Meet Mr. Maher Dhamodiwala, Mumbai
Maher is one of our leading and dynamic Partners from Mumbai. An ex-NJ employee, Maher started his advisory business in 2007 and has never looked back. Known for his soft demeanor and a smiling personality, it comes as no surprise that keeping a constant touch with clients is his top agenda. Becoming successful Partner in a relatively short time, Maher has some valuable learnings for other Partners. We take great pleasure in presenting this interview to our readers.
Please share your experience with NJ for our readers. How did you get in touch with NJ India Invest Pvt Ltd and since how long are you associated with NJ as financial advisor ?
After completing my MMS from Mumbai, joined NJ in 2005 in Pune as a BM looking after the Rest of Maharashtra region. Being in Sales, I really learned a lot about financial markets, products and the distribution business. In my role I used to try and convince people to join the financial advisory / distribution business with NJ. Then there came a point that I myself got convinced about the business as a Partner. Finally in 2007, I quit NJ as an employee and become a Partner. It was with NJ that I found my true calling and the confidence to be a successful Partner.
What inspired you to leave your wonderful Job at NJ and start your own business?
The job at NJ was truly a very interesting and educating one. As a person, it truly helped develop me as a person. But being an entrepreneur was perhaps my true calling, my destiny. NJ that gave me the conviction for the advisory business. My experience too added to the confidence. At a personal level I too wanted to do something big on my own. All these things inspired me to make the difficult choice and I am glad that I made it.
Tell us about your initial journey. What kind of challenging troubles did you face?
There were no such extraordinary challenges but I can highlight three challenges that were relatively difficult to handle...
First was convincing clients for making investments in Mutual Funds. There wasn't much awareness or confidence about mutual funds then and there had to be a lot of explaining to be done to make clients understated mutual funds.
Second challenge was to create a trust factor which was missing when I first started the business. There were clients who used to judge me and my services before reposing trust on me. To do this, clients used to keep a check on service standards, updates, communications, etc. Some clients even used to invest only a part of their investible amount before gaining trust to invest the rest of the money.
The third challenge that I can share is getting the client appointments. In the beginning, frankly many clients did not take me seriously when I tried to contact them for meetings.
Lastly, I must add that the challenges were never too big for me since I had the vision and the conviction in the business and the readiness to do the hard work. These ingredients truly helped me overcome the challenges.
Tell us about your business model? What kind of services are you offering?
To be very honest, there no specific or any specialised business model that I have adopted. But to answer this question, all I can say is "Keep a Regular Touch". This phrase mostly explains you my business model. Consistent, relevant and timely communication to all my clients is the business model I follow.
On the services question, I generally treat my clients on case to case basis. If any client expects or deserves any special consideration / treatment then I am happy to oblige. I offer what I have and that is the basket of products & services that NJ provides to its' Partners which I believe is more than adequate.
On the advisory front, I believe in adopting a professional and methodological approach towards Investment planning. I am a firm believer in asset allocation principle and have consistently adhered to this principle in my advisory responsibility. Regular and timely review & rebalancing of client's portfolio is something I plan, track and record for all my clients.
How do you manage your clients? Can you highlight some activities /best practices that you follow?
Again, I must add that there are any special or different activities that I do compared to other Partners. I however to focus more on the communications side with clients. As part of the process, I regularly keep sending them flyers and other literature being provided by our BizzMall of which I am a very active user. On occasions like birthdays and anniversaries, I remember greeting my clients with cards and bouquets. I keep my clients regularly updated on events, developments, new products and services through SMS and emails.
In addition to above, I also regularly conduct Client Meets over Hi-Tea. Being in the presence of other clients also gives each individual client more confidence on me and the products that I am pitching. Partners should realise and exploit this unique advantage of Client Meets. Client Meets also gives a good opportunity to welcome and present yourself to new prospects, references who may likely turn into clients. To summarise, I follow the basic, time tested, on-field strategies of NJ to run my show. "Simply Follow NJ" is the big practice that I follow.
Winning the trust of a Client is not an easy task. How do you think you can win the trust of the Clients?
Yes. It is not an easy task but as I said is not something that is impossible. In my case, as I have already conveyed, commitment, professionalism and communication combine together to really make the difference. You have to be committed in providing quality and timely service to your client and establish your own standards. By professionalism I mean adopting a methodological, logical approach to managing client's investments which I do by simply adhering to the asset allocation principle with the right understanding of the client's profile, risk appetite and his financial goals. Lastly, by communication I mean “to remain in constant touch” with clients.
Which product do you think you has more challenges for you as a financial advisor and how do you manage it?
Insurance – for me insurance is something that is relatively more difficult to convince, sell and service than other products. Please note that it is in relative terms compared to other products in the basket and not in absolute terms. I believe that insurance is an integral part of overall financial planning but pitching it and providing service to client requires some hard work. What I want to highlight is the operational work and difference in process and rules of each individual company. Compared to mutual funds, there is more of standardisation, ease of process and timeliness expected. To suggest a right product for a client also involves greater responsibility. Having shared by personal opinion I must add that insurance means a lot to me and gives me much greater satisfaction as an advisor since protecting a family is a much greater noble cause for which I am working happily.
Tell us about the technology enabled services or solutions that every Partner in NJ should really focus on or adopt in his/her advisory practice.
I believe NJ provides Partners with everything on the technology front that is needed, is innovative and is unique in the industry. Making apt use of all that NJ has to offer on technology has been one of my focus areas. I am a strong proponent of the Partner Desk, TADA and MARS. These are the initiatives / projects that have truly helped me and my business grow.
On Partner Desk, I must add that it should be a must for every Partner who believes in building his business. The desk provides us with all the MIS, Client info and insights we need.
I see TADA as a single window for hassle free investment in vast range of products and believe that in future too NJ will bring many more products on this platform. It is perhaps the most efficient, accurate, cost and time saving method to execute transactions for clients and especially for Partners. It dramatically enhances our productivity and scale as Partners. I see TADA as a must for all investors for its' benefits today and for all the possibilities for new financial products that will come in future.
On MARS, I must say that again it is a great tool – simply superb. It has addressed my greatest challenge which was following the asset allocation strategy for portfolio management for my clients.
Partner Desk, Client Desk, TADA and MARS have all combined together to truly transform our advisory practices. We all Partners must make the most of these services.
What do you consider your best achievement thus far?
Surprisingly, I personally do not feel that there is anything to highlight any specific moment or event yet that qualifies as my best achievement. I also do not believe in defining targets by way setting dates and business figures. My core belief lies in providing quality & satisfactory services to my clients. Winning and maintaining the trust of my clients is perhaps my biggest achievement. And this gets automatically reflected in all my business figures – whether you consider my count clients, AUM or Profit.
What would be your advice to new Partners starting their mutual funds business? Can you please share your success mantra with the readers ?
There are a few things that I wish to convey here.
The first thing is the need to have a clear cut understanding of difference between an advisor or planner and a distributor. An advisor should understand that he is in business for his advising service and not for achieving numbers because he is not a distributor. I sometimes feel that some new Partner do not clearly understand the difference in the role of the two and that confusion leads them to not getting settle down in business.
The next advice is the need to have conviction in Investment business and the ability and willingness to the hard work. I have seen that people hesitate to meet new clients in bad market cycle. I believe we should be with our clients in both good and bad days and should always remain in constant touch. We should give time to our clients and keep the dialogue open.
The final advice is to have a long term view on portfolio management and not take short term decisions. I personally follow asset allocation based investment management approach and advise other Partners to do the same, especially with MARS.
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