Meet Mr. Vishal Merchant, Jt. MD, SAFEinvest
Mr. Vishal Merchant has been one of the oldest Partner and client of NJ Wealth with the relationship now of nearly 16 years. A truly inspirational, passionate and organised professional, Vishal has truly chartered a success story that is a testimony to his vision and his investor centric philosophy.
We at NJ are truly obliged to have Vishalji share with us, his entire life story, without any reservations. Writing his success story in his own words, he has truly opened his heart
and we are sure that his story will inspire many Partners in life and also motivate them to share their own journeys and experiences with us...
NJ Wealth extends its' sincerest congratulations, thanks and best wishes to Vishalji for his continued success.
My Growing Up & Career.
I was born in 1974 in a middle class family. In my childhood, I was very upfront, demanding and naughty. My father had even given up on any big hopes on my future. Even in education, I was not so good. My failure in in all subjects in my 12 exam my first attempt in science stream, which I took even after being advised otherwise, was one proof of it.
My first dream was to become pathologist & open my own advance laboratory. However, a unexpected tragedy struck. In first year of my college, I lost my father due to heart attack. Being the elder son, my family responsibilities fell on me and I had to learn and manage many business related things. Somehow I managed to complete my graduation in 1995 and took on a Bank job. These 3 very challenging years taught me a lot in life. But I also had to give up of my first dream in life. After all, 'What we want is not always what we get'.
During my banking job since 1995 I did a lot of hard work and tried to learn more about banking. In 1997 after banking hours, I started my own automobile and textile business at a small level. I had built my life and was happy with no unrealised dreams as such.
But once again an unfortunate event occurred and I lost my confidence completely. My mother was diagnosed with Cancer and she had little time with us. We tried a lot for the cure but destiny saw her leave us in about 11 months.
Start of my Journey With NJ:
My Experience as an Investor:
After my father’s death, I practically understood that it is not "important how much money you have", but more important is "how you can manage it in different challenges or situations".
I am still remember the first day of my meeting with Neerajbhai, our family friend, in 1998 for my investment queries. He had then made a remark that "I have met very few people like you, who manages their finance so discipline way". He then proceed to make a fantastic FP for me in one PPT & guided me on my existing investments. It was in 1998 that I did my first MF investment and SIP on recommendation of Neerajbhai.
Between 1998 to 2000, the upward rallly in markets was quite sharp and I had very good returns in small period. But then a scam was caught & market crashed with Sensex bottoming out in about one an half years. My investments also went down substantially. Neerajbhai did not allow me to change my investment philosophy & asked to only follow my FP.
For 5-6 years, till March 2003, my portfolio carried negative CAGR, but just after a year i.e. end of 2004 there was an unexpected positive growth. So this was my first lesson I learned as an Investor, "Staying in the market all the time is the most important thing, rather timing the market".
Entering the Advisory Business & Becoming a NJ Partner:
It was in March 2003, when Neerajbhai said that I was managing my finance in a disciplined way and that "I should think to start your own Investment Advisory business". He showed me the "NJ Fundz Network" model, which NJ had recently launched. I was convinced and soon decided to become a Partner. I still remember, the first call after passing AMFI was of Neerajbhai to congratulate me and welcome to NJ Fundz Network. He said that my identity was now that of an IFA. AT this time I kept working as a Bank employee.
The Challenges I Had Faced To Became Part time To Full Time Advisor:
I had started advising my prospects after my banking & business hours. I strictly followed this routine and in about 6 month's managed to convert about 50-70 prospects. After that I started facing some service related time constraints. I did think of leaving my job, but was very concerned as I had already completed 8 years as Banker & now had a growing family to support. I was the head of the family with no one really to guide.
Once again, Neeajbhai & Jigneshbhai showed the guiding light and helped me decide to leave my bank job. The only thing remaining to do was to convince my wife & my in-laws who were against my decision. But when I spoke to my wife, I remember her saying only one sentence "I have full confidence in you, whatever decision you take". My confidence rose multi fold and I finally quite my bank job.
My First Business Target:
After resignation and a small vacation I met Neerajbhai who set target for March end, 2004 and said '1 crore AUM'. I was shocked at that time since and literally stood from my chair & told him directly that it was crazy to think so. It was a pretty big figure then and considering the little knowledge or experience I had, how could I make Rs. 1 Cr. AUM in just 6 months?.
