We recently hosted a webinar about how technology and relationships are driving deals in Investment Banking. Affinity customer and Managing Partner at Corporate Advisory Solutions (CAS), Michael Lamm joined our VP of Marketing, Paul Ross, for a discussion about how CAS shifted operations and leveraged technology to adapt to market changes and propel their deal processes, win more mandates, and utilize relationships to shape opportunities.
Michael talked about what the start of shelter in place looked like for CAS saying that “when the pandemic hit most if not all of our transactions went on hold until people could figure out what the game plan was.”
For a traditionally travel intensive industry this change could have been difficult, but it wasn’t. Having the right technology stack helped CAS make that shift seamlessly. “We moved into a virtual deal environment, closing transactions without face-to-face interaction.”
In fact, according to Michael “the virtual world has become much more efficient and cost effective. We were living on Zoom. We even had scenarios where we were doing on-site facility tours or meetings we were recording and sharing with the buyer prospects to give them insights into the operations.”
Keeping prospects engaged was critical as CAS shifted to digital—and Affinity was key to the rollout of this strategy.
“The first thing we did once we got all of our emails and contacts into Affinity was to filter it down to break them into buckets. In doing so we were able to develop different engagement strategies for each of our markets. In our world, we don’t meet someone tomorrow and they’re ready to buy or sell—it may be a 3-year process. We want to nurture that relationship so that in 2-3 years they know us, our firm, and our capabilities. With or without the face-to-face interaction we usually have.”
Using relationship intelligence, CAS was able to efficiently stay in front of their target markets, which ultimately helped drive better decisions, making CAS “more intelligent on whether a prospect is good before we travel.”
The pandemic upended life overnight. Relationship-driven industries such as investment banking were forced to shift thinking and strategy quickly to adapt. This meant reevaluating whether the technology supporting their deal making and their operations are really making a difference. With Affinity, CAS was able to make this transition successfully, improving overall deal flow.
Watch the webinar on demand or read the case study to learn more about how CAS used Affinity to improve deal flow. Ready to try Affinity for yourself? Get started with your free trial today.
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