It is easy to keep clientele in a good economic climate. The difference between a financial institution that will survive volatile markets and those that will go under is keeping clients in they are or sideways markets. This should be the top priority of your investor relations hedge fund team.
Maximizing Your Alpha
As you well know, your alpha is the portion of your financial success that is directly attributed to you rather than to the market. Although your clients most likely do not understand the term itself, they can definitely feel the effects of an institution that has a high alpha versus one that relies on its beta (market forces). They may not be able to articulate this feeling, nor will they waste a great deal of time trying to. They will simply move on to the next financial company that actually has the ability to protect assets in volatile economic environments.
It is good practice to completely disregard the market in your assessment of your performance. Even if you are receiving kudos from your superiors and clients for making money in an easy market, you cannot let this go to your head. You have only to ask the vets of the office to see how fickle praise can be.
When you perform self-assessments, completely removing beta from your analytics will always keep you ahead of the curve. You are setting yourself to a higher standard, meaning that you must outperform your colleagues by a mile if you are to withstand your own scrutiny. In short, shooting for the moon will always leave you among the stars, to use an overused, yet very true, cliche.
Most importantly, scrutinizing yourself mercilessly will help you to keep your clients in all economic environments.
Your Investor Relations Hedge Fund Team
In order to truly create an environment that is conducive to loyalty, your entire investor relations hedge fund team must be on the same page. Your colleagues should not be trying to undercut you in order to increase their own stats, and vice versa. Because of the relatively open hierarchy within most financial institutions, this is not a problem, but there are certain situations in which you may find yourself pitted against a colleague directly.
In cases such as this, the investor relations hedge fund team must come before any personal ego. The politics of the office can be quite difficult to navigate; however, there are no politics without clients. If you garner a reputation for putting the team first, your supervisors will be sure to associate all positive movement forward within the investor relations hedge fund team with you.
The Bottom Line
In short, being a company man (or woman) is one of the most important aspects of keeping clients in bad economic times. Catering to the client is also incredibly important. Be sure that you create these personal relationships so that people will give you the opportunity to be trusted in bear markets or sideways markets. It is this trust that will give you longevity in the financial industry.