After a long hot discussion, Neerajbhai took one A4 size blank paper, mentioned 1 Cr. amount in large font and kept it in his drawer & told me to meet him end of Mar 2004. Then the unexpected happened. My closing AUM end of March 2004 was above Rs. 2 Cr. I met him & told him let's make a game plan for next 5 years! As with many Partners, I did not have the confidence but it was NJ that saw that in me and helped me discover the same.
How I Grew My Client Base:
In those days NJ was doing many activities with AMCs and many NFOs were launched. I started regularly arranging the same for my clients & then took one-on-one appointments. My majority of meetings were scheduled in evenings and in morning time I used to manage operational & client servicing works. I used a lot of the Print-Shop materials and had also hired a person to distribute one pagers in textile shops in Surat, from where I got many clients. I also worked on getting references from existing clients, where I experienced maximum conversions with sizable business.
NJ Partner Desk & Client Desk In My Words:
If you asked me, what is Power of Technology & if I have to give answer in brief, than I can say...it's nothing but "NJ PARTNER DESK". Let me share you my personal thoughts & experience for the same...
As an Investor, my first investment done in 1998 was small but still in those days I was spent good time on client Desk on daily basis. I was very much convinced as an investor, but I felt if I don't have these kinds of reports, I can't manage my investment ever.
After becoming a Partner in 2003, I used to check NJ Partner Desk also on a daily basis. In say 3-4 months' time, I checked the NJ Partner Desk in-depth & concluded that without making full use of this technology, I have no any rights to do this business & that with proper use of same I can grow my business many fold.
I identified certain reports in Partner Desk which helped me to reconcile my transactions & other things. In a same way, I identified few reports on the client Desk, which helps me to convince my clients how easy to manage their portfolio in one portal. And time went by, my confidence & conviction in both the desks has only increased every day.
I must say that I have taken the maximum benefit of NJ Partner Desk to grow my business & even today I have maintained the same discipline of daily visits of over an hour. You may be surprised or find it unbelievable, but since 2003 to till today, probably not a single night I might have slept without checking my daily AUM movement & now since last 6 months I am seeing one more data i.e. MARS corpus report.
Today sales & operations have become very easy with NJ launching its' TADA facility. Hats off to NJ for providing this amazing Exchange platform to their Partners. It's the most convenient, cost effective & almost error-less transaction platform I have ever experienced in last 16 years.
About SAFEinvest today:
Now at SAFEinvest, I am not alone, we are a team of experienced & passionate Financial Advisors & skilled operational staff, where we are working on one Goal i.e. "Turn Savers Into Investors".
Currently our client base is 5,000+ & AUM is over Rs. 300 Cr. We are managing our business from two locations i.e. Surat (HO) & Baroda and are advising our clients in all 3 verticals i.e. Investment - Insurance - Real Estate.
Everyone in my team are very clear about our future goals & targets and are also measuring same on periodic basis. We do a review on quarterly basis for Sales & Non-Sales & decide for the next quarter and balance year game plan.
I still love to do joint meetings with my Financial Advisors with their clients & to share my experience with them. We still try to learn more about our client’s expectations, needs & do changes our service standards accordingly for different segment of clients.
My Message To NJ Partners:
I have much respect for entire NJ team for many reasons. I also learned a lot including the importance of building relationships - "If your Vision Is For Few Months, Plant Wheat. If Your Vision Is For A Decade, Plant Trees, But If Your Vision Is For Lifetime, Plant Relations".
There are many more experiences I wish to share with you about my Life, Clients, Organization & NJ, but somewhere I have to stop. But my journey towards light will continue till I am alive.
My Very Best of Luck to You All for your great Future Ahead With NJ.
Thanking you for your patience.
Yours truly.
Vishal Merchant.
Jt. MD, SAFEinvest
{s}
[[script type="text/javascript"]]
$(document).ready(function(){
new DiscussionBoard("divDiscussionBoard", "296", "http://www.njwebnest.in/esaathi/index.php/discussion").load();
});
[[/script]]
{/s}