Dr. Jayesh M. Shah, Maninagar – Ahmedabad.
Jayesh started working as a general practitioner after completion of his MBBS in a small village. For him Investment in Equity was a passion since childhood and started experiencing with investment in equity IPOs. From his college days only he used to give advise about different financial products to his friends & family. It was his interest only that made him to remain attached with the area of Financial Advisory. His passion & Interest, finally lead him to take a path of a financial advisory business and today being in financial advisory profession, he is experiencing a level of satisfaction that every business person always dreamed of. Jayesh with his positive mindset & attitude always saw an opportunity in every product and service offered by NJ to grow his business. He believes that mistakes are a part of life but learning from them makes you perfect at every stage of life and in every area of your profession.
With a pride Team e-Saathi presents to its readers – a story of a financial doctor who is working for the financial health of his clients.
ES:How did you get to know about NJ and what convinced you to become a partner?
Jayesh: I was busy in my medical practice,but financial planning is my hobby,so during my practice I was actively involved in investment products like Equity IPO, Govt. Bonds, and UTI Schemes etc. In late 2006, one of the agency manager form NJ India had arranged a meeting for postal agents in Maninagar–Ahmedabad. I had attended that meeting along with my wife who is a postal agent and I heard the word "Trail Commission" first time in my life. How the Trail commission concept works for advisors in long term was explained to us in detail. Concept of SIP for long term wealth creation was also explained & discussed in detail in that seminar. After getting the detail understanding about MF product and without wasting so much time, I made up my mind to join NJ India invest as Mutual Fund Advisor. After passing AMFI, I joined NJ India invest Pvt. Ltd. in November 2006.
ES: You are a doctor and now an IFA so what makes to take a shift from your old profession and to start with advisory business.
Jayesh: A very interesting question,because medical profession is a noble profession. As far as work satisfaction and monetary gain is concerned this profession is at the top level, so somebody might be thinking that I may have some kind of dissatisfaction with my medical practice but that was not the case. Actually i was doing my practice as a family physician in small village. I did my practice for 20 years from 1989 to 2009 very satisfactorily. From my student life I was investor in equity products through primary market & was acting as a sub broker for financial products and used to advise my relatives and friends.
Now in those days, I came to know about a seminar is going to be arranged on subject called "Mind Power Training".I have heard about this kind of seminars but never attended it, So finally I decided to have experience of it and I attended that seminar on Mind Power. In that training session the most important lesson I learnt is described in below sentence - a sentence on which so much emphasized was given by the trainer, he told us
"if u make your hobby your profession, you will get great success in your life."
This sentence awake me suddenly, it brought a big changed in me and my thinking. The final outcome of those thinking is a person who is today standing against you. I took a journey of becoming a financial advisor and today I can say with pride and satisfaction that
"I became a financial doctor who is working for the financial health of his clients"
From 2001 to 2006 my medical practice was going on along with my financial advisory business. But after joining NJ, financial advisory used to remain a top priority and medical practice at second. Finally, somewhere in January 2010 I made up my mind to leave with medical profession and started concentrating on advisory business. Since then I am working as a full time Investment advisor& financial planner. Today I can say that I changed myself from "Doctor of Health" to "Doctor of Wealth".
ES:Your response to the word – SIP ?
Jayesh: Actually most of my AUM has been built up through SIP Only. In initial period in 2007-2008 when market was bullish lump sum investment was coming with less efforts. So I was somewhat less focused towards SIP Business but after January 2008 for the period from 2008 to 2013 when market was highly volatile I fully concentrated on SIP business. As much of my Mutual Fund Business is from retail category I understand their needs and advised them accordingly. I think SIP is the product at the top of list if you want to do goal based financial planning of your clients. Thanks to NJ India and its management for promoting concept of SIP since long and make investor community happier. It is easiest and convenient way for disciplined investment.
ES:Share with the challenges you faced in setting up financial advisory business?
Jayesh: Today there are so many financial advisors/agents are there in this profession, they do sell many financial products but I believe it is essential to have goal based planning according to need of clients. There are misconceptions exists among investors about MF such as investors do not know the difference between ULIP& MF, they don't know what to do with investment etc. In all such case we should guide them. Investor's behavior changes according to market sentiment and they always try to time the market.
Challenges such as regulatory changes which have came into effect like abolition of entry load, KYC requirement changes, service tax burden etc. made me frustrated at a time but focus & passion for this business has never disturbed me.
Frankly, I also have done many mistakes during my journey of financial advisory business but I learned from every mistakes I made, as Life is all about acknowledging the mistakes and finding solution for it.
You never know how close you are to achieve your dream so never give up on yours dreams. I believe that each one must stick to equity in every phase, whether it is a bull phase or a bear phase. One should remain throughout equity cycles as it always provides an opportunity to take benefit of Power Of Compounding.
ES:Tell us something about your working style.
Jayesh: Knowledge is the power. Keep yourself updated. I personally attend all financial seminars, NJ monthly meets regularly. I read financial newspapers, interviews, articles regarding financial planning etc. & always try to remain with my client especially in their needs regarding investments. Hard work has no alternatives but I personally believe smart work is more important for smart success.
For smart work, In-detailed Product knowledge is a primary requirement. I always try to be a student with all eagerness to know all new developments in my field whether it is my medical field or my financial advisory business.
Even today I regularly attend all my CMES (Conti. Medical education) seminars & conferences arranged by medical associations. I am also active in social life & my experience is that all these activities helps you in relation build up & in your business development.
