Baldwin Berges and Matt interviewed JB Beckett, author of #New Fund Order. JB has listened to thousands of fund pitches in his career. In fact, he’s such a wealth of information that we will bring him back for an encore presentation.

A major theme running through JB’s comments in this particular interview is the internal organizational tension between the marketing team and the individual portfolio managers, and what this tension causes and why it exists.

A summary of some of JB’s comments:

—The pitchbook is important, it has to match the flow and the personality of the fund manager. The buyer will know something is fishy if it doesn’t. However, in a meeting between the fund buyer and the fund manager, the fund buyer is primarily there to talk to the fund manager and see how he/she thinks, not to review the pitchbook. The fund company needs to remember that the pitchbook is there for the fund buyer’s meeting prep, not to rehash during the meeting.

—Product marketing teams are too often equipping the fund manager with what they think the fund buyer wants, not what the fund buyer actually wants.

—One of the main reasons for this disconnect (the one between what the marketing team thinks the buyer wants and what the buyer actually wants) is that the marketing team at many houses has become obsessed with the volume of the information it is providing. The marketing department has essentially become a publishing department.

—A fund manager’s rough edges are important. They are what cements the bond between the fund manager and the fund buyer. Those rough edges might make the marketing department cringe, but if they are all rubbed off, no bond will form.

Thank you for your time JB, it was a great pleasure. We look forward to having you back!

About Baldwin Berges

Baldwin has been active in the investment industry for more than 20 years. His specialty is all about positioning investment opportunities so they are easy to understand and developing strategies and systems to convert more opportunities into business during long sales cycles.

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