SD-15.9 — Consultant & Gatekeeper Relations
Business Domain: BD-15 Distribution, Product & Client Management (Commercial) · Applies: BOTH
Purpose
Manages the firm’s relationship with the investment consultants and gatekeepers who shape which managers win institutional mandates. SD-15.9 exists because, for much of the institutional market, the investment consultant is the gatekeeper — a manager rated and recommended by the major consultants wins flow; one that is not does not. It manages the consultant relationships, keeps the consultant databases current with the firm’s data, and works the manager-research and ratings process. It is not the sale to the end client — that is SD-15.7 — and it is not the buyer’s use of a consultant; an asset owner that hires a consultant to select managers is on the BD-03 side. SD-15.9 is the manager’s side of the consultant relationship.
Service Operations
- Manage consultant relationships — manage the firm’s relationships with the investment consultants and the field consultants.
- Maintain the consultant databases — keep the firm’s product, performance and firm data current in the consultant databases and research platforms.
- Support the manager-research process — support the consultants’ manager-research and ratings process: meetings, data requests, due diligence.
- Track ratings and buy-list status — track the firm’s ratings and buy-list status across the consultants, and the flow consequences.
- Manage consultant intelligence — gather and act on the intelligence the consultant relationships provide on searches and demand.
Inputs and outputs
- Inputs: the consultants and their databases; the firm’s product, performance and operational data; consultant search and demand intelligence.
- Outputs: the consultant relationships, the ratings status and the search intelligence — consumed by SD-15.7 (the opportunities a rating unlocks), SD-15.4 and SD-15.1.
Entities
- Consumes: E-01 Legal Entity (the consultants), the firm’s product and performance data.
- Owns: the consultant-relationship and ratings record — a process artefact.
Standards
- No external standard governs consultant relations; the major manager-research and consultant-database platforms are the reference.
Open extensions
- The ratings-and-buy-list tracking sub-model.
- The Service-Operation-level input/output contracts.