1. As an entrepreneur, what are your 3 main challenges, and how do you overcome them?

• In the past, our biggest challenge was marketing. We always knew that our services would be very useful to a lot of people, but approaching such prospects was a challenge. To overcome having a good consultant / advisor was absolutely necessary who could guide us for growth in a structured manner. Also, we never knew the power of networking. If you are an entrepreneur, building a strong network from where you get leads and references is absolutely necessary.
• Differentiating our services. Also, there was a practice of kickbacks when we started Midas Touch.
  Investment advisors used to pass-on part of their commission in cash to the clients. In such an environment, we were expecting clients to pay for our services and not expect any kickback. So product positioning and differentiation was very much needed. But even after positioning our product, creating awareness was required. We had to create awareness drives, either one to one or in groups. This was a real struggle as the effects of the awareness drive came in slowly later.
• How to build credibility? Financial services is a dirty business; full of miss-selling based on
  commissions and pay-outs. We have seen big institutions like banks and wealth management companies getting too sales oriented at the cost of credibility. This is where we saw an opportunity. We, from day one, chose not to compromise on clients’ interests and are very sensitive about our goodwill. This is another reason behind our high client retention. Taking CFP certification, writing articles about personal finance in local newspapers and publications also helped us build credibility.
• Hiring and training the right office staff is very important. The staff needs to understand the gravity
  of consequences of poor /delay in service. We have ensured that the staff is polite, service oriented
  and honest. Lastly, our profession demands confidentiality and, accordingly, we maintain total
  confidentiality of clients’ data.

2. As a businessman, what is your understanding of Marketing and Selling?
   Marketing and selling has to be very different for different industries / products and services. The right marketing mix is the key to success. Selling is an art which a business person has to learn and practice. There is no way a business can gain momentum if sales and marketing are ignored.

3. Is selling, marketing or / and getting & retaining customers a challenge for you? If yes, what
   do you do about it?
   At present, most of our new business comes from word of mouth and now, it is not a major challenge for us. Luckily, the nature of our profession is such that there is ample repeat business from existing clients.Due to this dependency on getting new clients is low. Our focus now is on client retention.
   We do a lot of things so that clients stay with us for a long term. Financial investments are made only
   when a client is convinced and has a clear idea of what he is doing. Educating clients throughout their journey also helps. We do share articles, quotes, messages with respect to personal finance occasionally with clients, but we ensure that we don’t overdo it. This is done to enhance our recall value too.
   Timely advice on investments, opportunities and risks is one thing we are very keen on. We are also in constant search of new and unique offerings for clients. We generally suggest an offering only if we can comfortably invest our own money there.
   Thanks to this, our client retention is more than 95%.

4. What is your way of understanding customer needs?
   Personal Finance is very personal. No two clients have similar needs. We need to understand his / her
   requirements thoroughly. This is mostly done through a face-to-face meeting with the client, mostly at our office. The first meeting is very crucial as, just like we try to understand customer needs, we also need to restructure client’s expectations and also give the clients some disclaimers which help us and the client in the long run.

5. What is the way in which you reach customers (i.e., how do they come to know about you?)
Reasons to select these ways?
We usually reach out to clients through references. Due to sensitive nature, references help. We often
used to ask clients for references to reach out to new potential clients. Google reviews work somewhat
like references for us.

6. What is the role of Technology and Processes in your business?
Technology has been critical for our growth. The ease, speed and low rejection of transactions are few
things which we have achieved through the adaptation of technology. Due to this, we have more time
at hand to serve customers. Things have changed drastically in the past few years, especially after the
COVID-19 pandemic. 80% of our business is now done online vs 25-30% earlier.

7. Tell us something creative / Innovative you do in your Sales / Marketing or any aspect of your
business.
SIPs (Systematic Investment Plans) are a major portion of our business. The potential of SIPs is immense
for the clients and also for our business. Before the year’s end, we remind clients to renew their SIPs and
ask them to increase the SIP amount a bit every year. Also, we review the SIPs every year before renewing.
This system has three advantages.
• We talk with the clients at least once a year, which helps us maintain rapport.
• The client saves and invests more, which is of mutual benefit.
• A quick review of the SIPs gives us a chance to peep into the clients’ portfolio and suggest changes if
required. This is how we have been successful in increasing the wallet share of many clients.

Interview by Abhay Kardeguddi of NIVA Growth Consultants, Pune, India