Zoher Doctor of Smart Money is one IFA who has whole heartedly welcomed SEBI’s reform efforts. An electronics engineer by qualification, Zoher is passionate about mutual funds and foresees a great future in the online medium
From electronics to finance
Zoher Doctor, an electronic engineering graduate has worked with MNC electronic companies like Panasonic, Sony and Onida. During his years in the electronics sector, Zoher was active as an investor. He saw an opportunity in the advisory space when he noticed that investors were not getting quality advice on investments in Vadodara.
The other motivating factor was his belief that the investment industry held a great potential for need based advice and so in 2002 after getting the necessary certification, he became an advisor.
In his nine years of career as an advisor, he has focused on the quality of service and his emphasis has been on matching client need with the right product.
“At the time when I entered the industry my peers were just selling ‘hot’ products based on short term performance. I approached it differently and made suggestions based on customer needs,” says Zoher.
His approach and his ethical practices helped him in getting more customers. As a result he has been able to hold onto to 85% of his initial clients. His initial clients were the people he knew- his close friends and family circle. He used to highlight how his approach was different from his counterparts in terms of advisory.
To increase his client base, Zoher talks to prospective clients in large gatherings like office meetings, professional conferences, parent-teacher meets and even kitty parties.
“We talk to the management that we would like to hold a beneficial session for their students or employees on general financial planning topics. In addition, we offer PAN cards free of cost to the employees of these offices and school. Such services make it easier to hold sessions,” explains Zoher.
Making Smart Money succeed
While his strategies and approach gave him a good start, he soon encountered problems with certain market practices. “In tier two cities like Vadodara there are rampant market ill-practices like pass back and I had a tough time dealing with them. In such situations I used to tell my customers - those advisors who are not honest towards their earning, how will they be honest towards your earning? A person who is not taking responsibility of his earnings, how will he be interested in maximizing your returns?” says Zoher.
Zoher’s advisory firm Smart Money now has AUM of Rs. 60 crore with a 60:40 ratio of retail and HNI clients. At Smart Money, the three main activities are financial planning, portfolio management and distribution services.
In making product recommendation, he gives a lot of weightage to the experience of his customers with different products. Zoher believes in being upfront with all his customers and shares “the good, the bad and the ugly” part of mutual funds and fee structure with them consistently.
Zoher is creating a niche client base for himself through an extensive use of social media groups. He publishes his views on different market trends in these groups and attracts prospects.
“The clients are very diligent when they are paying someone for advice. Before committing to any advisor, the clients evaluate the views and approach of the advisor thoroughly. And they can differentiate between biased and non-biased advice,” says Zoher.
Entry load ban was a welcome move
Zoher sent SEBI a letter of appreciation on the entry load ban move. “People who are true to their profession and have ethical way of dealing with clients are going to benefit in the long run from SEBI reforms,” says Zoher.
He believes that there is a time gap between the announcement of regulations and their implementation. “AMCs are not clear on how to implement the regulations coming in and neither is SEBI forthcoming in explanations. There is also a need for better disclosures so that it is a level field for all players,” adds Zoher.
Future is online
Five years down the line Zoher plans to be completely online as in his words ‘there lies the future’. Zoher already has the platform “smart money.direct” ready. “We are just waiting for some stability in the regulatory environment to go online,” says Zoher.
Words of advice
Zoher passionately advocates a client-centric approach. “Focus on clients. Invest in building relationships with them and not with manufacturers as they need your advice. Ultimately it is a customer driven market,” says Zoher.