Excess Returns

Insights for Investment Marketing and Sales Professionals

How to Excel During Q&A

Many investment professionals spend significant time preparing to present without sufficient focus on Q&A prep. Investment firms should anticipate all manner of questions: tough questions, off-the-wall questions and questions where the only real answer is “I don’t know.” This issue of Excess Returns explains how to avoid common mistakes during Q&A while considering the most difficult questions confronted by asset managers.

For additional marketing and sales insights, see War Stories and Art & Science.

Presentation Lessons from the Fed

Presentation Lessons from the Fed

In helping investment professionals to improve their new business and client presentations, I often suggest looking for role models or public figures who present particularly well. In this new issue of Excess Returns, I consider the strengths that U.S. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell brings to answering all manner of challenging and sometimes confrontational questions—including questions where the only logical answer is, “I don’t know.”

How to Be More Active

How to Be More Active

As active managers continue to face stiff competition from index funds and ETFs, asset allocators use increasingly sophisticated analytics to guide external equity allocations. These include new metrics such as vintage analysis, counterfactual portfolios, deep loss evaluation and machine learning strategies. Active managers can count on more and tougher questions about how they learn from experience. The February issue of Excess Returns considers how to excel in this more challenging world.

Quantity Over Quality?

Quantity Over Quality?

Many investment companies still tend to prioritize quantity (more) over quality (better). But more all by itself usually translates into more of the same. As we approach a new year, a time for taking stock and setting priorities, the December issue of Excess Returns considers how your company can stand out by treating quality as a foundation for quantity.