Ms. Uma Ajay Sheth, Mumbai
Ms. Uma Sheth from Mumbai had a very unique journey on the path of becoming Financial Advisor.Uma studied upto School Final, started her career with the profile of receptionist in Limited Company. After her marriage when she was looking to start some work, the defining moment to start with Financial advisory came into her life when her neighbour suggested her to take an LIC agency. Her LIC experience gave her a big leaning “The expectation of the people was that there should be provision to save small amounts regularly.” Later Uma joined NJ as a Partner and started with MF advisory. When it comes to building wealth through MF, Uma strongly believes that saving through SIP does not impose financial hardship on the individuals and results one day in a considerable saving, to the surprise of the investors. Her strength in building business is her constant touch with the clients. She believes that human interaction plays a big role in building long lasting relationship with Clients.
Team e-Saathi with pride presents an interview of a A Lady from Mumbai - Ms. Uma Sheth. We wish her & all her clients all the very best in this journey of Wealth Creation.
ES: Please introduce yourself and also share your vision and mission or goals in life.
Answer: I am Mrs. Uma Ajay Sheth. I have studied upto School Final. After that I could not go for higher studies due to family circumstances.
I got a job in a Ltd. company, where I joined as a Telephone operator cum Receptionist. I worked there for almost 10 years at various positions, where I got the opportunity to learn many things.
Then I got married, there was no need for me to go for work since I was married in a well-to-do family. But due to some problem in business, to support my family, I thought of working again, but couldn't take up a full time job as I had a small child to look after, also I did not have an exact idea as to what I should and could do with the little education I had.
When I had expressed this concern to one of my neighbors, seeing my exuberance, he, an LIC DO, had suggested that I should try my hand as an LIC agent (whereby I will not be bound by a time-frame at work). I followed his advice immediately and did work very hard. Very soon, even before I myself could realize, I had become an expert in convincing people the need to have their life covered with an insurance policy. I was stunned when I started receiving laurels and appreciations from the authorities in LIC as well as from my esteemed customers. All this I could achieve very fast and that too in a couple of years of hard work and unconditional support of my family.
ES: What inspired you to choose the career of a financial advisor / distributor?
Answer: During my interaction with different types of people belonging to different echelons of the society while functioning as an agent of the LIC, I found that there were a lot of people who wanted to invest some of their earnings, in addition to procuring a life insurance cover for them. The expectation of the people was that there should be provision to save small amounts regularly (just like premium to the LIC policy). Keeping this in view, I had been studying various schemes available in the market.
ES: Setting the financial advisory business takes some time. How did you handle the challenges on the financial front in the initial period of the business?
Answer: Instead of setting up an office and providing for its overhead etc., I had preferred to visit customers and prospective investors personally. Many of the contacts I made were by personal visits and only a few were initially through telephone. As I started gradually building up customer-confidence in me, by words of mouth, prospective customers started seeking my advice and services. Today I am proud that I have personal interaction with my customers.
ES: What made you to join NJ as NJ Partner?
Answer: Like I said earlier, I had been on the look out of various schemes in the market and was always analyzing which would suite most of the customers I had come across who had sought my advice on saving. During one such study I had come across NJ and subsequent to my making inquiries with reliable sources for details and authenticity of the NJ services, I liked what I heard about them and also what I had seen about a few people who were partners in NJ. This ended my quest for search of a financial services for my prospective customers. Therefore, I joined them without any hesitation or reservation.
ES: Do you promote the idea of savings through MF SIP in your clients?
Answer: Yes, positively and surely. I strongly believe that saving through MF SIP does not impose financial hardship on the individuals and results one day in a considerable saving, to the surprise of the investors.
ES: Client communications is an integral part of your business. Please share any best practices / services related to communications adopted by you.
Answer: Like I have stated earlier, I have always believed that human-interaction plays a very vital role in building up strong communication. I have always made it a point, therefore, to visit personally not only prospective customers but also existing customers so that they feel secure and have someone to look upon to seek clarifications/ assistance etc. in the field of saving. True, there are a lot of people today who have taken up to online transactions on many matters. Still they long for human-touch and advice when it comes to financial matters. In addition, in our country the computer-literacy is not yet fully achieved. Hence, the customers/ clients who are not computer-literate (due to their old age or lack of infrastructure at their end etc.) still seek human assistance.
I have a customer who wanted to start saving a certain amount for her new-born. For this when she made use of her computer to study the various options available to her, she was not satisfied & could not decide a scheme. She then called me up for a personal visit and we spent some time during which I had explained to her almost all that she had seen on the computer. In the end she could decide and started a small saving and thanked me for assisting her – while I had not told her anything that was not available on her computer. I then realized that human-interaction does play a valuable role.
ES: How much importance do you give to Insurance in you advisory practice?
Answer: I give equal importance to insurance in my advisory practice as it has its own significance.
ES: How do you educate and convince your clients for mutual funds, especially the first time investors?
