Mr. Vinay Baraiya Zonal Manager – NJ Sales.
Vinay Baraiya has a rich experience of over 18 years in the industry and with NJ. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Technology and is an MBA in finance. Presently he is working as a Zonal Manager with NJ & looking after Central Gujarat & Rajasthan. In this interview, Vinay has shared his learnings and experience in dealing with HNI clients.
Q. What are the key qualities or personality traits, an advisor should have to appeal to the HNI clientèle?
Vinay: Professional and social skills along with knowledge, all come into play to make you stand out in the eyes of your premium / HNI clients. As far as knowledge is concerned, an advisor should have have an in-depth understanding about his own and other competing products, asset classes, markets and to a some extent, the economy too. And that is not all. The advisor should also be familiar with the client's profile and his needs. As far as skills are concerned, having strong communication skills, good etiquettes, proper grooming & dressing adds. One should also be tech-savvy as some clients prefer that. Lastly, nothing will work if you are not confident, disciplined and prompt while handling clients. So all in all, one should try and present himself as a complete package and that is the real challenge.
Q. What are the must have's or products and services that an advisor should be ready with for offering to the HNI clients?
Vinay: For an advisor, I am always in favour of having a strong and wide suite of products and asset classes as the starting point of business. One should have a decent bouquet of products like mutual funds, bonds, insurance, PMS and real estate initially. Gradually he can then think of moving on to equities, NPS and other structured products. As far as advisory services are concerned, comprehensive financial planning should be seen as a basic service. The advisor should attempt to go beyond it by providing basic legal and taxation services too, which can be done by tying up with subject matter experts to guide the client.
Q. What are the advantages and challenges of focusing primarily on the HNI clientèle?
Vinay: Targeting any particular client segment has its own advantages and disadvantages and a Partner's focus should be first clearly identified and then pursued according to his/her strengths. As far as HNI clients are concerned, the key advantages are big ticket size, opportunity to get good references, rapid growth of your AUM and less hard work as the client base will be low. On the other hand, there are challenges faced as well in acquiring clients, retaining clients and gaining their trust. Sometimes, one has to persevere and follow up a lot before the client opens up with you. On an ongoing basis, you have to be at your best when it comes to service standards, adjusting to and managing client expectations and lastly to provide the right or the best possible advise to them in all market conditions. The biggest concern however is the risk of loosing an HNI client having a sizable percentage of your business which can hurt you a lot financially.
Q. What are the important things required to retain and grow an HNI relationship?
Vinay: As already discussed, managing expectations and maintaining good quality of advisory and service standards is a must. Beyond that an advisor also needs to have some special qualities to grow a relationship – Ethics, Competence and Trust. An advisor must be client centric with complete focus on client's wealth creation & preservation only. Do not try to sell products which are not suitable or those which you do not have full conviction in. It would be advisable that instead of looking at markets and getting carried away, you should be disciplined in focusing on and sticking to asset allocation as discussed with the client. You also need to be proactive in making investment recommendations as and when opportunities show up, i.e. at the right time, and for accomplishing this, one has to stay updated with all happenings in the industry, in domestic and in global markets. Coming back to basics, one should always be ready with client portfolio details like valuation, P&L, dividend history, ST/LT/gain/loss statements, FMP maturity and so on, and should keep them handy whenever you are meeting or discussing investments with clients.
Q. How do you advice handling / servicing a demanding HNI client?
Vinay: I will stick to the basics here. I believe an advisor should be disciplined and regular in whatever service standards he defines for clients – both as a group as well as on one-to-one basis, depending on the value he attaches to the relationships. Having client details ready and handy whenever you are meeting clients is a very basic thing to do. In addition, you should define and follow a strong communication practice/strategy. All important alerts and developments – both on the client portfolio front and on the external market / economy news front, should be communicated in time to the clients.
Q. Please share any ideas / tips for managing quality service standards and relationships with HNI clients
Vinay: I have already shared a few important points. Beyond that, I believe that one has to act and behave in a professional manner with all clients, not just HNI, where it is most desirable. One should also have good relationship skills. Having a strong technology platform, a dedicated RM as well as a CRO helps a lot. One can also look at updating his clients by doing personnel/telephonic or virtual meetings with market experts or fund managers. Doing periodical portfolio reviews of clients, say once in six months, proper recording of all minutes of all the meetings with clients, never promising any unrealistic returns, focusing on solutions and not on products, etc., are few other points to keep in mind.
Q. How can an advisor decide whether to focus on HNI or retail clients or a mix of both in his clientèle base?
Vinay: As I have already said, an advisor has to identify his/her individual strengths. If an advisor has the qualities and skills as mentioned earlier, then definitely, HNI client segment can be targeted. But, I personally believe that retail clients cannot be ignored as they are the bread and butter for advisors. One should be insulated enough against the risk of loosing his HNI clients resulting in breakdown of his AUM. It is thus always advisable to keep a mix of both in your clientèle.
Q. Are there any effective marketing or promotional activity ideas for acquiring HNI clients or leads?
Vinay: Well when it comes to HNI clients, frankly you are not alone in the hunt. It is best that you let your work do the maximum talking. It is no surprise that referencing is the easiest and the fastest route for acquiring HNI clients as they prefer to work in circles and contacts. Beyond referencing one can explore participating in business fairs, being active in HNI circles like clubs, societies, trusts, etc., participating /sponsoring in special events like NRI meets, HNI client meets and so on. Coming back to basics, one should be acquainted with proper marketing literature and must have his resources in place like website, social media profiles, printed brochures, etc.