Meet Mr. Rajesh Uppal, New Delhi.
Meet Mr. Rajesh Uppal, the Partner who is into the business of on building long term relationship with clients. With a strong conviction in equities and backed by strong advisory process, Rajesh has been managing a small client base of 350 only but a very loyal clientele. He strongly believes in retention of client.
A firm believer in technology as a empowering tool, Rajesh plans to have 100% of his business through TADA by March end.
It gives us great pleasure in sharing the success story of this focused and motivated Platinum Partner from Delhi with our NJ Partners.
Please share with us your early career.
Hi. I am glad to introduce myself as a NJ Partner from Delhi Branch, associated with NJ since December 2006. I have started my career as a part time Insurance Advisor with ICICI Life Insurance in year 2002. Then in 2004 I took up the LIC agency and the succeeding 2-3 years, I did well enough in the business to achieve many awards, go on tours abroad & do MDRT too. After a I joined MF industry & took my ARN, I decided to take this as my primary full-time business.
What is your approach or philosophy behind your financial advisory practice?
From day one of joining Mutual Fund Industry, I was convinced that Equity was the ideal asset class & right way to help our clients to creating wealth in the long term. When you are convinced from bottom of your heart then half work is done. For the rest of half work you just have to share your conviction & your beliefs with logical reasons with your clients. That is all what I am doing.
Both at a personal and at professional level, how do you invest in your own self?
I keep myself updated about industry; I read books related to our industry and I try not to miss any presentation or seminar organized by NJ time to time. I also sometimes participate in paid seminars. As financial advisers, I feel it is our moral responsibility to keep ourselves updated & deliver the right message to our clients in simple way.
As far as time management is concerned, I plan my day by dividing time in two parts - working hours & non-working hours. For the working part, I consciously try and put my 100% in any activity that I am doing. For non-working hours, I try to spent time as much time with my family & friends as possible.
What is your approach to managing clients?
My business is to build long term relationship with clients. My client management is focused on retention of existing clientele and having the maximum share of wallet by providing all important assets and products to clients as per their needs. I believe in building long term relationship with clients and for which I ensure that I meet my clients face to face at least once every few months. This simple approach has worked greatly for me.
For client acquisition, from day one I am working on referral business model and I do not prefer approaching unknown prospects directly. Before first meeting with new client, I try to take maximum details regarding his/her income, expenses & existing investments. In first meeting I normally deliver the concept of financial planning/ importance of equity asset class in wealth creation. I prefer keeping the presentation simple, making ample use of examples and often avoiding use of laptops.
5. Tell me three things that you believe is most valued by your clients.
The things that I can identify are
- Our dedication towards our profession.
- Need Based Financial Planning.
- Regular interaction toward Goal achievement.
Do you follow any client classifications and on what basis?
Yes. Based on our client's investments we segregate them into Platinum, Gold & Silver categories. Although we give equal importance & care to all clients, the classification only helps us as a guide to set frequency of portfolio review from time to time.
What services /practices do you provide to help build your relationship with clients?
My focus has always been to build relationships. In my advisory practice, my approach has been to try and change my client's attitude towards investments, as the need may be. I try to deliver on the concept of financial planning and never try to pitch any specific product like a normal agent would do.
As far as servicing is concerned, I take try and undertake periodic portfolio reviews of my clients. This is our primary focus. I am also supported by a small team of dedicated field officers and customer care executives. My customer care team responds to emails & calls and have a defined TAT for resolving queries. And I keep myself engaged in meeting to review portfolios of existing clients.
Tell us about any tough questions or challenges that clients have posed before you...
I personally feel that Property & Gold as an asset class are in the DNA of investor. Normally whenever the client has some extra money, they thinks of these two asset classes and in fact when they take advice from their near & dear well wishers, almost 98% of them advice about these two asset classes only.
I started with mutual funds just seven years back & in which last 4-5 years were very difficult in terms of returns & and due to regulatory changes in industry. The advice we had passed to our clients appeared more theoretical in absence of good market performance but now it’s visible in reality after the recent bull run. It requires a lot of extra effort in educating clients as well as servicing them, but sooner or later clients do realise that. The client is now getting more confident in our conviction towards equity.
Tell us about three technology enabled services or solutions that every Partner in NJ should really focus on or adopt in his/her advisory practice.
- TADA
- MARS
- PMS for HNI clients
I am focusing on all these three & as matter of fact I have converted almost 75% of my existing business through TADA. TADA really offers a great deal of comfort and reach in doing business.
What do you consider your best achievements thus far?
I have been winning a number of awards from NJ and from last continous three to four years I have also been winning multiple awards in PBC in different categories in my zone.
However, to answer the question, let me recall an incident. Some of our client's kids are now adults and have started earning. There was this occasion when a client said to his son that “your best birthday gift from my side is that I am introducing you to my financial advisor, Mr. Rajesh Uppal. You have to follow his investment strategies towards your own personal finance & financial goals”. The client saying these words in my own presence to his son meant a lot to me and at that moment I felt that the trust I had earned is now passing to the next generation. For me that counts as my best achievement.
Can you please share your short term and long term targets.
Right now my focus is on improving the SIPs figures and the business through TADA. On the SIP front, my immediate target is to increase my existing SIP book by 40% in this financial year. On the TADA front, I wish to move all my clients and business to TADA platform by 31st March. This also includes converting all my offline folios to online folios.
Any advice to fellow NJ Partners?
When we walk in right direction, definitely we will reach to our destination sooner or later, but continuously walk in right direction is important. Simply follow the strategy & technology promoted by NJ.
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