Standard differences: differentiation through standardization?

摘要

As hedge funds and asset managers increasingly compete for mandates, the standard sales process is starting to buckle. Take a typical sales visit by an institutional investor: 1. 60-minute presentation - we are the best because this is our theory, which is ours, and it is the best and we back-tested it and it was great - or we don't need to back-test it because we are great; 2. 60-minute interview with principal trader/strategist - I am the best, because I am and I always have been - except when I was with a house whose pockets weren't deep enough to see me through; and 3. 15-minute preliminary due diligence chat - we are the greatest, so we run the greatest shop and we never make mistakes.