Meet Mr. Rajiv Shah & Vikas Soni, (CARE FINANCIAL SERVICES - BARODA)
The Dynamic Duos from the town famous for administration of Mr. Sayajirao Gaekwad - BARODA, are on a path of building an AUM of 1000 crore. Mr. Rajiv & Mr. Vikas of CARE FINANCIAL SERVICES shares common business acumen in the area of financial advisory and have clear vision to tap the opportunities available in the Advisory Business.
It gives us great pleasure in sharing to our readers the outlines of interaction with both Mr. Rajiv & Mr. Vikas with our readers.
Please introduce yourself and also share your vision and mission or goals in life.
Rajiv: Myself Rajiv Shah & Vikas Soni both of us are Partners in Care Financial Services. I am a Commerce graduate from M.S. University, Baroda. I started my career as an Insurance Advisor in 2004 with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance & ICICI Lombard General Insurance.
Vikas Soni is also a commerce graduate from M.S. University, Baroda. He has also done diploma in Computers. He also started his career as an insurance advisor in 2004 with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
We are associated as Fundz Partner since 2004 in NJ. In 2007 we formed a partnership firm "Care Financial Services".
As a Financial Advisor we believe in building relationship to understand the exact needs of our customers and thereby giving them the best solutions for there needs. A strong relationship grounded with trust is the most important aspect between us & our clients.
Our vision is to be most successful in our field of business through, successful wealth creation of our customers with total customer satisfaction. While we constantly look for new ideas and changes that cause positive difference to our clients, we remain true to the values upon which “Care Financial Services” was formed.
What inspired you to choose the career of a financial advisor / distributor?
Rajiv: Well I feel that it was my destiny, which got me into this field as financial advisor, as I had never thought of getting into this field. It just happened to me that I took up the job of Insurance advisor, while I was still in my second year of my graduation just to get some exposure. Then by the time I completed my graduation I had a fairly good foundation in insurance business. So I decided to continue in this field. Then I got to know about Mutual Funds through NJ, so I joined NJ as Fundz Partner in 2004.
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?
Vikas: In our field as wealth advisors you don’t need much of a capital to start the business. In fact this field needs the least capital/finance to start up the business. Since I started doing Mutual Fund business through NJ, I didn’t find much hassle in the initial period of the business. NJ already had a good platform for wealth advisors.
Tell us about your business model? What kind of services are you offering?
Rajiv: Currently we are managing investment portfolio in assets like Mutual Funds, Fixed Deposits, Insurance & Real Estate. We are offering services like online platform to all our clients in the form of TADA, Client Desk, Financial Planning. Our main focus is in Mutual Funds. Managing MF Portfolio’s, providing insight of funds, portfolio review on regular basis.
You are very convinced on equity asset class for long term wealth creation. The question is – how do you convince your clients? Is any standard sales pitch / approach towards this?
Both: We keep things simple. Whenever we meet the client, we try to get maximum information from the client, and most of the times you will find that client is under invested in equities. We try to make them understand the importance of asset allocation and its impact on overall investment portfolio. Then we also make client understand the concept of Real Return on investment, which takes inflation factor into account and the impact it makes in the long term.
You are running the business with your business Partner Vikas. What decision making process do you adopt and how have you segregated your responsibilities?
Rajiv: We enjoy good understanding between us. Its like; if I have anything to say he agrees onto it invariably and vise versa. We both have that trust and confidence in each other, to take any decision for our business. We have segregated clients among us to serve them individually.
What is your strategy to manage the mutual fund portfolio of your clients? Please share of any standard practice being adopted.
Vikas: Initially we did not follow any standard practice to build a portfolio. Our focus was always into Equities and most of our AUM was in Equities till 2008. Then we realized how important asset allocation / diversification are. Today we follow asset allocation and diversification process through financial planning. We insist all our clients to have a financial plan.
Please share with us any practices /activities related to client acquisition that you follow. What is your advice to fellow Partners on this front?
Rajiv: In our initial days we use to make cold calls, corporate meets, stall at exhibitions/ trade fares, leaflet distribution, etc. Today we are focusing mostly on referrals and corporate meets.
NJ has been promoting BizMall services in Partners. What has been your experience and how has BizMall benefitted your business?
Rajiv: It has been amazing. The ideas and innovations put together for creating the marketing material is amazing. We are a regular user of Bizmall materials. It has helped us create our brand. That has made a big difference in show casing ourselves. We have used most of marketing materials available at Bizmall.
What are the important characteristics you think necessary to get success as Financial Advisor /Distributor?
Vikas: The most important characteristics necessary to get success as financial advisor is Bharosa (Trust). As a financial advisor you need to be true to yourself. If you win the Trust of your client that client is yours for life time.
What do you consider your best achievement thus far?
Both: Still long way to go. Best is yet to come.
Please share any business targets that you have set for AUM?
Both: We are targeting 1000 Cr AUM in next 10 years. Mr. Neeraj Choksi (MD NJ) had given this target in last PBC.
What suggestion / advice you would like to give to new Partners who have yet not established themselves in the business?
Rajiv: The only suggestion that comes to my mind is to be "Focused". You may face many changes in our industry. But one should always be focused to our role as financial advisor.
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