The asset management industry faces a number of headwinds that will keep it under pressure throughout 2019 and beyond. Among the challenges that asset managers need to contend with include confronting the realities of investors’ growing predilection for passive rather than active investment strategies and catering to the diverse, multi-generational preferences of investors during the largest wealth transfer in history. There’s also the matter of evolving to meet the ever-changing regulatory environment while embracing the right technology to fuel digital transformation and edge ahead of competitors.
While the future is bright for those firms capable of overcoming these and other obstacles, the reality is that doing so is easier said than done. In the absence of limitless time, money, and resources, asset managers need to find ways to drive operational efficiencies. Doing so will not only save time and money, allowing them to tackle the challenges at hand, in some cases it will also position them to better service their clients. Adopting the right sales enablement tool is a perfect example.
The Case for Sales Enablement in Asset Management
At a time when asset management firms need to be vigilant about managing their costs, allocating budget to a new technology like sales enablement may seem counter-intuitive. But the reality is that it’s a worthwhile investment into the long-term success of the business. That’s because it’s a proven way to help reduce risk, increase productivity, and ultimately reduce costs.
At its most basic, sales enablement is the process through which traditional barriers are removed between asset managers and the people who support their marketing efforts. It does this by improving the entire content process, increasing collaboration, enhancing alignment, and unlocking insights that lead to better-informed business decisions.
Fundamentally, sales enablement has a number of key benefits that help drive efficiencies. These include:
Helping you assess what content is and isn’t working.
Armed with usage data, you can make informed decisions about how to optimize and consolidate your content repositories. That’s important when you consider that most companies get bogged down with vast amounts of content that they don’t actively use.
Adding the right taxonomy to your content.
Having the right taxonomy makes it much easier to find, update, and maintain your content. That way, your no longer have to spend hours hunting around for the content you need.
Knowing that your content is always on target and up to date.
It’s easy to use content that’s off brand, out of date, or that simply doesn’t have the latest disclosure language. Rather than leave yourself exposed to unnecessary risk, the right sales enablement tool will ensure that you’re always using content that’s relevant to your audience, up-to-date, and fully compliant.
Automatically recommending the right content for specific scenarios.
It’s likely that there’s always just the right piece of content to meet a specific need. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that everyone in your firm knows about it. A good sales enablement tool will recommend the right content for every situation based on past usage data, directly where Sales spends its time. That way, it intelligently curates that best content to meet clients’ needs.
Enabling greater personalization.
With a sales enablement tool, marketing can set the boundaries of what aspects of content can and cannot be changed to ensure brand and compliance guidelines are met. Meanwhile you’re free to change the areas that marketing has designated and personalize the content so that it speaks directly to the needs of the particular investor you’re speaking with.
Ensuring compliance through automation.
A good sales enablement platform automates content updates, such as monthly and quarterly fact sheet updates. By pulling in the most recent data and information from the right sources, asset management firms can be sure their materials are accurate and compliant, potentially saving firms millions in fines.
It’s because of these and other benefits that investing in sales enablement makes sense for asset management firms in 2019.
What’s next for asset management firms?
As an asset manager, you likely face an uphill battle in the years ahead. But, in spite of the massive challenges that await, there are sound decisions that you can make right now to help ensure your ongoing success. Investing in a sales enablement strategy is one such example. Doing so will automate processes that over time will reduce risks and cut costs while improving productivity. In the process, you’ll be able to make greater inroads with your clients by delivering more personalized content and experiences. Plus, it will help you pull ahead of the competition in the race for digital transformation.
As you look to 2019 and beyond, the need for sales enablement is clear, and one that if met properly could signify long-term success for your firm.