Answer: My existing customers, whom I had enrolled during my work as LIC agent, have full faith in my knowledge on the matter and also on my aim in prodding them to ensure regular saving, albeit a small one.
With regard to the other first time investors, I call them up and make an appointment for personal visit. During such visits, I first hear their financial fear and concerns. I study their family size and status and then I proceed to explain to them as to what would be the best scheme suitable them, fitting their budget and alleviating their fears about financial insecurity.
ES: Your experience with NJ's technology initiatives in terms of various Desks for Clients & Partners?
Answer: The overall experience has been good. It keeps us updated, and is also a one stop solution to a lot of requirements, such as statements, valuations, upcoming schemes, performing funds, etc.
I believe that on-line desk and mobile app. are in sync with the current market requirements, and is surely a necessity, rather than a luxury.
ES: Please share with us any standards / best practices related to client segmentation. If yes, also share any differentiation made in service offerings to these client segments.
Answer: I haven’t segmented the clients on any basis, and offer each service equally, be it a person investing 500 a month or 5Lac a day.
ES: Can you share any incident /event which has had a lasting impact on you or your business as a financial advisor /distributor?
Answer: Once I had visited a family which was referred to me through a mutual friend. At the first look itself I could make out that the family, though eager to save, was not going to give in easily.
Hence, I thought on my feet and before I started explaining them various schemes suiting them, I had gone with the lady of the house to their kitchen sink, took a medium vessel, kept it under the kitchen tap and opened the tap a little so that only one or two drops kept falling. When the lady asked me what I was doing, I told her soon she will know and we returned to living room and I spent some time explaining the importance of saving and schemes available suiting their family’s style and budget. They all heard patiently and in full attention.
Thereafter I went to the kitchen with the lady and brought the vessel back to living room to show that the vessel was full with water. I explained to them how only a couple of drops falling regularly into the vessel had added up to a full vessel of water and compared the same with regular saving of a small amount resulting in considerable savings over a period of time.
The entire family was impressed and immediately signed the requisite forms for initiating regular savings. They then appreciated me for the easy way in which I had made them see the point. Even their neighbors who had gathered there for fun sake were impressed and suo moto joined the scheme, getting me unexpectedly additional customer. I will never forget this incidence.
ES: How do you assess /see the future of financial advisory business in India? How can we as Partners be ready / prepared to make the most of it?
Answer: Financial advisory business in India is here to stay. We, as the Partners, can be ready/ prepared to make the most of it by making our existence and availability felt by constant communication through various means, viz., electronic and print media, conferences and meetings, seminars and other accepted modes of mass-interaction.
ES: Self evaluation and assessment is something we all should do regularly. How do you assess your own self and/or your business? Are there any specific parameters you refer to?
Answer: Very truly said that self-evaluation and assessment is something we all should do regularly, which I keep doing without fail. With my background and exposure so far to the business, I assess myself as doing a good job and am open to improvements. I strive hard and spend a small portion of my free time in educating myself about the business to remain up-to-date with the state of the art.
ES: How much importance do you give to Asset Allocation & Risk Profile while offering solution to clients need?
Answer: Yes, I do give a lot of importance to both these things, but there is no specific rule that I follow, I take decisions considering client’s requirement and background.
ES: Winning the trust of a Client is not an easy task. How do you think you can win the trust of the Clients?
Answer: My first and never-failing formula is to meet-and-speak to the customer. My sincerity, my hard-work and my concern to make the customer understand the need to save, which can now be done regularly in small amounts, are automatically reflected to the customer during my first meetings. I also take pains to make the customers feel at home and make them feel that their savings through my hands are safe. I try and make them feel that I am the person whom they can rely and look upon in times of confusions on saving. It then becomes easy to follow-up the same. Of course, it is difficult but I easily achieve the same for which I consider myself to be lucky.
ES: What suggestion / advice you would like to give to new Partners who have yet not established themselves in the business?
Answer: First understand that people are not willing to part with their money easily except for depositing in the bank, they do not and need not have to believe a stranger (you in this case) with their hard-earned money. Even if they choose to believe you, they need not have to believe the schemes / options you offer to save their money. Disclosure of financial position to an unknown person is the last thing we all are prepared to do. So, you must first gain their confidence. You must change your image from an intruder to a friend in their eyes.
You should have sufficient knowledge on the subject to alleviate their fears and confusions about saving/ investing.
If possible, you should also carry some good references recommending you.
At last, if they are convinced and become your customer, you should ensure that you keep in touch with them regularly so that neither their confidence in you nor their future plan to additionally invest through you are lost.
YOU MAY AFFORD TO LOSE A COUPLE OF NEW/ PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMERS – BUT YOU SHOULD NEVER LOSE YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS.
Also, take up work however small it may be, it could always lead to future prospects.
ES: Can you please share your short term and long term targets for your business.
Answer:: Short-term target is to exceed previous year’s performance by 20-30% each year and long-term target is to cross 100 crore AUM.
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