This is a sheer experience call – not an intelligence call, just an observation call. Read it, agree with it, disagree with it, like it, lump it…but please comment here, on the blog, so that it remains here even after a few years.

1. Be Modest about your calls: Occasionally when you get a right call about the market, remember, it was luck, not skill.

2. If the client has got good returns it was because the market was good, you were incidental.

3. When you are selling a ULIP give example of a mutual fund – the returns look more impressive. Client is happy with nice numbers.

4. Say ‘I do not know’ when you do not know something. If said properly you will know the gap in your education and training.

5. It is far easier to get into a bad transaction than to get out of one. Exactly like marriage.

6. If you are not being criticized it means you are not doing enough or you are not meeting people better than you.

7. Look for what should be there. Improving what is there is easy, seeing what is missing requires experience.

8. Experience, patience, empathy, – cannot be taught, it has to be caught.

9. You cannot pick your relatives, but pick your boss well. A bad boss is terrible for health and wealth too !!

10. Constantly review what you are doing or have done.

11. Pick up the phone and tell your client about a mistake you made in his portfolio. If he finds out from my blog you have lost him

12. Have the same enthusiasm for paper work, finishing work, follow up, etc. as you have for closing a deal.

13. If it is a very small job decide NOT TO DO IT – do not take it and make a mess of the same.

14. If others are part of a project take it upon yourself to change, DO NOT ASSUME IT WILL GET DONE.

15. Strive for brevity in written and spoken communication

16. Be careful about your commitments. You are representing a client on one side and a fund house / insurance companies on the other hand. Do not criticize them. If you do criticize, client starts wondering why YOU CHOOSE THEM…!

17. A person who is nice to you and rude to his driver, waiter, children, spouse,….is not a nice person at all. He is acting for you.

18. When you have fund options for a client, discuss with the client. If the client is not knowledgeable try reaching out to a fund management team. Not the sales team.

19. A good fund with a lesser trail pays you much much better than a bad fund with a greater trail. Remember trail is a function of how long the client stays in the fund and how well the fund does.

20. Client portfolio review helps the client know that he is going in the right direction. You know it, but he needs to know it.

21. Beg for the bad news and the criticizing client. The demanding client of today is telling you how all clients will be in 5 years.

22. Teach your client the fund selection process. Next time you save lots of time in explaining your choices.

23. I am yet to see a client leave just because you educated him / her.

24. Never direct a complaint to the top. I get more resolutions by talking sweetly to the kid at the counter than by saying ” I know the CEO of the company”.

25. Hey guys that is all………

  1. Subra thanks a ton for this article,

    This advice is not just for the IFAs and RMs, many of the points mentioned by you are eye-openers to people in service industry as a whole. Be it software, health-care or Financial sector, this is directly applicable.

  2. good points, did not understand pt3 about selling ULIPS by giving example of MFs though. It is as you say like marriage much easier to get into than to get out. It takes me about 30 mts to find whether i would be able to add value, and get along with the client. If i don’t feel that vibe, i stop wasting each others time.

  3. 15. Strive for brevity in written and spoken communication – No wonder this is #15 on a 25 point list LOL

    my 2 cents

    1. First be worthy of being an IFA or an RM. A blind moron cannot help other fools cross the road

    2. Do no harm.

    3. Try to be the I and maintain the R on those acronyms.

  4. One little point I wish to add for IFAs from my own experience

    Try to Stay away from RMs, agents and IFAs as much as possible if you want to keep your mind clean and do good for your clients. These people more than often adulterate your thinking and try to make you more a salesman than advisor.

  5. Liked this one the most –

    A person who is nice to you and rude to his driver, waiter, children, spouse,….is not a nice person at all. He is acting for you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>