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How Investment Management Firm, Allan Gray, Became (& Stays) So Successful
Investment Management Firm’s Success Starts With Values
I just got back from an amazing two weeks in South Africa, where I spoke at the Seamless Africa Conference, interviewed people like today’s podcast guest, Nomi Bodlani from investment management firm, Allan Gray and then explored the history, politics, beauty and wine of the region.
Get your FREE Transcript Now!
(If you are curious, you can see my photos and video clips from Cape Town and surrounding regions here.)
Nomi Bodlani is the Client Experience Team Lead at Allan Gray. The company was founded in 1973, and has been hugely successful. The founder of this investment management firm, Allan Gray, is now one of the richest men in the world. The firm itself is the largest privately-owned asset manager in South Africa, according to Forbes, with $35 billion in assets.
What impressed me about the company is that from the start it has been values-driven and customer focused. Over and over again in our interview Bodlani talked about how the values (or what I call the Promise in the 3P Profit Formula) have been used to guide decisions at the firm.
Values Are Clear, Explicit & Guide Decisions
The core values, says Bodlani, are for the firm and its employees to be:
* client focused
* individually accountable
* independent minded
* performance driven
* long-term oriented.
Employees Train on Values & the Technical Side
New employees in this 1,000 person firm undergo extensive training on the values as well as the technical aspects of their jobs.
During their first three days of training they hear super-hero stories about extraordinary lengths investment management front line and other staff have gone to in order to solve client problems or exceed their expectations.
The company has also chosen to keep its set of investment products simple. Keeping things simple makes it easier for staff and clients to understand and choose the right vehicles for their investment goals.
It is just too easy for companies to get carried away with new products and features. When that happens, their staff can’t reasonably be expected to know and understand them all, let alone explain them to clients. Often that can lead to the downfall of companies, as many a high-tech entrepreneur has learned the hard way.
Allan Gray has avoided that trap, although, admittedly it does mean that they are not on the cutting edge of new products or whizz bang website technology.
On the other hand, the solid relationships between the company, its investment managers and its clients meant that “our clients still trusted us even though our website didn’t look like the others they saw.”
Think About The Why
In training, employees are taught to consider how every aspect of what they do, no matter what part of the organization they work in, has an eventual impact on customer satisfaction.
Even something as mundane as making sure they get the client’s name and contact information right isn’t just a checklist item: if you get something wrong, it could mean that the client doesn’t get what they are waiting for, or that their privacy is violated because somebo...
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Investment Management Firm’s Success Starts With Values
I just got back from an amazing two weeks in South Africa, where I spoke at the Seamless Africa Conference, interviewed people like today’s podcast guest, Nomi Bodlani from investment management firm, Allan Gray and then explored the history, politics, beauty and wine of the region.
Get your FREE Transcript Now!
(If you are curious, you can see my photos and video clips from Cape Town and surrounding regions here.)
Nomi Bodlani is the Client Experience Team Lead at Allan Gray. The company was founded in 1973, and has been hugely successful. The founder of this investment management firm, Allan Gray, is now one of the richest men in the world. The firm itself is the largest privately-owned asset manager in South Africa, according to Forbes, with $35 billion in assets.
What impressed me about the company is that from the start it has been values-driven and customer focused. Over and over again in our interview Bodlani talked about how the values (or what I call the Promise in the 3P Profit Formula) have been used to guide decisions at the firm.
Values Are Clear, Explicit & Guide Decisions
The core values, says Bodlani, are for the firm and its employees to be:
* client focused
* individually accountable
* independent minded
* performance driven
* long-term oriented.
Employees Train on Values & the Technical Side
New employees in this 1,000 person firm undergo extensive training on the values as well as the technical aspects of their jobs.
During their first three days of training they hear super-hero stories about extraordinary lengths investment management front line and other staff have gone to in order to solve client problems or exceed their expectations.
The company has also chosen to keep its set of investment products simple. Keeping things simple makes it easier for staff and clients to understand and choose the right vehicles for their investment goals.
It is just too easy for companies to get carried away with new products and features. When that happens, their staff can’t reasonably be expected to know and understand them all, let alone explain them to clients. Often that can lead to the downfall of companies, as many a high-tech entrepreneur has learned the hard way.
Allan Gray has avoided that trap, although, admittedly it does mean that they are not on the cutting edge of new products or whizz bang website technology.
On the other hand, the solid relationships between the company, its investment managers and its clients meant that “our clients still trusted us even though our website didn’t look like the others they saw.”
Think About The Why
In training, employees are taught to consider how every aspect of what they do, no matter what part of the organization they work in, has an eventual impact on customer satisfaction.
Even something as mundane as making sure they get the client’s name and contact information right isn’t just a checklist item: if you get something wrong, it could mean that the client doesn’t get what they are waiting for, or that their privacy is violated because somebo...