Superior measurement is your distribution edge in the new world

It is difficult to picture a post Covid-19 return to normal. Even the biggest supporters of face to face meetings, whom we sympathise with (as per the attached) for human connection, will find yourselves having to adapt to:

• Clients who see virtual meetings as a more effective use of time;
• A new level of ESG advocacy from stakeholders having witnessed an 8% reduction in carbon emissions (IEA) by year end; and
• The board of your own firm who will demand lower costs as the firm recovers and a new business continuity plan that factors in the experience of the last few months;

For many companies and financial service providers, particularly in active management, remaining visible to your stakeholders via video brings you closer to that in-person meeting experience. More important though is addressing clear deficiencies in how you measure the strength of your relationships. The importance of measuring relationships cannot be understated as trusted managers raise up to four times as much AUM verse managers who focus on performance (Chestnut Advisory Group). Similarly, company management teams who are great communicators outperform poor communicators by up to 47% (Towers Watson).

Our team of investor relations and distribution professionals around the world have decades of experience trying to extract feedback and analysis from traditional methods such as investment letters, market releases and roadshows. The feedback and data is usually latent and narrow which has knock on effects to the analysis; making it highly subjective. Knowing full well the extraordinary tools available to us in this new world we score measurement (attached) based on a mix of traditional and new methods including attendance/read, feedback, in-meeting behaviour, network behaviour, benchmarking, agenda setting, sentiment, multi-channel analysis, transition to fulfillment or advice or to sales.

We stand at the dawn of a new world where the edge in distribution and stakeholder engagement will be found through superior measurement tools. These are most likely to be provided by industry specialists. Those who deliver relevant data, analytics and an intense focus on what matters to the industry they serve. We have specialist information services, financial software providers, independent research houses and financial media. Why would stakeholder engagement be any different?