How to Lose a Sale in Ten Days

I estimate I’ve taken about 2,000 meetings with investment management firms over the past decade or so, 200 per year on average.

While that’s a pretty robust schedule of meetings, I realize it’s not because of my scintillating wit or sparkling personality. It’s just that having the ability to allocate hundreds of millions of dollars each year can make one very popular with asset managers.

结果，我已经达到了数千名投资销售专业人士，所有这些都会尽力获得良好的伟大的良好良好，而且比其他人成功。

In the interest of fair disclosure, I thought I’d put pen to paper to help level the playing field and reveal some do’s and don’ts for sales practices.

确实意识到我们收到大量未经请求的请求，有时每天提供100封电子邮件，所有人都要求我们15分钟的时间。单独地，入站请求似乎是合理的，但是做数学。我有时无法阅读它们，更不用说一天每天15分钟给他们。（我仍然没有想到那个第25小时的地方。）

So please don’t always expect a response, let alone an immediate one. But do know this: If it’s a likely fit, we will get back to you.

如果我们计划由于您的入境请求而定，请不要询问我们，“您想了解什么？”或告诉我们，“这是您的时间”，或者一些变体。如果我在现场要求的时间，但是当你要求我的时候，这种开放的方法就会有意义。有话要说。

But please, please, please don’t pitch me “solutions.”

I had a marketing professor in business school who used to say the best salespeople answer the question “What do you sell?” by first asking, “What do you want to buy?” “Solutions” is the asset management equivalent of trying to figure out how to jam what you sell into what I want to buy. Just. Don’t.

你的公司不是最好的一切，而不是你解决问题的工作。我理解想要确保对话是相关的和可操作的，但开始谈论你所做的事情。这是我决定是否可以解决需要的工作。

确实明白它是公共机构的漫长销售周期。与我们投资流程的非常刻意的性质有关，这使得这些已经刻意的流程在高度官僚主义的治理结构中涉及。

The average lag between meeting a manager for the first time to closing on an investment with that firm is well over one year. Many times it’s a multiple-year time horizon, and anything under six months is just about impossible. All of this is a very long-winded way of saying it takes a lot of time and effort. Don’t expect quick decisions.

Now, I know you have a job to do too. And because of our slow processes and relative resource constraints, our responsiveness isn’t always what you’d like. Admittedly, we may also not be the most transparent either.

You see, being large and slow can create challenges, but it also means we get to see a lot of competitors. This means our default stance is to keep our investment options open as long as possible when undecided. So, here are some tips on how to decipher our level of interest after the meeting.

As a rule of thumb, when we say your pitch is “interesting,” it means, “It’s not going to be an actionable priority anytime soon.” When we say, “We will reach out for more information if it makes sense,” it means, “Please don’t bug me about this again.” If the answer is “It’s not a fit at this time,” it’s not going to be one anytime soon. If it is our best idea, we’ll tell you.

Look, I realize salespeople are taught to never take no for an answer and to follow up with multiple touch points. I’ve seen the data — 80 percent of enterprise sales occur after eight interactions — but I promise you following up that email with an immediate phone call rarely helps your cause. And it certainly doesn’t help to do it three days in a row.

If it’s been a day and you haven’t heard back from me, your best bet is to simply wait. Keep in mind, we rarely have assistants. (Heck, often we don’t even have an analyst!)

确实持久持久。我们懂了。

但不要害虫。这是一个完全达到“不回答”列表的方法。

The best business development people I’ve worked with are those who, when they do reach out, offer some value outside of simply pushing product, whether it be market color, insight into the competitive landscape, introductions to other like-minded investors, or yes, sometimes career opportunities. I’m much more likely to answer that call.

At the end of the day, you can’t really “sell” us. Be helpful, responsive, and honest, and appreciate our time and process constraints, and we’ll do our best to do the same.

And you do officially have my permission to stop with all the holiday e-cards.