Ever have excess workflow or a looming deadline? How about unexpected employee turnover at just the wrong time? These are just a few challenges investment managers face with RFP and database functions.

Compass was founded to help alleviate many of these issues. Whether it is a one off project or a long term contract, Compass offers an array of affordable, flexible and professional services that meet your needs. Never miss a deadline again. Manager searches that you may have passed on previously because of capacity now become new found opportunities.

When it comes to preparing RFPs, have you ever wondered if your in-house RFP staff is using best practices? Is your RFP staff still using Microsoft Word files to store standardized RFP responses? Do you know if your firm's data is being loaded to consultant databases accurately, thoroughly and in a timely manner?

These are serious questions that managers of in-house RFP teams should be asking themselves continuously. In this ever increasingly competitive market, it is essential that investment managers continually review the pulse of their business to ensure their materials are of the highest quality while optimizing efficiency and cost.

Through our consulting and customized services, Compass can help you answer these questions and set a distinct course for your group to become even more successful.

Compass Institutional Marketing offers a variety of services that investment managers can engage individually or as a full package.

We are flexible to meet our client's needs and no job is too small or too big.

Consultant Database Outsourcing:

Compass also offers quarterly database population and maintenance services for those managers looking to control costs, speed up the data entry process and enhance the overall maintenance of consultant and third-party databases. Our experience and relationships with consultants allows us to get candid feedback and assistance from the data groups, which helps us gain the best insight on how your data should be portrayed. With more and more consultants and plan sponsors using databases to conduct searches rather than issuing an RFP, it is becoming clearer that populating information into the consultant and third party databases is critical to new business development for an investment manager.

Consultant Database Auditing and Cleanup:

Consultant Database Auditing and Cleanup entails reviewing 16 major consultant and third-party databases. We will review the investment manager's historical data in the consultant databases, identify gaps and make the appropriate edits to ensure the data is thoroughly and accurately populated. Since databases are so important to the institutional investment sales cycle, the process of auditing and cleaning up historical data is essential for promoting and acquiring new business.

RFP/RFI Outsourcing:

This service encompasses the full completion of RFPs/RFIs including:

• initial review of RFP with client
• completion of a draft
• final editing with client
• packaging and shipping

This service is offered on a long term basis or for temporary assignments. Often times there can be employee turnover, illness or critical circumstances that make an investment manager's RFP Team vulnerable. In addition, excess workloads and tight deadlines are other pressures that investment managers continually face. Since RFPs are often the first opportunity to create a positive impression of your firm, it is critical that this function be well maintained. Compass offers the security of knowing the work will get done in a professional and affordable manner. Our goal is to help investment managers capitalize on all search opportunities.

RFP Consulting:

The RFP consulting aspect of Compass' business focuses on reviewing a manager's existing RFP process, including: format, presentation, and content quality. In addition to reviewing the more cosmetic aspects of the RFP, we also highlight any areas of improvement that could be utilized to gain added capacity or create greater efficiencies. This might include the recommendation of software applications or building tools internally with existing technology to help streamline certain processes.

Process usually involves a two day onsite visit with a final summation delivered within 2 weeks.

RFP Content Build Out:

Often times, an investment manager's RFP or marketing team is quite involved with higher priority initiatives such as completing RFPs, client due diligence requests and consultant databases. This usually creates a situation where most managers don't have time to focus on new projects. RFP Content Build Out means, Compass is available to either (a) revitalize RFP responses by working with an investment manager's in-house Subject Matter Experts, (b) we can assist in building a library of RFP responses and (c) we can make recommendations on what RFP software packages are available to our clients.

Product Positioning

For smaller firms looking for direction on the best places to promote their products, our product positioning services guides them to the most appropriate consultant and third-party databases, publications and consultants. Additionally, we can assist firms interested in exploring new business development in other countries by determining which marketing and consultant databases they should populate in each region (i.e. Australia, Europe and/or Asia).

Internal Sales Reference Guides

The sales reference guide entails the production of a concise report, typically 1-3 pages. This summary contains all the vital firm and product information needed by marketing, sales, client service and management to effectively communicate a consistent message to clients, prospects and consultants. Clear and concise summary data makes for a well informed marketing representative and in turn improves overall sales opportunities. This type of report includes data such as assets under management, performance, benchmark data, portfolio characteristics, risk statistics, account turnover, investment professional information.

Client Due Diligence Requests

Client due diligence requests often mirror the data needed for the preparation of RFPs and consultant databases. Because of this correlation of information, we are typically quite familiar, equipped and available to prepare such requests. Just as important as the RFPs and databases are to the institutional sales cycle, the client due diligence requests are critical for retaining existing clients. We understand this importance and help our investment managers deliver to their clients exceptional reporting in a timely manner.