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MFD Anup Bhaiya of Money Honey Financial Services has been in the mutual fund distribution business for over two decades now and has created a successful business of over Rs 1,000 crore with a whopping 50,000-plus client base.
Talking to Cafemutual, Anup generously shared his 3-ingredient recipe for setting up a successful business model.
Ingredient 1 - Skilled and motivated team
While educational qualification is an important aspect, it necessarily need not be the sole deciding factor for on boarding a new team member. An individual can imbibe technical knowledge and learn new skills provided he has interest. Thus, through detailed discussions, I gauge a candidate’s inclination towards learning and his curiosity towards finance before on boarding him.
Next, to keep up with the upskilling process, my team and I discuss current news and key industry developments daily. Additionally, I regularly host fund house representatives to address various topics like emerging trends, behavioural finance, etc.
Also, there is no hierarchy in my organisation and every member is given an equal opportunity to put across their point. This gives them a sense of belongingness and being part of one big family.
Today, I proudly lead a team of 50 with a perfect mix of sales representatives, content curators, accountants, business analysts and social media experts. With a diverse team dedicated to different business functions, it is possible to complete multiple tasks quickly.
Ingredient 2 - Strong digital footprint
Digital media has a massive reach today and can be a catalyst for business growth. I set aside 1 to 2% of my total earnings every month for building a strong digital footprint.
It is crucial to identify the target audience and the most suitable social media platform. For instance, my analysis reveals that Instagram generally has a younger crowd and the middle-aged to older crowd primarily browses Facebook. On the other hand, there is a mixed audience on LinkedIn.
Thus, it makes sense to upload visual graphics on Instagram and Facebook owing to their limited attention span of 15-20 seconds. But, when it comes to LinkedIn, the platform largely hosts professionals and hence long-form articles are good to post here. Coming to the topics, the primary idea is to educate about mutual funds. Hence, I touch upon both, topical and evergreen subjects like SIPs, taxation and compounding.
With regular posting of messages across digital platform, we are able to attract potential clients who through structured follow-ups get converted into clients. Every month, I add 30 new clients through such digital efforts.
Ingredient 3 - Sound MF software
Technology is one of the key pillars for creating a fool proof business model. Since it is an expensive affair to build an in-house MF software, I kept aside a certain amount right from the start and invested in technology gradually. It took around 15 years to take the MF software where it is today. It digitalises key business functions like client on boarding, portfolio reviewing and report generation.
You may wonder why I emphasize on building the MF software in-house. The advantage here is you can customize it to suit your business requirements and keep upgrading it as and when needed. Also, there is no external dependency and you can conveniently sit down with the team to add and modify any feature.
