Mr. Sher Singh Bharti
He was born in Hathras, UP and later migrated to Agra, where he did his graduation and post graduation. He is from a technical background, and have been working with the Air Force in a mechanical role since the year 1989. He had a keen interest in finance since the beginning, so he started exploring options in financial sector as well. He got associated with a small financial company, Golden Forest in the year 1994, later he joined another company, Versatile Company, and continued to sell financial products like insurance, fixed deposits, Post Office Deposit schemes, etc. In early 2000s, he added Mutual Funds to his basket of offerings and also started selling modern insurance products, like term plans and health insurance extensively. Now, the MF business is so deeply rooted in his family, that there are three members in his family his wife, his son and him self, and all of them have there own ARNs, and are doing MF and insurance business.
His mission in life as a Mutual Fund distributor, is to reach an AUM of Rs 100 cr and 2 Crore SIP book.
Q: What made you join NJ as NJ Partner?
As mentioned above, I began my Mutual fund career in early 2000's, but I wasn't working under my own ARN, so I was getting upfront commissions only. One day, I read NJ's advertisement in a local newspaper, I called on the number mentioned and went for a MF business opportunity meetup that NJ had arranged. Vivek Sir introduced to us the trail income concept and the business opportunity in Mutual Funds. I was convinced and decided to take my own ARN, so I took the NISM exam, got my ARN and joined NJ as a Partner in the year 2009. I was associated with the Agra branch, and since the last close to 3 years, I am associated with the E Branch of NJ.
I got immense support from NJ ever since, the Unit Managers, the Branch Managers, the regional manager, all of them have always been very helpful. With their support and my efforts, today I stand at an AUM of Rs 21 Cr + and an SIP book of Rs 40 Lacs.
Q: Do you promote the idea of savings through MF SIP among your clients?
Yes, I strongly believe that SIP is the best tool for wealth creation for any investor. Hence I have always promoted SIPs among my investors. I try to do goal planning for most of my clients, and accordingly suggest them Mutual Fund SIPs, because of which investors tend to refrain from redemptions and stoppages based on market movements and volatility in their investment values.
I have remained at the top position in Agra, for a long time now, and this can majorly be attributed to my SIP business. In the last 10 years, I have won numerous SIP contests and challenges, if today I start counting the number of SIP trophies that I have received, it will take me days, I have a collection of about 700 – 800 SIP trophies with me.
Q: You have an SIP book of Rs 40 lacs, and your entire customer base is retail. How have you managed to reach this number, could you please share your insights on the same.
SIP is the bread and butter of a Mutual Fund distributor, I took this phrase quite seriously. Jokes apart, I was able to build this SIP book, not because of any one reason, but it came about due to a number of factors:
> My initial mentors, Vivek Sir, Ramesh Sir and Vinay Sir, built this conviction in my mind by explaining the power of SIP book, it's role in AUM build up and the trail income I could get from the same. As they say, Where there is a Will, there is a Way, I was convinced that SIPs could change my investors' lives as well as my life as an advisor in the long run. This conviction, transitioned into my efforts and into this SIP book as you see today.
> Secondly, I have set up my office exactly opposite to the Air Force station gate, so I get a lot of Air Force employees as clients. In fact, in most cases I don't have to approach the clients, they themselves come to my office.
> Thirdly, referrals. I have so many customers in the Air Force station and at other places in Agra, that now word of mouth works for me. I usually get a lot of referrals for SIP
> My SIP Conversion ratio is very strong, about 95% of the calls I do, are successful.
> Lastly, since I am doing insurance as well, so if I go for any insurance call, whether the insurance sale materializes or not, but I am mostly successful in cross selling MF SIP. This business combination of Mutual Funds and Insurance have always complemented each other. This method has, for the matter of fact, got me many SIPs over my career.
Q: Your experience with NJ's technology initiatives in terms of various Desks for Clients & Partners?
NJ's technology is by far the best in the industry. I am associated with the E Branch of NJ, where the entire branch is virtual, so my dealings with NJ, now are totally online.
Many of my clients use E Wealth Account, they do MF transactions themselves.
The Valuation report provided has remained an all time favourite for me as well as for my clients.
Investors truly appreciate that they are provided with the latest valuations of the portfolios, the returns that they have made, etc. Valuation reports have helped me in convincing new customers about Mfs, I share Valuation Reports (I hide the names of the clients) of my clients who have made decent money over a period of time with potential customers, and it's a fantastic add on to my speech since it's live data.
I also use the Partner Desk to monitor my business and various other tools to bring in efficiency.
Q: How is your experience with E Wealth Account?
I am convinced that if I want to manage my existing AUM and grow from here, I can't do so without adopting technology. I am currently in the process of converting my existing customers onto the E Wealth platform. I'll share an instance with you, one of my investors moved out of Agra, and he was about to transfer his AUM to some other advisor, but since that client was on the E Wealth platform, my intervention was necessary and I got an opportunity to convince the client to continue with me and he stayed. So, I think to manage my business better, to protect my AUM and grow to achieve my mission, E Wealth is the way to go.
Q: What suggestion/advice would you like to give to new Partners who have not yet established themselves in the business?
My first suggestion to new partners is never lose touch. I am in contact with my 15 year old customers also, no matter which part of the country they are in. Secondly, I would suggest to aim and work towards building a big SIP book. A large number of small customers is what I did and you should do too.
Q: Could you please share your short term and long term targets for your business.
My near term targets are to reach an SIP book of about Rs 70 – 80 Lacs and at an AUM of about Rs 50 Crore by the end of 2020.