5 Key Pieces of Technology to Turbocharge Your AUM Growth

Investors have gone online. Your fundraising and distribution must go online also to reach them, an approach we call Digital Distribution™.

What technology do you need to be effective? What is the tech stack of success?

The Big 5

There are five pieces of technology needed to succeed with a digital approach to distribution. This technology is the foundation of your Digital Wholesaling Platform. Each element of your platform works together to guide your potential client through their journey to become an investor, and guides your team in facilitating and optimizing the process. How does each piece of technology contribute to results?

• CRM: Your hub
• Data: Start strong and build
• Website: Your #1 salesperson
• Marketing Automation: One to many
• Sales Enablement: One to one

1. CRM: Your Hub

An effective CRM enables you to powerfully leverage your sales and marketing resources in diverse and synergistic ways:

• Organize contact data
• Free the sales team to focus on high-value activities
• Report on sales activity & forecasting
• Automate and scale your sales activity
• Increase revenue & profitability
• Segment prospects across demographics, products, and strength of opportunity
• Detailed revenue attribution
• Align sales and marketing
• Grow your business

At GK3 Capital, we use HubSpot, the industry leader for inbound marketing, as our go-to CRM. Salesforce is also popular among financial services firms. A solid CRM and consistent use will enable you to identify and elevate the marketing and sales activities that drive revenues and growth.

“Over time, your CRM will serve as your ‘single source of truth’ for your outreach.”

2. Data: Start Strong and Build

Start with as strong a data source as you can find. The data should encompass a broad population within your key target markets and should include key details about each of your prospects. You should acquire as much data as you can at the start and increase the breadth and depth of your data over time.

There are several important actions you need to take on an ongoing basis to maximize the value of your data, and to make sure a potential client can become an actual client.

Robust Profiles

First, for each prospect, start with data that include expansive profiles for each prospect. While there are many data sources available, we always start with Discovery Data.

Intent Behavior

Second, you must combine each record with intent behavior. For example:

• What pages did the prospect view on your website?
• What forms did they complete?
• What material did they download?

Your CRM should automatically record each of these interactions so that your sales and marketing team can drive the business development process.

Signals and Lead Scoring

By measuring and analyzing each interaction—or signal—you can develop a lead score to help drive and guide the actions of the sales team. Lead scoring magnifies the value of your data. A real-time lead scoring process ensures that your sales professionals focus on the most interested prospects in a timely manner.

3. Website: Your #1 Salesperson

The next key technology component is your website. Your website is where all the digital interactions occur with your future clients. You must no longer think of your website as an online brochure.

Consider your website to be your #1 salesperson, working 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, having conversations and beginning relationships with your future clients. To drive that process, an effective website must be engineered for conversions and sales.

Conversions Are Key

What is a conversion? A conversion is an exchange of information. A visitor provides you with contact details (and potentially other information about themselves) in exchange for your thought leadership and guidance.

As these conversions take place, it’s up to you to continue the conversation with relevant content. You accomplish that through Marketing Automation, which is the fourth key component of your technology and Digital Wholesaling Platform.

4. Marketing Automation: Communicate “One to Many” With Discipline

Marketing automation enables you to send tailored communications “one to many,” leveraging the time and efforts of your digital distribution team.

Marketing automation streamlines, automates, and measures marketing tasks, such as:

Without marketing automation, many of these tasks are impossible to accomplish manually. Marketing automation improves your efficiency and enables you to reach large numbers of potential clients at scale.

Ultimately, marketing automation provides a steady stream of signals that prospects are ready for a sales conversation as they engage with your content and your firm. You then employ Sales Enablement technology to automate the sales process.

“Marketing automation enables you to reach large numbers of potential clients at scale.”

5. Sales Enablement: Communicate “One to One” Systematically and Close More Sales

While marketing automation is meant to communicate with a broad audience, from “one to many,” sales enablement is meant to communicate with potential customers “one to one.”

Sales enablement provides the tools for your sales team to be disciplined and effective.

Why You Need Sales Automation

Research tells us that a minimum of 8 “touches” are needed before an advisor is ready to commit to an allocation. Unfortunately, most salespeople move on after an average of 1.8 interactions with a prospect, far too early.

Sales enablement technology provides the structure and automation needed to give salespeople the highest likelihood of success.

How Technology Empowers You

The technology supporting Digital Distribution™ provides you with the tools for marketing and sales success. Technology empowers you to:

• Identify your next client
• Connect with them at the appropriate time
• Communicate with them throughout the sales process
• Onboard them as a client

Next Steps in Your Digital Transformation