Pitchbook Problems? 3 Ways Technology Can Help

By Rachel Totten

It’s tough out there for investment management sales teams and only getting more challenging. Today, pitchbooks must be customer-centric, created or changed on a dime, on-brand, compliant and have digital output and tracking options. That’s like trying to make a delicious, vegan, gluten-free, nut-free, and sugar-free wedding cake in 10 minutes.

If that hits home, then this article is for you.

(If you didn’t find that amusing, you’ve clearly never tried to make a cake in 10 minutes.)

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Why Pitch Decks Should be Created by Sales, Not Marketing

This article first appeared in Fundfire. It was written by Synthesis Director of Client Solutions, Katie Martz.

Recently, a salesperson told us about a deal where he went “rogue.” He got an opportunity to present to a major institutional client but didn’t have an up-to-date deck from marketing. So he cobbled together a deck using slides from previous presentations. He knew he was pushing the compliance boundaries, but he needed to land this deal.

His was the first presentation to the client, and he secured their agreement before leaving. As he walked out, three competitors sat in the lobby, waiting for their turn to present. “If I had waited for marketing to send me an updated deck,” he said, “we would have lost that deal because the first sales guy to show them what they needed got the business.”

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Client-Centric vs. Investment-Centric Marketing at Asset Management Firms

By Emilie Totten

Times are changing, and the modern consumer’s attention won’t be captured by old-school marketing tactics anymore. This is especially true for asset management firms. Good performance isn’t enough. With thousands of options, investors not only put more emphasis on what they are investing in, but they also want to feel like a priority; that their values, interests and goals are at the top-of-mind to their advisors. Firms that understand their clients do better in the marketplace. As the industry becomes more challenging, firms must move from investment-centric to client-centric messaging.Read More

For Asset Managers, The Profit Is In The Relationship

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

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

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