Client Segmentation has remained a popular approach to targeting customers. Client Segmentation means dividing the customer base into groups, because a group of people share certain unique characteristics which are commonly shared by all in the segment, so the marketing strategy can be aligned in accordance with those unique characteristics. Customers are segmented on the basis of various parameters like their age, income, education, nature of employment, community they belong to, etc. And one such segment, gaining popularity among financial advisors is the Corporate sector. Corporate Employees has become an attractive client base for advisors because of numerous factors like higher disposable incomes, a regular monthly income, annual bonuses, lesser reluctance in terms of preference for traditional investment options, etc. Many financial advisors want to develop their niche in the sector because of the above factors and also because of a huge customer base clustered at one place.

In this passage, we will share with you some tips on how you can go about targeting people working in corporates:

> Entry: Getting the first or the initial few clients in a company is the challenging part. If you have an acquaintance working in a company, he/she can escort you through the organization's portals. Or may be you have to look for someone, a friend or a relative, who has an acquaintance or a friend working in a particular company, can help you permeate.

> Social Media: You can also use social media platforms such as Facebook or LinkedIn to approach employees of a particular company. You might have some mutual friends on Facebook who can introduce you to your target. There are groups on LinkedIn which may have most employees of a company in the group, you can contact people from these groups.

> Seek Referrals: Once the introductory part is over, then referrals are the gamechanger. You must ask your clients to introduce you to their other colleagues and that's how you can expand your client network within a company. It is very important that you maintain utmost service standards, even if the clients have small portfolios. Your work will speak for you and will help you get more and more investors from the organization. If you ignore a small investor, a negative word of mouth can shatter your desire to embark on the company altogether.

> Partner with the Company: Organizations nowadays care for and work for their employees' welfare. You'll see companies running gyms, yoga classes, dance sessions, soft skills trainings, etc., to constantly upgrade their employees' merit and lifestyle. These companies are likely to welcome an opportunity which can impart financial security and mental peace to their employees. You can also research for companies having employee friendly policies and approach the HR head or top management of such companies and communicate your intention to advise their employees on their finances. But you must remember that your positioning matters here, you should be perceived as a financial expert who will transmit financial awareness among the employees and is here to bring about financial security in their employees' life and not as someone who has come to “sell” Financial Products to their employees.

> Conduct Presentations, Seminars: Talk to companies' HR's for conducting awareness sessions for employees like you can give presentations on topics like “Planning for Retirement”, or “Investing in Mutual Funds can be started with an amount as small as Rs 1,000 a month”, or “Creating an Emergency Fund”, and other personal finance topics, which are going to encourage more and more people to participate.

At the end of the presentation, don't forget to:

- Solicit for questions and feedback, if someone asks a question it means you have touched the right nerve. You can talk to these people personally after the presentation and discuss their query and the solution that you may have for them.

- Hand out your visiting cards

- Talk about the products and services offered by you.

- Follow up with the participants. You can share industry updates or personal finance insights with the participants through WhatsApp messages or E-mails, subject to the participants' interest. It is essential that you seek permission from the employees before sending mails or messages.

{s}
[[script type="text/javascript"]]
$(document).ready(function(){
new DiscussionBoard("divDiscussionBoard", "1154", "http://www.njwebnest.in/esaathi/index.php/discussion").load();
});
[[/script]]
{/s}

Inactive Clientele is a hitch in almost all advisors smooth business paths. After a long uphill battle, we acquire a client, who initially is very excited to work with us, but after one or two investments, the excitement fades away and the client goes into a silent zone. We try to get the client back into action, but most times to no avail, and eventually that client becomes a part of our dormant account records. So, the sum and substance is, all your hardwork and efforts were in vain and you are back to square one, on the lookout for new clients. Here, what we do not realize is, the time, money and efforts that go into acquiring a new client is much more than servicing an existing one. Advisors are very excited to acquire new clients, but give up too soon on the inactive ones.

Inactive clients, in fact, are similar to new clients, they are to be re-incarnated from the state of passivity to a state of activity. The thin line of difference between the two, lies in the fact that you do not have to struggle with getting the latter on board and work a little lesser in re-establishing a relationship of trust. Hence an inactive client should be perceived as an opportunity and not as wastage of efforts.

So, how to go about getting the lost ones back on track:

Communication is the Key, You should be keeping in touch with all your clients at all times, it can substitute for a lot of hard work in the future. It is human tendency to choose the latter between Effort and Ease, so we connect with the clients who give us regular business and give up on others. We need to put in consistent efforts to get fruitful results, we need to connect with our inactive clients too, you can keep them in the loop through WhatsApp, Sms' or e mails. You can invite them for investor meets, for client conference calls, etc., irrespective of the fact they are your “inactive clients”. Never let him feel they are not important, because when they are in constant touch, they can sense the honour you bestow upon them even though they are not investing, so even if they are not investing in the near future, they will, a little far into the future. Constant connect can help you identify many hidden business opportunities.

The best way to stay in contact with your inactive clients is by keeping yourself organized. Keep a record of your inactive clients, set reminders to connect with them at fixed frequencies. Send them birthday and anniversary greetings. Because when it is about the active ones, you will tend to be in touch for business purposes, but for the inactive ones, you need to put in extra organizational efforts.

There is an anecdote about a financial advisor from Cochin, pretty successful in his business, about an inactive client of his. So, this client made an investment through the advisor and period. The advisor called the client two-three times, the client did not respond nor did he ever call back, so he assumed that the client is not interested, and he gave up. After a year, the advisor bumped into that client in a super mart, and found out that because of a mishap in his family, the client could not respond to the call, and now because of lack of contact he has a different financial advisor.

