Any suggestions on portfolio management services

[kakinada]

I am considering putting a small sum of money for active trading through portfolio management services. Does anyone have any inputs on how they work e.g. where do they make money (I am assuming broking charges which is a conflict of interest because they would like to trade often and also profit sharing).
Also, how do I evaluate them. I have been told that the minimum is 5 lakh. I will start with the minimum. However, how do I figure out how smart they are. I went to various websites and to me they just seem to advertise a trading platform where one can trade. I am hoping for research and tips.

I will probably open another thread for it - but after following the asset allocation theory for 5 years I have a loss of 5%. Had I put in money market it would have made around 12% . I was a conservative investor with 30 - 70% split.