War Stories Archive
“Every battle is won before it is ever fought.”
— Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Hot Dot Company entered an important finals presentation feeling confident. The firm’s numbers were not merely first-quartile but literally off-the-charts: a series of dots well above the floating bars that would be the envy of any investment company. A few senior members of the Hot Dot team had recently left to form their own firm. But the tenured successor team inherited a well-defined investment process supported by substantial resources — and those off-the-charts numbers kept rolling in quarter after quarter.
The finals presentation seemed to go smoothly, and no one even asked about the departure of senior team members. Hot Dot assumed that the consultant had covered this issue in advance to the satisfaction of the selection committee.
Hot Dot assumed wrong. When Hot Dot lost the finals, the consultant explained only that a competitor had done an exceptionally good job of telling its story. After this experience, Hot Dot hired a market researcher to conduct systematic win/loss interviews. Through experienced probing in a telephone interview, the researcher learned what Hot Dot could not comfortably glean from the consultant: what Hot Dot should have done differently and how the competitor excelled.
What Hot Dot should have done differently: Prior market research would very likely have revealed the need for explicit assurances regarding the new, less senior team taking the helm. Hindsight maybe 20/20 (perfect) vision, but research can impart 20/30 (almost perfect) vision. The members of the selection committee did not ask any questions about the defection of senior team members. But they expected answers. They expected Hot Dot to address this key issue as part of its presentation. Its failure to do so was perceived as a glaring omission that — combined with the excellence of a competitor’s presentation — resulted in the loss of a marquee piece of business.
How the competitor excelled: The winning firm did a better job — simply by virtue of on-target examples showing how a security actually entered and exited the portfolio. According to a key member of the selection committee, the competitor also “showed that they really cared more about us and our business” by explicitly addressing the goals of the investment mandate.
Hot Dot is now looking for a presentation training firm.
Moral: Military intelligence and training is most effective before a major battle.
Here’s a related story showing how an investment company used research insights to build a winning presentation.