Foray in advisory
Bitten by the entrepreneurial bug in his teenage days, Avdhesh Garg knew that he must strike out on his own. His interest in financial products developed when the came across a newspaper article which extolled the virtues of saving for retirement. Since financial products were underpenetrated he thought it would be a gap worth filling.
Like many veteran advisers, Avdhesh began his advisory journey by distributing post office and LIC products after completing his graduation in 2000. Interestingly, he acquired 100 clients within a few years of starting!
Expanding product bouquet
He felt the need to diversify his product offerings which would help clients participate in equities. The timing of his entry in mutual fund distribution coincided with the markets biggest crash in 2008. While the crash and the subsequent entry load ban came as a jolt for many distributors, Avdhesh continued to have conviction in mutual funds.
To begin with, he reached out to his existing clients to invest in mutual funds. Since many of his clients were risk-averse, he made them participate in equity through systematic investment plans, or SIPs. As his clients’ wealth grew, so did referrals.
Cut to today, he has grown his mutual fund asset base to Rs 85 crore which has earned him the mantle of becoming the largest IFA in Kota. As on March 2017, Kota contributes Rs 1,709 worth assets to the mutual fund industry. Of this, Avdhesh commands 5% market share.
Many advisers in Rajasthan look up him for inspiration. In 2017, Financial Advisor Association of Rajasthan appointed Avdhesh as its President. The association works towards enhancing the knowledge base of advisers in Rajasthan and holds its annual event which is attended by fund managers, investors and motivational speakers.
Marketing
Avdhesh uses digital channels to be visible and reach out to prospects. His firm Confidence Investment is registered with Just Dail. For client engagement, he uses Facebook and WhatsApp for sharing informational articles and investment quotes. Through his continuous effort in educating investors, his client base has now grown to 2,000 which are spread across Rajasthan. Avdhesh believes in offering advice which is backed by extensive research. He has been actively using Morningstar Advisor Workstation to acquire high net worth individual clients.
Target of Rs 2 crore SIP book
“From Rs 50 lakh, we aim to grow our SIP book to Rs 2 crore by March 2019. To achieve this, we are opening another branch 15 kilometer away from our current office. This office will serve existing clients residing in that area and help us capture a new market,” says Avdhesh.
Avdhesh needs 200 new clients to reach his Rs 2 crore SIP book target. To achieve this, he plans to hold three investor awareness programmes every month in colleges, coaching institutes and small and medium enterprise firms in his area. Looking at this growth so far, he is confident of achieving this target very soon.
This post is authored by Ravi Samalad.
