Creating the right introduction / sales pitch

As they say, “first impression is the last impression”, so creating the right first impression as an advisor is really important. When you pitch someone as an advisor, you have to realise that you are trying to convince this person to trust you with his or her hard earned money. The very thing which will help you get a clear idea is that place yourself in the clients' shoes and think of what sort of person or content will convince you to trust someone with your hard earned money. While, the most important thing for the investment to be successful is your knowledge and understanding, when creating an introduction or sales pitch, the most important thing becomes communication. Everything boils down to the fact how effectively are you able to communicate yourself.

Here are a few tips that will help you in creating the right introduction/sales pitch:

1. Wear proper formals and look crisp

Visual presentation matters a lot. The first judgement that people form on are how you have presented yourself. So wear clean and formal clothing and look crisp. Not only will you look professional to the client, when you are nicely dressed, you get a boast in confidence and who doesn't like a little extra confidence before a meeting?

2. Understand your audience

When you are meeting a client, do a little background check. See what the client does and what his education levels are. This is because, everyone understands in a different manner. Someone who has a prior experience doesn't need to understand the technical process of investing in depth but rather what is your strategy regarding the investments and what makes you fit for the role of their advisor.

Similarly, if someone who is a new investor you might even include a little content on explaining him or her the process of investment and how mutual funds or other investment instruments work.

3. Don't be robotic, be present

Don't right up a speech and go and speak it out. Be present in the meeting and make sure that your pitch is being understood, if not, change your method. Everyone takes in information in different manner. Also, make sure that the client is comfortable with the language you are using. There is no need to show of your english speaking skills or your vocabulary and if your client will be more comfortable in the local language, use that. Remember, the client is not hiring you because you have good vocabulary, he or she is hiring you because you understand his and her needs.

4. Ask questions

Yes, ask the clients questions regarding what his investment aspirations are and then go about what you can do. Don't just keep on presenting different scenarios, this will only confuse the client further. Again, it is very important that the client feels you are genuine and interested. He or She is hiring you for customised solutions and thus, you should ask questions, and respond accordingly. A few questions that you should ask are,

• What is the purpose of investment?

• What is the time horizon?

• Does he need regular income from the investment?

• What sort of returns are they expecting?

• Are they okay with volatility? (It is advisable to create an individual questionnaire to understand the risk profile of the client).

Note that these questions are just for example and you should be investor specific with these.

5. Be prepared with figures and be updated

If you are an experienced advisor, show the clients the performance of your other clients and how long they have been associated with you. Don't bog down the investor with random numbers but explain them how the performance has beaten the market and how the corpus has grown over time and other aspects. If you are a new advisor, be prepared with past performances of the schemes and various funds.

Also, be updated with what is happening in the market, not just if the market is going up and down but also why are certain things happening and how will the move in the future. You are not supposed to give them a figure like Nifty will cross 11,000 or something but help them understand where you expect the market to move and why is it the right time to invest.

6. Be honest

Always, always be honest with your clients. If your client is expecting x% return but you know given their profile and everything, it might not be achievable, be honest. When you are honest, it is easier for the client to trust you.

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