Week 4 — Personal Contributions

As I reflect on my contributions thus far, I believe my greatest impact is in our weekly stock pitches to the entire senior sales team. These pitches benefit the sales team because we get to pick any of the 600+ companies that the firm covers. While the salespeople know most of/all of these stories and ideas, they noted that they benefit from hearing us pitch them because we may bring a different perspective on the idea or remind them of a great idea they may have glossed over. My insights about leadership have significantly contributed to my pitching style. These pitches are meant to mimic the sales calls the staff makes to their institutional clients. Each salesperson we have spoken with has made it clear that above all this is a relationship business. They note that their clients are often some of the most brilliant people they know, so there is certainly a requirement to understand the product you are selling or else the client will know you are talking out of pocket and you will lose your credibility. The clients they sell to often get research from 20+ salespeople every morning and don’t have the time to read it all in-depth, so you need to give them a reason to read yours and definitely cannot give them a reason to not (i.e., loss of credibility). Often, the client will look at your research because it is proprietary and will drive value for their clients that other research will not. William Blair is fortunate to have their research often meet this criterion, making it easier on the salespeople given the outstanding product they are selling. However, the other reason the client would take your call over another is because of your relationship. The relationship is much more in the salesperson’s control, whereas the research analysts handle the product, which is why institutional sales is such a relationship-oriented business. To develop a lasting relationship, you must have credibility, genuinely care about helping your clients, and be personable. I was able to identify this through my insights into transactional versus transformational leadership. Salespeople that are merely transactional with their clients often do not have lasting success, especially in a volatile and cyclical business. My foremost priority in the pitches became speaking as if I were talking to a friend and was really excited about how the proprietary information I had to offer would drive long-term value for them and their clients. I also knew that I needed to put in extra work in terms of understanding the product I am selling if my tone was to be more casual, so in the questions portion of the pitch, my answers would make it apparent that the conversational tone was that of a salesperson and not of someone not taking the work seriously. Most of the intern team did not take this angle, and while they had excellent knowledge of the product, they often sounded more robotic and had trouble connecting with the sales team in our first pitch this week.