Your knowledge for the products helps you to solve investment related queries of your clients. I have converted my cold calls successfully with my ability to solve even a most Difficult queries. So one should always remain updated with all latest happening in the industry and by gaining product knowledge time to time.
A good office place, experienced back office staff is the need of an hour. One must consider all such things as an investment into the business & not an expense. I do believe in value of time &explain it to my clients also as in financial advisory business–Time is Money.
"CLICK EVERY OPPORTUNITIES IN FINANCIAL MARKET"
During my journey i have taken advantages of new opportunities in mutual fund business like SIP INSURE, Gold Savings Funds,My Gold Plan,Debt Opportunities ,RGESS , NJ TADA Platform, NJ MARS etc.I always do regular client meets, courier activities for my existing clients as well as for new client & my experience is that every activity always pays. I think asset allocation is the key for portfolio performance from client perspective & it impact positively in portfolio. it should be the key point of your investment advice.Client referral is the easiest way to acquire new clients. I always took reference seriously. I have Categorize my clients according to their AUM, SIP values in different category like platinum, gold and silver etc. I adjust service category for different set of clients according to their category.
ES:Say something about NJ Products & Services.
Jayesh:At NJ we all advisors are called as NJ Wealth Partners, this itself shows the culture at NJ INDIA and this makes NJ a huge FAMILY of Partners – an NJ FAMILY. I believe that we all will grow if NJ will grow & vise versa. At NJ PBC event we show the intimacy between Management & Partners.
I think for mutual fund business, NJ has got one of the best platform in the industry. NJ PARTNER DESK, CLIENT DESK etc. are the best example. I always start my day with NJ partner desk, it provides me all information about my latest position just on click. NJ client desk provides my client all information regarding their mutual fund portfolio. It also provides an opportunity to my client to upload all his investment products details like insurance details, bank FDR,P.P.F. details,equity inv. Details,NCDS etc. & thus client can convert this desk into his WEALTH Account. I give all this product information to my client in very first meeting & it helps me to acquire new clients easily.
NJ TADA platform is a big opportunity for advisors to grow their business . Today, I can say that I have converted almost 80% of my accounts in TADA & this year planning to convert all my existing active clients on TADA PLATFORM.
Publications such as NJ FUNDS WATCH,PERFORMANCE WATCH are so much useful indeed. It gives us all required information regarding funds performance across the categories, comparison of the PAST PERFORMANCE of all funds,their position in different quartiles etc.
Previously we were getting leads from NJ India during NFOs, Gold Funds etc. I took those leads sincerely and acted aggressively to convert those leads to my client. Many of my platinum &gold category clients are from lead conversion.
NJ CUSTOMER CARE service has helps me a lot to resolve all my queries instantly. All customer service executives there are highly knowledgeable, I am thankful to them.
NJ BizMall:
NJ BizMall products plays a very important role for creating your brand image.I have use many BizMall Products such as one pagers, flayers, newsletter, birthday & greetings cards etc. extensively to acquire new client. The product content & quality of the material remains best in the industry.
MCS is a great product & many of my clients appreciate the contents & they also share it with their groups so it is very effective product for communication.The latest bizmall product VISUAL AID will be of great help for one to one client meet as it provides all details regarding different mutual fund products .
Technology:
Each financial advisor should learn how to use technology to streamline his business. I think for a business like ours which is so service intensive, you have no choice but to invest in a technology that helps you to grow bigger so always use technological support to strengthen your business.
I think NJ TADA platform is really great & it remained a game changing platform for me as it has totally changed my style of working. I have converted almost 80% of my business into Demat Form. I encourage all my new clients compulsorily to have TADA. Today time is the most precious commodity both for advisor & client so TADA is the only answer to all these shortcomings.
NJ MARS is also a great service as it provides asset allocation feature and I do believe in asset allocation as it is the key activity to mange portfolio. I like to use it according to Risk appetite of client.
ES:Any advice/suggestions you want to give to our existing partners and others who are in an queue to join NJ.
Jayesh:"Winners do not do the different things they do the things differently."
Yes, this one sentence is the key for my success. As I am also like you a small mutual fund advisor deals mostly in retail category, facing all types of difficulties in my day to day operations but I am passionate about my mutual fund business. I also deals in other fin. Instruments like insurance, savings products, Govt. Bonds etc. But my focus is mutual fund investments & SIP.
I believe one should keep his/her focus on the things which are in your hand & stop focusing on the people and circumstances which are not in your hand. Have a Focus to make situation better, it differentiates you from the crowd. Always try to remain with your client in his needs, try to understand his needs & support him & you will be the winner. Always put client interest first. You have to be competent, honest & transparent in your client relationship. These things go a long way in building trust & creditability among clients.
Mistakes are bound to happen in any field. Important thing is you should learn a lesson out of every mistake. However, make sure that those mistakes are not repeated in future. Have passion & love for your profession.
My target is to achieve Rs. 200 crore AUM by 2024 when i shall turn 60 and will enjoy my retirement life with financial freedom.
Finally I am thankful to NJ India & its management, my pathfinders Mr.Prashant Sir, Mr.Manish Sir and everyone at Maninagar branch for supporting me whole heartedly during my journey of mutual fund business with NJ. I am also thankful to my all clients without their support this achievement would not have possible. Thank you all.
Thanks Team e-Saathi for giving me this opportunity to share my views with all readers. Thank you !
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