Cut sales people and 7 more top growth strategies from this year's ICI GMM

At this year's ICI GMM, the big challenge and opportunity for growth is working with intermediaries effectively. It's clear through formal presentations and chit-chat during cocktail hour, many firms, not just the biggest, are trying to be more aggressive and smarter in building relationships with advisors.

Top 8 strategies include the following (in no particular order):

1. Communicate the way advisors want to engage. For example, no forced in-person meetings if the advisor prefers Webinars.
2. Learn much more about the advisors business prior to a sales meeting. Use of an advisor database or sales reporting tool can help. Use a consultative approach. What's his background? What problems does he have? How can you help? It's not about your fund's performance. It's more about fitting in an advisors portfolio.
3. Add value through digital communications. Firms are generating content such as commentaries, outlooks, and portfolio positioning and making it available online for 24x7 access. Beyond a firm's own Website and social media channels, content is also being distributed on third party investment sites because that's where advisors spend time online.
4. Hire more sales people so they can talk to more advisors nationwide.
5. Cut sales people to shift communications to internals or digital communications.
6. Hire more senior executives away from the largest firms to bring their experience to boutique firms.
7. Acquire or adopt firms that want to exit the business to build scale.
8. Help reporters educate their audiences. They have to provide content anyway. Use the third-party endorsements to add credibility to your other sales and marketing efforts.

Perhaps the strategy most likely not to work I heard a fund pro say at McClennan's Sports Bar late one evening: "Have strong performance and investors will find you."