Ms. Indra Jee, Faridabad - Haryana
Ms. Indra Jee started advisory business in 2007. Naturally starting a business has very common objective of earning but in case of Indra Jee it is not a major cause, for her the cause is “Investor awareness”. Indra believes that everyone should have a financial understanding of the products and how it can be helpful for financial wellbeing and to satisfy life goals. She believes that her husband has played a major role in development of the business. She believes that whatever the growth she is witnessing today in business it is because of the advice and support of his husband on all business fronts though he is not able to give enough time due to his job. Both husband and wife are very much convinced about using social media for business expansion hence social media is at the center of their marketing plan. The couple has set very ambitious target for coming 5 years and they see a very bright future for financial advisory business in India.
Team e-Saathi with pride presents an interview of Ms. Indra jee, who is enthusiastically waiting for his husband's full time involvement in the business and believes that they will create a history in this space.
ES: Please introduce yourself and let us know what inspired you to choose the career of a financial advisor / distributor?
Indra: I started advisory business in the year 2007. From my college days I used to read a lot about financial stuffs through various medium say a magazine, articles in newspapers and websites etc. This reading habit of finance/investment related information always questioned me that: Whether all people are in position to manage their financial stuffs easily and effectively?. Personally, I and my husband found that there is a big GAP in this area. People don’t posses enough required knowledge and also they don’t have time to make their money works for them. This GAP made me restless, finally I decided to start advisory business to bridge this GAP. We want to educate people and want to give the right advice as per their need and requirement for investment and insurance so that they can achieve their life aspirations in hassle free manner.
Later in this journey my husband (Mr. Anil Kaul) started taking a deep interest for the growth and enhancement of the business. In between he took a certification and became certified financial professional to have grip on the subject of financial planning and also to advise me. Till the date he is always there with me though due to his job he only can spares time on holidays. He is always helpful to me in the every front of the business, starting from acquiring the domain knowledge, aspects of team management(we have very competent team of 5 people), selling and marketing. With his priceless contribution of his time today I can say that he played an effective role in shaping the business.
I am thankful to GOD for gifting me a nice & cooperative life partner and would like to iterate again that we started the business with a vision to give our clients the best advisory services and working with a mission to promote & deepen the root for financial literacy.
ES: What inspired you to choose the career of a financial advisor / distributor?
Indra: There is no such inspiration but yes would say that my reading habit helps me to get insight into the subject, a support of my husband and a passion to bring awareness among the society made me think and start this advisory business.
ES:What made you to join NJ as NJ Partner and tell us about earlier days of your business?
Indra: At the time of starting the business we were associated with diff. financial institutions like Bajaj Capital, LIC and unicorn insurance brokers etc. One day Mr. Amal Magazine Sales person from NJ approached us and explained about the business model of NJ. He explain us in detail about various technological offering from NJ and concept of 360O support they provide for business development. The overall idea touched me somewhere and after discussion with my husband we took a decision to join NJ. The decision to join hands with NJ went as expected and today I can say that i am a proud partner of NJ. It’s a pride to become Partner of NJ.
ES: What do you think about Role of SIP in financial planning ?
Indra: Yes perhaps we believe only SIP of MF can help our clients achieve their financial Goals.
ES: We heard that you are very active on social media when it comes to marketing and brand building for your business. So tell us about how you have integrated it in your client communication practice.
Indra: When we Indian saw a revolution in Information and communication technology area it makes an Indian to use Mobile Phones & Internet at ease. We did not left behind and grabbed opportunity with this change and started communicating with clients through SMS & E-mails for various reasons. Today SMS and E-mail communications is the common one and we are using it effectively.
But five years back we heard a new Buzzword on the street and that is “Social Media”. With commence of social media sites, a distance started shrinking among the people. Again we decided to join social media revolution and started using it. We are very much convinced with social media site usage such Facebook and Twitter to keep communication alive with our existing & prospective clients. It helps us to reach to a client across the states in India and even we succeeded to reach people around the globe.
