The Five Ways You May Be Wasting Money in Performance Measurement

Let's start with a joke: As a salesman approaches a farmhouse door, he notices a three-legged pig hobbling about on the front porch. The salesman knocks on the door and is greeted by the farmer. Before making his pitch he asks "what happened to this pig's leg."

The farmer responds "oh, this is Bessie. She's a marvelous pig. There was the time when a fire started in the house. Bessie saw it, came in to my room, and woke me up. I was able to put the fire out before it spread. If it hadn't been for her, the house would have burned down, and me and my family would have died!"

"Very interesting," says the salesman, "but what happened to her leg?"

The farmer continued: "then there was the time that our youngest daughter, Mary, fell into the pond. Bessie swam in and dragged her out. Mary would have drowned had it not been for Bessie."

"Wow, Bessie is quite an impressive pig. But I'm curious to know what happened to her leg" responded the salesman.

"Son, with a pig like Bessie, you can't eat it all at once!"

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Okay, so much for the joke. How does it relate to this topic? Well, with a title that begins "The Five Ways" I think it best that we don't discuss it all at once, but rather over a five day period.

#1 Not Being GIPS Compliant

You may be wondering what money you're wasting if you're not compliant with GIPS(R) (Global Investment Performance Standards), since it costs money to comply.  Answer: much of the money you spend on marketing, sales, and responding to requests for proposal, because the failure to comply makes these efforts much more challenging, and much of your investment in selling is lost because of the inability to respond "yes" to the question "Are you compliant with the GIPS standards?" In the institutional space, lack of compliance places a firm at a marketing disadvantage, and therefore results in wasting money in pursuit of many prospects that are beyond your reach.

If your particular market isn't institutional, where compliance is a de facto standard, you're still wasting money, because you're competing on a level playing field with the other firms that aren't compliant. Why not make an investment in compliance, so that you obtain a marketing advantage!

p.s., Reminder: there's still time to sign up for next Monday's free webinar on the GIPS Standards. To register, contact Jaime Puerschner or Patrick Fowler.