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For Asset Managers, The Profit Is In The Relationship

The economic pressure that has weighed down asset managers recently will continue to mount in 2019. We will especially see this as the tide of market-induced asset growth subsides. The established industry trends are rising passive inflows, fee compression, increased regulation, continuing platform rationalization. These are inescapable, threatening profit margins of the least prepared asset managers. In response, firms are intensifying their efforts to streamline distribution costs, improve their offerings, and invest in relationships. However, many still fall short of differentiating themselves among financial advisors. This could be the ultimate key to sustainable profits in this shifting landscape.

Transactions vs. Client Relationships

With the massive influx of new entrants and products over the last decade, asset management firms’ offerings have largely become commoditized. As a result, it is exponentially more difficult to differentiate themselves. To make matters worse, many firms are still vested in building transactional, product-based relationships with advisors. As long as sales and marketing teams continue to focus on product features and performance, they will veer further away from what advisors deem important in a client relationship. The resulting communication gap can be too much to overcome for firms vying for the attention of advisors who are more discerning in their choice of partners.

Conversely, firms that focus on understanding the needs of advisors are effective at retrofitting their marketing and distribution processes. By focusing on the marketing process, firms gain access to decision-makers and maximize the impact of their interactions with advisors. Their goal is to create more individualized experiences by gaining insight that enables them to provide the right information and the right offer at the right time through the right channel. Suddenly, one-sided communications turn into a dialogue with advisors that ensures ongoing access and the creation of additional value.

What Financial Advisors Want

Advisors are facing many of the same challenges as asset managers. These include fee pressures, the growth of robo-advisors and passive investing, increasing regulations, and thinning profit margins. For many advisors, their business models have come into question. Several advisors must adjust for new fiduciary standards and compensation models. They too need to clearly differentiate themselves by adding value, with many trying to make the shift to solution-oriented or goals-based investing.

Fact sheets and pitchbooks, while important for product education, are of little use for advisors looking for support in retrofitting their practices to compete in a changing advisory landscape. Asset managers must be able to provide value with each interaction, whether it’s providing them with unique perspectives on the market, updates on industry trends or personalized programs to help them build their business. The more personalized or customized the interaction, with a true back-and-forth dialogue, the greater the value to the advisor. At the end of the day, advisors are looking for partners in their success who can help them add value in their own client relationships.

To Stand Out, Asset Managers Must Invest in Relationships

With a vast expanse of funds to choose from, financial advisors are no different than any consumer who has choices. In the digital age, consumers expect a more personalized buying experience, especially in the way they communicate with marketers and sellers. Gone are the days when marketers create and force the message onto consumers. Digital technology has empowered consumers, and advisors, to dictate what, when, and how they receive messages. More importantly, they are in complete control of how, when and to whom they will respond.

At a time of rapid change, innovation, and heightened competition, asset managers must invest in ways to better understand the needs of advisors in order to grow the relationship. They must thoughtfully choose the right channels for interacting with them. With the marketing automation technology and data available, asset managers can more easily initiate a dialog. They can target the right advisors and match relevant content with their interests and channel preferences. It requires an investment but, because the profit is in the relationship, the ROI can be significant.

This is a guest post by Dan Sondhelm, CEO of Sondhelm Partners. This post originally appeared on the Sondhelm Partners Blog.

Dan Sondhelm is CEO of Sondhelm Partners. They help asset managers, mutual funds, ETFs, wealth managers, and fintech companies grow through marketing, public relations, and sales programs.

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Emilie Totten

Emilie is Chief Marketing Officer at Synthesis. She brings over 15 years of integrated sales and marketing experience working with financial services, SaaS, and health and wellness companies. Her passion is architecting holistic marketing strategies that align with each business function to achieve client experience, employee advocacy, and revenue goals. When she isn't marketing, you can find her rehabbing her home in the Chicago suburbs, practicing yoga, or spending time with her family.

July 15, 2019

Emilie Totten