Due to financial markets being hit by multiple shocks and major downturns, financial services budgets for operational and sales/marketing activities will continue to be scrutinized ever more severely over the next few years. Unfortunately, we are at a critical pivot point for an industry in transition that is being propelled by an accelerating rate of change. It is crucial for the industry to shift its mindset from efficiency to innovation in all its forms. This can be accomplished by firms shifting focus to learn how to creatively apply and maximally extract value from all the resources they already have and seriously explore how innovation can become an ongoing multiplier of their efforts and help them purposely design a more engaging future for the industry.
One industry organization works squarely in the heart of these challenges in the asset management arena and just recently hosted their Fall Forum in Atlanta entitled “Marketing Innovation as a Digital Multiplier.” The SME Forum — an acronym for the Sales Marketing Enablement Forum — precisely engineers a rather unique asset management conference held twice a year in the U.S. (and every June in London) delving into the sales, marketing, and client servicing aspects of the industry and the tools, technologies and advanced practices that enable them. This landscape covers data packs, data science, customer data programs, AI, digital marketing, distribution teams, business intelligence, segmentation strategy, financial advisor support programs, and includes a wide array of FinTech and research firms.
The SME Forum has nurtured its membership — representing trillion-dollar asset managers to boutique retail and institutional-only firms, as well as strategic vendor partners — into a rich community of 750 active members from 75 firms. Most of the ongoing nurturing comes from the Forums where industry professionals come to share experiences, challenges, frustrations and explore solutions through open discussion, reviews of the latest research, and hearing from industry thought leaders and major vendor partners. They are structured to be an intimate affair (limited to 120 participants) so members can learn, connect, grow, and solve their business issues through peer engagement and subject matter expertise.
“The Forums are designed to maximize the free exchange of experiences and interests amongst our member participants in a balanced way. And nothing is left to chance”, stated Hazem Gamal, chief operating officer, SME Forum
He was not kidding…General session topics and speakers are highly vetted by SME Forum Leadership and a member advisory council and then go through a highly regimented planning process with pre-Forum conference calls for topic and presentation delivery refinement.
Besides the general session speakers, a series of breakout sessions are similarly developed assigning facilitators and scribes to each breakout to ensure an open flow of dialogue and the capturing of key ideas and perspectives. All facilitators are provided a detailed facilitator guide and breakout templates to help them to prepare and outline, in advance, potential discussion points, questions, and concerns through contacting pre-registered participants and compiling member topic interests.
All Forum attendees even receive a participant guide and worksheet that helps them prepare for and plan how to get the most out of the topics, discussions, and participants at the Forum. This deliberate structure and process does not allow for the outcome of a substantial sharing of ideas to be left to happenstance or serendipity.
SME Forum Fall 2022 General Sessions With A Few Key Points Shared:
Asset Management Marketing — Arts and Crafts or Revenue Driver? by Tim Kresl, Broadridge
• Research explored how asset managers can leverage existing teams and resources to scale distribution while providing top-notch service to focus advisors
• 55% Of CMOs believe that marketing's role in driving advisor acquisition has increased significantly
• While advisors still want interaction from external wholesalers, marketing has a large role in providing value
• Key areas of focus for marketing investments were revealed
• Key questions to prepare for the future of asset management marketing were reviewed and discussed
By the Numbers: How Financial Advisor Needs Are Changing Amid Economic Uncertainty by Bill Sheldon, MarketBridge
• Rapidly changing advisor and investor behaviors and generational wealth transfer accelerating the need for asset management sales/marketing teams to transition to next-generation distribution
• Three top priorities emerging for asset managers to drive growth - Adapt to changing customer preferences, digitally enable frontline teams, and innovate products and solutions
• Direct indexing growth will complicate go-to-market strategy for many
• Data- and insight-driven personalization and customization will be critical across the lifecycle
• Agile enablement framework and maturity index for next-generation distribution success outlined