Evolve or Perish: How Advisor Relations Programs are Changing to Increase Engagement

© 2015 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

© 2015 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How Advisor Relations Programs are Changing to Increase Engagement

Evolve or Perish:

Paul Reynolds

© 2015 Information Services Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3

Agenda

o Research methodology & demographics

o Expectations of the third-party advisory channel

o Advisor relations activities and expectations

o Advisor relations team size trends

o Advisor relations budget trends

o Awareness Framework

o Market trends and takeaways


Survey methodology

Who Advisor Relations professionals

What 15-minute online survey

When Completed in August 2015

Why Internal planning

Results 79 completed interviews across 48 different companies, ~30% response rate


Advisor Relations professionals are pulled in multiple directions

Percent of Advisor Relations with other responsibilities 55% 35% 25%

Global Leads

Regional Leads

Team Members


Advisor Relations professionals are pulled in multiple directions

Percent of time they spend doing their “other job” 45% 54%

18%

Global Leads

Regional Leads

Team Members


Time spent on Advisor Relations activities

o External Advisor Management

o Meet with advisors to build relationships

o Make intros between advisors and stakeholders

o Attend formal workshops, briefings, advisor events

o Attend conferences, advisor days, client events

o Internal Team Management

o Work with pursuit teams on opportunities

o Meet with internal salespeople

o Report and manage expectations internally

o Internal Program Management

o Respond to advisor requests

o Execute programs (e.g. advisor days, education)

43%

38%

20%

16%

10%

10%

6%

16%

11%

10%

10%

10%


Measurement

Average Number of Metrics

Global Leads

Regional Leads

Team Members

3.3 2.9 2.6

Primary Success Metric Win $ Invites

$ & #Invites

$


Top success metrics for Advisor Relations

Dollar Value of Sales Won

Dollar Value of Invitations

Number of Invitations

66%

47%

45%

47%

65%

65%

45%

55%

45%

Global Leads

Regional Leads

Team Members


Market Segments

Large Western Heritage

Large Indian

Heritage

Small Western Heritage

Small Indian Heritage


Goals are both the same

and different.

Every provider has two primary goals when engaging with ISG:1. to increase its pipeline2. to improve its winning percentage.

Yet the scale of those expectations differs dramatically…


TPA Channel Expectations

Average Channel Expectation

Expectation range

ISG Representation

ISG Range

Expect increased ISG pipeline in 2016

$7.4B .

$100M -$25B+

18% .

5% - 30%

43%


$45M .

$5M -$100M

31% .

1% - 100%

56%


$6.2B .

$3.5B -$10B

37% .

30% - 50%

86%

Large Indian Heritage

$165M .

$11M -$500M

23% .

5% - 100%

54%



Teams are growing to achieve expectations





3.3

4.9

0.8

2.0

5.5

8.8

1.6

3.3

2013 2016e


Variances in 2016 Advisor Relations team size





1.0

10.0

1.0

5.0 5.0

12.0

1.0

7.0

Min Avg Max

4.9

2.0

8.8

3.3


Growth in global Advisor Relations team size





+40% +15% +33% +47%

Growth is from 2015 to 2016.

35% 44%of companies will

expand their Advisor Relations

teams in 2016

is the average growth among those that will

expand

+69% +67% +10% +34%

% Will Grow

% Growth


Expansion by company type

Americas EMEA AP Global

Large Western 0.8 1.0 - 1.8

Small Western 0.5 0.5 - 1.0

Large Indian 0.5 0.5 - 1.0

Small Indian 0.8 0.1 0.3 1.1


Expansion by geography

0.70.4

0.1

USAUK &

Ireland

India

Generally, companies look to invest in the countries where they already have a presence.


External spending on Advisor Relations





$582K $158K $813K $383K

$395k Average external spend on Advisor Relations Programs in 2015

43%

57%

66%

34%

0%

100%

34%

66%

Average Spending

Below $100K

Above $100K


How budgets are allocated

o Advisor interaction (education, events, conferences) 39%

o Databases/ Market Data/ Research Subscription (Momentum) 36%

o Attendance at industry conferences (IAOP, SIG) 7%

o Sales Support and Training (methodology training) 6%

o Industry awards, reprint rights to published reports 4%

o Sponsorship of TPA sponsored client facing events 3%

o Custom research project 3%

o Others 2%


Expected increases in external spending





27% 62% 67% 54%

Growth is from 2015 to 2016

54% of companies will increase their external Advisor Relations spending in 2016

+18% +22% +19% +21%

% Will Increase

Average Increase


Awareness framework

Awareness

Familiar, need more info to consider for a deal

Understanding

Know well, can ID appropriate deals for them

Trust

I feel comfortable inviting them to a deal

Advocacy

Proactively recommend them to my clients

“Trust is not a matter of technique, tricks, or tools but of character. It is built and maintained by many small actions over time.”


Comparison findings for Americas infrastructure

85%

31

16

76

Understanding

58%

15

6

54

Trust

99%93

56

36

Awareness

23%20

4 1

Advocacy

Large US firms

Large Indian

Small US firms

Small Indian

Source: ISG Service Provider Awareness Research 2015, Americas Infrastructure


Market Trends…o Advisor Relations team sizes are

growing

o External spend with third-party advisors is increasing

o Providers have high expectations from the third-party advisory channel

o Providers are increasingly looking for more from the ISG channel

ISG Advisor Community

Your Company

Company

Company

Company

Company

Company

Company

Company

Company

CompanyCompany

CompanyCompany

Company Company

Company

Implications


MarketingSales

Advisor Relations is a combination of…

&80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12th contact.


The rule of seven simply says…

The prospective buyer should hear or see the marketing message at least seven times before they buy it from you.

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/the_rule_of_seven.htm


Rule of Seven, Summarized & Tailored…

o You need to let the influencerhear and see your marketing message many times before they make a recommendation.

o There are many reasons for the need of repetition. Influencersjust can't trust you and make the recommendation the first time you show your message.

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/management_concepts/the_rule_of_seven.htm

o So, this simply means that your marketing effort should be repetitive and consistent.

o You cannot just educate themone time and expect a recommendation.

o The hidden message of rule of seven is the continuous and repetitive effort that should be put in.


So how do you make your message stand out?

The Psychology of Storytelling, Gregory Ciotti

“Those in sales and marketing have known for a long time that stories trump data when it comes to persuasion because stories areeasier to understand and relate to.”

“When facts and information are framed by a compelling story,you'll not only hold the attention of your audience, but you'll also make the information presented more memorable… No matter how compelling your facts are, if your audience isn't invested in what you're saying, all the information will be lost on them.”


In the ever-evolving marketplace,o Advisor relations teams are growing.

o Providers are increasing their spending levels with third-party advisors.

o Expectations of the third-party advisory channel are higher than ever.

Advisor Relations teams need to leverage data to help prioritize where to invest energy.

Service providers need to

o Ensure their message is heard

o Use a programmatic approach to engage with third-party advisors

“Trust … is built and maintained by many small actions over time.”

o Identify their true differentiation

o Make a memorable impression

www.isg-one.com

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Evolve or Perish: How Advisor Relations Programs are Changing to Increase Engagement