We are very much convinced about leveraging the advantages that Social Media offers. We understand the role that social media can play to connect with the people and in brand building your business. Within a fraction of seconds you can be in touch with the people around the globe. It provides one very positive approach of marketing that is Transparency. You might be aware with the latest user statistics of the FB: Share of Indian users is the highest among all users of FB. This clearly says that people are coming to it and using it. Hence we believe that it is the best medium in today’s congestive communication area to be in touch with the people to established an effective channel of communication with your prospective clients.
Further in the area of off-line marketing, we have adopted few tactics such as placing our name on “No Parking Boards” on the house gate, placing hoarding on society gate & roads etc. These all we do in addition to using a wonderful and effective communication BizMall Products.
ES: How much importance do you give to Insurance in you advisory practice?
Indra: We try to educate our clients that first step is managing the Risks & only after that we can think of wealth creation.
The answer to your question is in single line: We believe in the concept of Sampoorna Surksha and we pitch it to every client we meet.
As I informed you earlier we were associated with the other insurance broker and doing business with them. But when NJ entered into the Insurance broking space we left our existing partner and joined hands with NJ Insurance brokers. Here would like to say that we believe and have faith in NJ team and its philosophy. We never have any hesitation to get associated with any new initiative in terms of a new product and service that NJ is offering and will offer in future to its Partners.
ES: You told us about financial literacy issue. Let us know how do you manage first time MF investors?
Indra: The conversation always starts with educating the clients. I educate them with explanation of basic & fundamental topics like inflation, risk-reward, asset classes, asset allocations, portfolio creation and review etc. Further explaining them with the concepts like - “Cost of starting Investing late ”, “Power of compounding”,“how big risk we may face –if our saving falls short of achieving goals” etc.
We believe that winning the investors' the trust and conviction for his investment - is the only thing that can convert our initial meetings into long lasting relationship. So I (and sometimes my husband also) always try to explain then about financial products in easy to understand terms & the logic behind the product that I am suggesting them for investments.
Once we spend some time with the client –we suggest him with the required asset allocation for their portfolio. Our asset allocation strategy always formulated based on his their aspirations in life,goals and time horizon to achieve the same.
ES:Your experience with NJ's technology initiatives in terms of various Desks for Clients & Partners ?
Indra: I would say it is beyond the words. Indeed the thinking process @ nj is marvelous besides technology edge on it”s side. All on-line desks and mobile apps are simply excellent (10/10).
ES: What advantages do you feel TADA offers to both Clients and Partners?
Indra:I think doing MF distribution without TADA is not possible in present times & circumstances. Indeed its a win-win for all, otherwise partner will be engaged with service issues only. We believe that TADA is need of time and I would like to advise to anyone who is not asking their clients to opt for it or not convince for it, must rethink on their decision and start using TADA - a new business growth driver.
ES: What type of a boss / leader do you see yourself as? What is the image of the ideal boss that you aspire to become?
Indra: We have team of 5 people to manage all business stuffs. we believe in team work & working with human-touch. As I told you about our emphasis on social media marketing, we have allocated one dedicated resource to manage all such works.
ES:Can you share any incident /event which has had a lasting impact on you or your business as a financial advisor /distributor?
Indra: It makes me feel Great when our clients ‘Trust us with Blank Cheques” for investments
ES:How do you assess /see the future of financial advisory business in India? How can we as Partners be ready / prepared to make the most of it?
Indra: Indeed the future of financial advisory business in India is great but then partner needs to upgrade his human connect & soft skills more than technical skills.
ES: What suggestion / advice you would like to give to new Partners who have yet not established themselves in the business?
Indra: My suggestions to new partners will be first to be proud of themselves & it being only business where u will be paid for so called “past karmas” adequately and take care.
ES: Can you please share your short term and long term targets for your business.
Indra: For short term we are targeting to achieve 50 Lac for SIP and in coming 5 years we want to achieve 2 Cr. mark. And for AUM we are much ambitious and putting best efforts to achieve Rs. 150 Cr. mark in coming 5 Years.
{s}
[[script type="text/javascript"]]
$(document).ready(function(){
new DiscussionBoard("divDiscussionBoard", "344", "http://www.njwebnest.in/esaathi/index.php/discussion").load();
});
[[/script]]
{/s}