EMCORE is a boutique asset management company based in Switzerland. It is a pioneer in asymmetric risk-return investment strategies, providing tailor-made and yield-orientated risk and asset management solutions to institutional investors on a long-term basis. The company is very proud of the financial expertise, loyal client base and core values that it has fostered over the last twenty years. However, EMCORE’s owners recognise the growing importance of embracing new ideas, techniques and technologies that will enable their business to flourish into the next decade. This is especially true in the area of relationship management.
Carolina Newton is one of EMCORE’s Relationship Managers. She explains: “Part of my role is new client acquisition, but for a business like ours that aspires to creating long-term value, nurturing existing relationships is absolutely imperative. If you don’t approach relationship management in the right way, you simply will not be aware of how you could add value, build loyalty and encourage further investments.”
For Carolina, successful relationships are those based on an in-depth understanding of the client’s investment needs. “My definition of a good relationship is when the client comes to me to ask for advice, even if it’s not precisely in our area of expertise. This shows that they trust me and know that I’m engaged with their business, with my finger on the pulse of investment trends.”
As part of its drive to enhance processes, upgrade technology and boost management visibility, EMCORE took the decision to invest in Maximizer’s on-premise CRM solution.
This move has transformed the way Carolina works. She comments: “We had been using Excel spreadsheets but you just can’t manage the depth of information that you need to analyse and improve your sales and relationship performance.”
Here are four ways that the CRM is helping Carolina and the relationship team.
Efficiency
“I am saving 5-7 hours per week by using the CRM. Compared to using spreadsheets, CRM makes it far easier to monitor relationships, to know when to make contact, how best to follow up and convert leads, and to spot upsell potential with existing clients.
“Our records are now indexed, organised, easily searchable and quick to locate. I would say raw data has been converted into valuable intelligence, ensuring that we never miss an opportunity.”
Insight
“Maximizer helped us create dashboards of bespoke indictors including sales leads by stage so that I’d have a visual representation of the sales pipeline. This is a tremendous tool that has brought insight to the whole process, in particular improving forecasting and work scheduling.”
Analysis
“I’ve been able to analyse trends in my sales conversions and prospect outreach to improve the way I work. For instance, it’s already become apparent that phone calls are far more effective than email at moving prospects to the next sales stage. I suspected this was the case, but seeing the hard data inspired me to change my approach and assess how I can add the greatest value.
“I was also interested to investigate which day of the week, and time of day, I tend to get hold of the right people. Being able to index and search records by this level of detail gave the answers, and really helped to guide my future interactions.”
Personalisation
EMCORE’s marketing team also uses Maximizer for email marketing, where they send-out of their monthly email bulletin. With all content and communications centralised in the CRM, Carolina and her colleagues can view marketing activity and drill down to who’s opened the emails. “This gives me further insight into the interests and preferences of our contacts so I can add a personal touch when I ring them,” Carolina says. “The CRM is definitely helping us to bring sales, marketing and service closer together, generating a more rounded profile of our contacts so we can personalise outreach and ultimately, shorten the sales cycle.
Carolina adds: “I’m looking forward to using the CRM to generate new metrics that will help us refine the sales process even further, and working with marketing to align content with our improved client insight.”
