At Forum 360, we believe that relationships matter. We applaud those asset managers who are building trust by offering more frequent access to their experts to more people without devoting any more time to distribution nor contribute any more carbon emissions. We are humbled by the power of measurement to build bonds between investment and distribution teams like never before.
In just the last month, one portfolio (product) manager and her distribution team were able to devote 70% less time using Forum 360 for intimate group meetings rather than 1×1 virtual meetings and 45% less time than if they were to meet the groups in person in the manager’s office. Of course, that assumes the groups would be willing to come to the office in the first place. They were not asked to do that. In order to visit the clients for meetings in their home town, the team would have had to of flown the equivalent of Boston to London 5 times return emitting over 6 tonnes of carbon for every team member who travelled with combined distraction time from travelling at 450hrs across investment and distribution teams. These savings are a boost for bonding and just the start of the difference that measurement brings.
During the preparation phase for meetings, the distribution team were able to prep the investment team with the agenda items actually set by clients. They were able to see the behavior of those who had registered in the lead up to the meetings and all past meetings. They worked on meeting agenda together based on what clients wanted to discuss, prioritizing what was most important to the group, with insights from Forum 360’s research products around meeting style, meeting content and what Q&A typically leads to investment activity.
During the execution phase of meetings, the manager went ‘straight to Q&A’ and made attendees feel like they were sitting across the table from the managers of their money talking about what they wanted to discuss. Positive feedback ensued with a strong positive bias in the early meetings toward the format and the ability of attendees to get to know the manager – often for the first time.
In any good sales or IR meeting, there is an ask. These meetings provided attendees every opportunity to signal their intent with respect to investment and took attendees down the investment pathways the team had made available to them. Immediately after the meetings, the distribution team picked up on these signals which acted as a great way for them to filter their first follow up calls. Further, rather than looking at each other wondering if the meeting went well or not, the investment and distribution teams were able to review Forum 360’s research products for the all-important feedback loop coming direct from those who attended and later from those who watched the meeting on-demand.
We are humbled by the power of measurement and its ability to bring teams closer together. We applaud those who commit themselves to following the data.
