There Is No Marketing Value In Doing The Expected

We talk to asset managers all day, everyday – people like you, searching for capital.

With surprising regularity, managers confide in us that they truly don’t understand why investors aren’t allocating capital their way. “Look at our performance, it’s pretty impressive.”

Here’s the thing, “doing what you are paid to do” isn’t a reason for investors to flock in your direction.

Let’s assume you have a landscaper that cuts your lawn. If your landscaper is doing something remarkably different than the four other people cutting lawns in your neighborhood, fair enough, but chances are they are not.

Does the person (or company) cutting your lawn expect your neighbors to wake up, fire their “person” and hire them? Nope. Does your landscaper walk around peacocking about the fact that they just cut your lawn, and did an OK job? Nope.

How then would your landscaper get new business? He or she would have to approach your neighbors and give them a convincing reason to make a change. If their “lawn cutting” isn’t all that different than the competition, what do they say? More importantly, it is doubtful that your neighbor would fire their landscaper after being approached only once.

That said, if your landscaper shows up consistently over an extended period of time with convincing reasons that extend well beyond “your lawn will get cut” there is a very good chance they will be considered if your neighbor’s existing landscaper makes a mistake.

There are a few things to learn from this:

1) Stop thinking “good performance” is the basis of your value proposition. (You don’t get credit for doing the job people pay you to do.)

2) No one is going to make a change after being approached just once.

3) You need to be top of mind when something “goes wrong.”