A series of Greenwich Associates studies have found that managers with poor client service functions or relationship management efforts are more at risk for client termination than competitors with strong capabilities in these areas.
Poor client relationships can even override past performance, Greenwich found.
Developing and maintaining a solid relationship and high levels of client service capabilities with a client can even save clients during periods of poor performance.
To collect data for the studies, Greenwich Associates calculated termination rates for asset managers using data collected during its 2005 U.S. Investment Management Research Study. During the previous study, Greenwich Associates interviewed 1,050 U.S. pension funds, endowments and foundations and asked them to evaluate their asset managers.
Managers were also ranked into three tiers based on the quality of client service based on evaluations sent to the institutions.