell them what they need well before they realize it themselves. ~ Steve Jobs

During the colossal market crash of 2008, many investors lost their wealth. That phase led to negative sentiment towards equities in most Indian hearts. People lost their conviction towards equities, they sold off whatever shares they had, booked huge losses, and directed their money towards fixed income securities.

But then slowly, the bruises started to heal, the markets started to revive, and people gradually developed confidence in the markets once again.

And in the mid of all this chaos, the ones who were calm, who did not sell when the prices went down, who waited for the storm to pass, who were optimistic about the future, were the ones who gained.

The Sensex is celebrating the Indian economy's success and is at its all-time high. And amidst this air of positivity, there are two types of pessimist investors, you have to deal with. Their bruises have healed, but the marks are still there which makes them panic at every other news in the market.

1. Those who want to sell, because they have made profits on their investments: These are your existing clients, who invested some time back, they are super happy to see their gains since the markets took a steep upsurge recently. They might or might not have invested in equity or mutual funds for certain goals, but now since they have made profits, they want their money back, they want to feel the contentment which has been bestowed onto them by the harvest on their investment. They believe that this is the peak, and if they do not redeem now, they may not be able to yield this much tomorrow.

So as their advisor, you must hold them from falling prey to their emotions. You should explain to them that:

• Until they are not in dire need of money or it's time for a goal to be fulfilled, they shouldn't encash their investment.

• Lastly, make your clients realize they are investors and not speculators. They are here for the long haul. They are not the ones who dived in to be gratified by short term nominal gains, rather they should crave for more by being invested for the long run.

2. Those who do not invest, because they believe that it would be expensive to invest at market highs: Many of your prospective clients or existing clients may also be of the view that “since the markets are so high, the cost of acquiring investments would also be high, so let's wait for some time for the markets to fall and we'll invest then.”

So, for these investors, you have two options:

• One, you explain to them that there is no right or wrong time to invest. You never know, the markets may never take a U-turn, so if that happens and the investor procrastinates his purchase decision to purchase on the notion that markets will fall, will end up paying extra money later.

• Two, SIP is the solution to all problems. Whatever happens in the world, just keep paying your SIP installment. At the end, your total cost will be averaged out, no good or bad will have a significant impact on the acquisition cost. The Power of compounding will help your money multiply of the years.

Your clients panic because they have had a bad investment history, they panic because they get influenced by the TV anchors who propagate that markets are at their peak and a fall will begin very soon. The true role of a financial advisor comes to play at such times, your clients need the right advice. You cannot ask them to not watch the TV, or forget the past, but can definitely hold them back, ensure them that the right thing to do is wait and watch their small money create huge wealth for them.

What a fantastic journey it has been. India has made enormous progress in the last 73 years since Independence. Education levels have gone up, standard of living has gone up, we have access to better health care. We have better roads, some of the world's best airports, lowest cost digital connectivity. Pharma, IT, Banking are some of the sectors where we are leaders in the world. We have reached MARS, created our own Silicon Valley. From Sports to Bollywood, we continue to grow across all spheres. From a power deficient nation to clinching the leadership position in solar power. Your grandparents are living testimony to the evolution of India from a land which was once stripped of all its riches, to a flourishing nation now, look around North, South, East, West, you can see the prosperity everywhere. India is a land of entrepreneurs who have created world class businesses in different segments. Indian Diaspora spread across the world is enhancing our soft power. Not only do we get highest remittances from them, but Indians abroad are leading world's top most companies too.

We have come a long way and yet this is only the beginning, there are areas where we continue to be in the work in progress status. Still many people continue to live in abject poverty, our education system churns out new unemployable youth year on year, medical facilities are yet to reach every nook and corner of the country. Corruption still continues, we remain on tenterhooks at our borders, with poor air quality and high pollution we continue to treat nature shabbily and the pandemic above all, continue to be our challenges.

Yet as Madhavan said famously in Rang de Basanti, “Koi bhi Desh Perfect Nahi Hota, Usse Perfect Banana padta hai” As Indians it is our duty to work together to reach this goal of perfection for our country. There is always scope to do better.

We, Financial Distributors, can do our part in changing the fortunes of our country, through our little contribution in the financial services industry. While India and Indians continue to grow, we are going to play a pivotal role in the growth of the country for years ahead. With our right advice, we need to motivate more and more traditional investors to channelise their savings into modern and better financial products. This not only ensures that we will help them prosper and achieve their dreams, they will also benefit maximum from the tremendous growth story waiting to unfold in the years to come. On the other hand this money invested in financial assets, takes care of the needs of our dynamic entrepreneurs hungry for capital. A win win situation overall. With proper risk coverage, we can ensure millions of families do not get financially affected when an unforeseen crisis hits them.

Just imagine, if in the next 10-15 years, you are able to reach out to 1,000 investors and lets assume they are going to create wealth of Rs. 1 Cr each, it will be you who will play an instrumental role in creating wealth of Rs 1,000 Cr for the country, changing the lives of 1000 families. If one partner can do that, think about the power of thousands of partners doing it together. A steady, consistent effort from our end, can have such a huge impact in forthcoming years that we cannot even imagine today. Let's bring about a wave of change which will free our fellow citizens from financial shackles and lead us to becoming a developed nation,

Another dialogue from Rang De Basanti, this time from Amir Khan is apt for the situation, “Zindagi jeene ke do tareeke hai, ek, jo ho raha he hone do, bardasht karte raho, Ya phir duja, Zimmedari Uthao usse badalne Ki”. So, come on all the partners. Lets take the responsibility this independence day to pass on this “amrit” of financial independence each day every day to at least 2 of our fellow Indians and help them reshape their lives and dreams. Let's all do it together to build a better, stronger, beautiful India.

Vande Mataram. Jai Hind.

Written by: Mr. Husaini Kanchwala, Head of Investments, NJ Group.

For any suggestion & feedback, write to him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.