Bratati Bhattacharya, a 36-year old IFA, garnered Rs. 50+ crore AUM in just three months of her career as an IFA.
Early Days
With a B.Sc. in Physics and an MBA in Marketing from the University of Calcutta, Bratati aspired to start her own business. But due to lack of clarity on where to get started, she decided to get a job soon after her MBA. She worked in the marketing department of an IT firm for four years and then for an insurance company. Finally, she landed up in a job she was looking for - in the wealth management department of ICICI Bank.
Bratati soon mastered her role and learnt various aspects of wealth management. Confident of dealing with all aspects of the financial advisory business, she launched ‘MoneyMatterz’ in December 2011.
How it all happened
After putting in her papers in October 2011, she developed a business plan. She got in touch with HR Departments of different companies to get a list of their employees. This was the first step towards developing a retail clientele. Similarly, she compiled a list of HNIs based on references from friends.
Bratati sought advice from her close friends in different industries: insurance, AMC, IT, on various things she needed to do before starting her firm. She gained many insights and new ideas that she had missed out on.
Clear from the beginning that establishing an online presence was crucial, Bratati launched her website and utilised her marketing skills to make the website popular among retail and HNI customers.
“I wrote a personal mail to every individual requesting them to visit my website, and utilise the SIP and financial planner for charting their own financial plans free of cost. I also mentioned that those who needed help, could call me or write back. The guidance was free of cost,” explained Bratati.
Quite a few wrote back or called. As she guided them on how to utilize the two planners, investors felt it was very easy to plan sitting at their own office or home. This comfort level generated a number of referrals. In addition, she did not miss out on the clients that did not respond. She personally called each of them to brief them about the service, and take an appointment from them if they were interested. She also wrote a personalised mail to every HNI to utilize the ‘portfolio tracker’ on her website. This helped her to reach more HNI clients.
Meanwhile, she also tied up with AMCs for an investor education programme for HNIs. This provided her with a platform to get exposure in the HNI community and build her client base. “I had served a number of HNI clients during my wealth management days, so it was not difficult for me to approach them and get business out of them. I entered the circle by offering term insurance and SIPs to them, which gradually led to lump sum investments,” said Bratati.
Bratati easily gained popularity among the two categories - retail and HNI. Her challenge was to get through to corporate clients. She prepared her company profile and started meeting corporate clients because she knew that this category would be difficult to win over. She offered them a mix of debt and equity products.
In the last three months, Bratati has added 8 corporates, 12 HNIs and 30 retail clients.
Tips for every IFA
Do’s
- Give honest advice to clients
- Dedicate a fixed time towards updating yourself about different products
- Chalk down your roadmap minutely before initiating the service
- Try to gather a brief profile about the client you are meeting so that it is easy to understand his investment goals
- Offer technology which makes their life easy
Don’ts
- Do not think of commissions while suggesting a product
- Do not misguide because you will not only lose a client but also your reputation
- Do not suggest complex products
Growth Plans
Having been a part of the corporate world, Bratati is aware of the need to focus on targets. She plans to add at least 3 corporates, 4 HNIs and 20 retail clients every month. She is a hardcore professional who enjoys her work. She is currently working from home but will soon be moving to an office by next month.
Currently, MoneyMatterz offers MF advisory, FDs, post office investment, life and general insurance and advisory in equity shares. It is empanelled with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance and ICICI Lombard but soon plans to initiate insurance broking where she can tie-up with other insurers as well. She is also planning to tie-up with a tax consultancy firm so that she can offer her clients a complete financial package. She also plans to conduct more investor awareness programs with AMCs.
Memorable instances
When asked to narrate a memorable instance, Bratati replies, “There are many.” When Bratati was approaching AMCs for empanelment, every AMC admired and boosted her confidence. “Everybody encouraged me telling, bah tumi suru kora diyo cho, khub bhalo, ami tomar songa achi (it’s good to see you starting your own venture, we are there with you).”