Fixed Income Managers: "Glocalize" Your Message to Grow in the US

For non-US-based bond managers, the US distribution market can be a tough nut to crack. Setting aside the heavy home-country bias the way to connect with clients can seem quite “foreign” to those accustomed to working in the UK or many European countries. Finding success means moving outside of your comfort zone and approaching client interactions as a local might.

Let’s start with some characteristics shared by many of those working at many US-based institutional entities. These are by no means universal – nor exhaustive – but overall paint a backdrop reflective of the many demands on staff working at institutional asset owners.

• The investment portfolio, for that matter – fixed income, may represent just a portion of their responsibilities.

• When there are dedicated investment resources, oftentimes they are more generalists than specialists in specific markets, sectors or strategy types.

• Investment consultants likely play a critical role in determining what strategies and managers they will evaluate.

Key takeaway here is that the individual(s) with whom you might be meeting may likely feel at least somewhat distracted and pressed for time and will expect you to make a clear and concise case for how your strategy or firm is going to benefit their plan.

Culturally, the directness of Americans is well known:

• It is better to get right to the point than to build a message layer upon layer.

• We tend to be a touch impatient and won’t hesitate to ask questions when they come to mind versus waiting for you to walk through a presentation.

• We can also be easily distracted and nothing creates more distraction than lots of words printed on a page.

This leads to a set of best practices when developing presentations and meeting strategy for US-based investors:

Think of your presentation as an outline as opposed to a published white paper.

• An outline will specify and support the critical features associated with your strategy

• Simplistically, this might follow along the “5 Ps”: philosophy, people, process, performance and portfolio

  • Provide objective evidence as to why and how each of these distinguish your strategy and lead to client benefits.

  • The more you can connect these benefits to a client’s unique situation the more they can envision working with you.

Exercise restraint: UNDER-explain vs over-explain.

The benefit here is two-fold:

• People will tune you out when you go on and on. Keeping things moving engages them in the discussion you want them to have.

• By giving them just enough to pique their interest they won’t hesitate to ask you to go deeper, which focuses the discussion on what’s of interest to them.

Pictures might say 1,000 words but sometimes it’s better to use 10

• Chart-heavy, market-focused presentations can make it ‘easy’ for the presenter to prepare and use but make it very difficult for the audience to follow

• Visual clutter in the form of practitioner-friendly graphs and excess verbiage provide opportunities for unwanted questions and diversions.

  • Instead, when using charts/graphs to illustrate aspects of your decision-making process, philosophy etc., endeavor to combine a clear visual cue with directive language, creating a concise message.

The common objection many non-US-based managers have to taking a more streamlined approach to presenting in the US is a concern that prospective clients will not be able to fully appreciate the power of their offering. The reality is that by “glocalizing” your messaging – drawing themes from a common, global message and tailoring the delivery following local best practices – you will find that your message lands better and leads to the desired result: more sales effectiveness.