Moral of the story: Do not give up too easily. A client may be temporarily inactive, and probably only you have converted his status into permanently inactive.

Find out the reason for inactivity. There may be multiple reasons for investors to stop investing. So you need to detect the exact disease before trying to cure it.

The investor's investment's value might have declined in the initial months of his investment, and may be he booked losses too in the fear of losing more money, and this loss made his approach skeptical towards any further investments. So, you as his advisor need to wash his fear away, you must educate and explain to him the reasons for his loss. You can also create a paper trail and show him if he had believed and held on to his investment, he would have made humungous money.

Another reason could be the investor was dissatisfied from your services, and found a new advisor. So you need to work real hard and to get him back, and even if you don't get him back, you will at least get to know where you need to work so that another client doesn't leave you in the future.

Like the above, there can be many reasons for his stagnation. But once you know the logic behind his sedentary investment style, you'd be able to cater to him more effectively by targeting the root cause.

Another way to retrieve your dormant investors is through introduction of new products to them. Maybe the investor could not select an investment product from the limited set of offerings you had two years back. But now, since you have added many new products in your basket like bonds, MARS, PMS, etc., some of the new products may be suitable for the investor and may attract him to resume investing. So, you need to constantly introduce your investors to your upgraded basket of products.

Lastly, hit the right nerve. Nobody wants to pay taxes. Send an ELSS flyer or a message two-three months before the March 31 deadline. The idea of saving taxes can instill energy into the laziest of the lot.

So, the bottomline is “Laziness fuels more laziness and activity fuels more activity”.

Inactive clients are an excellent business opportunity, how soon and how well you unleash it, depends on your patience and persistence.

'Women' constitute almost half of the total population of our country, but this segment is vastly overlooked. Women are not acknowledged at home when it comes to discussing finances in the house, and outside the house at large. Most financial advertisements are male centric, the man needs an insurance policy to take care of his children, the man needs a mutual fund to sponsor his daughter's wedding, etc. Even though, modern women is educated, earning and independent, yet the 'kitchen only' image of hers is intact when it comes to finances. What is often ignored is women have money, they have investment goals and they outlive men, so the investment horizon is more than men, especially, when it comes to retirement planning. Some advisors try to run away from women as it is perceived to be a complicated segment. But you are losing a huge opportunity and a big chunk of business here.

Like you segment your clients on the basis of income, profession, age, background, etc., and devise a different strategy for each client. Likewise, men & women are two different segments and there should be separate strategies for handling them. The requirements & expectations of men & women are different, thus they should be handled differently.

There are key certain pointers about women pertaining to their nature and characteristics, to be taken into consideration, which will help you serve the ladies better:

Low income and long life: Women in general have lower incomes than males, but they generally outlive their spouses. Hence, they need to save and invest more to fill in the gap. So, a financial advisor must realize this unique feature and advise her as per her goal and affordablity.

Women are more cautious: Women are more careful when it comes to investing their hard earned money. This is because of lack of exposure to financial products, or because they are more attached to their savings, or because they are generally earning lesser than their male counterparts. So, when you pitch your products to a woman, she would take more time, she would explore other options because she wants the best deal, before making a decision. Be patient, do not pester them, give them time and space to think and get back.

Women are emotional: Men go by logic, facts and figures, while women believe in building relationships. Unlike men, women associate their goals with emotions. So, focus on winning their trust, women are more social, so be a good speaker as well as a good listener. When you are advising a woman, her goals and requirements should be at the center. Make sure that she feels comfortable and secure, and does not doubt your intentions with respect to her money. Once you are able to develop a comfortable and healthy relationship with a woman, she develops an emotional bond with you and is your client for a lifetime.

Social: Women are social creatures, and when they trust you and the services you offer, they would not mind talking about it and hence bringing in more referrals for you. So, if you want to have the huge social circle of the ladies as your clients, you must handle them with care.

Life events: There are some major life events, or points which has significant positive and negative impacts on a woman, like getting married, having a baby, death of spouse, divorce, etc. Women would need a financial advisor at such times to help them financially. When a woman gets married, she realizes the responsibilities of a family lying ahead, and wish to contribute. When she gives birth to a child, she starts thinking of her child's future. She wants to invest for these goals, so you must guide her. She might lose her spouse, by the latter's demise or divorce, and at such points she would need money to survive, and she needs to save & invest for her future. So, you must help her if she has to redeem her earlier investments and help her devise a sound financial plan for her future & make her financially independent.

Working Women: There are increasing number of working women, but they generally have lesser financial obligations than men, so there are a lot of unnecessary expenses here as well as money in their saving accounts. Even homemakers have their savings in a 'Ghapla Account', which they keep for emergencies and which is not known to her family. So, there is a lot of idle money lying with women. A financial advisor must view this as an opportunity, and advise women and direct their savings and unimportant expenses to concrete investment assets.

A financial advisor must keep the above things in mind while dealing with a female client. Your advisory should be customised as per the unique needs & characteristics of women. You must help them discharge the responsibilities as well as plan for their goals.

{s}
[[script type="text/javascript"]]
$(document).ready(function(){
new DiscussionBoard("divDiscussionBoard", "1212", "http://www.njwebnest.in/esaathi/index.php/discussion").load();
});
[[/script]]
{/s}