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Project Management

Do We Have the Capacity to Take on Your Next Project? 

Clients often ask how we know we have the capacity to take on one of their projects? The answer lies in project management. We’re dedicated to maintaining a high level of project management in both our systems and our personnel to understand our capacity, accurately estimate when we can deliver projects and so that we can provide our clients with high-quality deliverables. 

The System is the Foundation 

Our project management system helps us drill down to exactly what’s going on across all our projects and clients. The minute a client asks us to undertake a project, it’s in the system with budgeted hours, a schedule, deadlines and who is assigned to the project based on capacity. To us, if it’s not in the project management system, it doesn’t exist! Even our vacation time is in the system.  

As we get new project requests or potential new clients, the system allows us to answer the question on if we can deliver a project this week or next, how many hours it will take us to complete or if we can squeeze in a rush project.  

More Time for Client Projects 

Our project management system has helped us get rid of managing projects via Excel spreadsheets (thank you!) which we talked about in another video. In any project management or database context, ditch the Excel spreadsheet, because it doesn’t help you. Our project management system has freed up time in asking each other for updates because…you guessed it…the system tracks it! This means we have more time to dedicate to client projects instead of figuring out where those projects are. And we can make a few hours go a long way for clients.  

Capacity Confidence 

We pride ourselves in making sure that when we’re talking to prospective clients or current clients, we know exactly when we can deliver something. We can share that confidently and deliver on our promises. 

If you’d like to understand our capacity for helping you with a project, reach out to us. We’ll consult our project management system and get you a delivery estimate. 

Categories
Project Management Time Management

Doing More of What Really Matters 

The book, Essentialism – The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown struck a chord with us when we think about marketing for our clients. The premise of the book is to understand what’s essential to what you do and focus on that. It’s not the pursuit of doing less, it’s the pursuit of doing more of what really matters. Read on to learn how this applies to asset manager marketing.  

It’s All About Raising Capital 

There’s a lot of marketing that’s done today simply because people think it should be done. But much of it doesn’t go to the end of raising capital for asset managers. Our approach is to take some of the principles from Greg McKeown’s book and apply them to our clients to help them focus on pursuing what really matters – which is raising capital. We review our clients’ marketing programs and plans to ensure they support their capital raising efforts and goals. 

Syncing Sales and Marketing 

A key way we do this is by syncing marketing efforts with the sales team, and understanding what their needs are. As we evaluate marketing pieces, create strategies and draft content, we think through how we can help the sales team have better conversations with advisors. What objections can we address head on? What product structure complexity can we explain? What differentiator can we highlight? What is the story we’re telling about the product and asset class? This is essential work and should be the focus of any marketing team in the alternative investment industry.  

Using Time Wisely 

Another aspect of Essentialism we practice with clients is the best use of time – who is best suited to do which tasks. We are skilled at developing marketing strategies, writing content and creating compelling designs to help asset managers stand out with financial advisors and capture mindshare. We bring these contributions to your firm often alongside marketing teams you have in-house – and even alongside other marketing firms that are handling other aspects of your firm’s business.  

Our Essential Role 

We see our essential role as consulting you on industry best practices and trends, pushing you ahead of your competitors in awareness of your brand and investment offerings and starting conversations with advisors that open doors for your sales team. Your internal team may be best suited to navigate the materials review process at your firm, provide background information to us, manage your email program and plan events. We can do these things for our clients, but our essential work comes in the insights we offer that no one else at your firm has the time, experience or background to offer. Our goal is to make our clients’ investment in Marketing Intent go the furthest.  

If you’d like to explore further how we can support your firm’s capital raising efforts and focus on what is essential as far as marketing goes, reach out to us

Categories
Marketing Management Project Management

The Power of the Pivot

Your fund just closed and you expected it to be open for six more months.

Your marketing plan is out the window.

So what do you do next?

This is where the power of the pivot in business comes into play.

Changing Direction Quickly

In marketing, we love to create project plans, line up our content calendar, schedule campaigns and set everything in motion.

We have this ideal set out on how everything’s going to go. Your fund is launched, it’s live, your sales team is raising capital and your firm is planning on selling it until it reaches $X in capital or as of a certain date. But then your sales team raises capital faster than you expected.

All your marketing plans are out the window. What do you do next? The sales team doesn’t get time off until the next offering. And the next fund launch is likely months away.

This is where strategy comes into play. And your ability to change on demand. Especially in a volatile market. It’s important to prep yourself mentally and with strategy to quickly change direction. 

Develop Your Next Steps

First, bring the entire marketing team into what is happening and the pivot your firm and your team need to make. Sketch out the situation, which marketing programs are now obsolete, what advisors’ information needs will be around the business event that just occurred and what they will need to know going forward as you launch a new fund.

When you have a gap between funds, a great place to focus is on brand awareness. Just because your fund is closed, doesn’t mean your brand’s gone. Your sales team works hard to establish relationships with financial advisors…part of your job is to help them keep those relationships intact even if you don’t have a product in the market. Miss this as a marketer, and capital raising will be slow going at the start of your next offering as you try to make up for lost time in maintaining a presence in the minds of advisors.

For example, advisors are looking for education – on alternative investments, on your asset class, on lifestyle trends affecting commercial real estate. Focus on that between offerings. You can also distribute content from third parties and note how the information relates to your firm. And keep featuring your management team on webinars to provide advisors with updates or insights.

If you would like to discuss how we can help you plan for the pivot, reach out to us today.