Sellwood’s Ryan Harvey was the featured columnist in FundFire’s “Your Q&A” column, which FundFire describes as “your opportunity to get your questions answered by industry leaders,” on September 10.

The column begins:

Q: What is the top question that asset management firms should ask themselves before deciding to pursue a search? How can distribution executives make better decisions about which RFPs to pursue and how to allocate their team’s limited resources?

A: Before responding to an RFP, the most important question a manager can ask is how thoroughly it understands the potential client. All other questions are secondary. ...

The column concludes:

It is hard work for a manager to match an investment product to a client – but it becomes easier to the degree that managers can see the process as less about making a sale and more about creating a partnership. Thorough research specific to a potential institutional client’s needs is the necessary first step in the creation of that partnership.

You may read the whole article on FundFire’s site, or download a PDF of the article.