promotional material was sent to 1,700 practicing investment
professionals in this area. In response, 12 brave pioneers signed
up. The participant feedback was as follows:“The learnings were uniquely rich; the strong quantitative skills
of the IASC attendees were challenged and complemented by
the layering of qualitative skills necessary for creativity and col-
laboration. My expectations were greatly surpassed. Effective
teaching methods that encourage immediate application of
learnings to real work/life situations.”
“Terrific workshop. Good practical skills for investment teams.”
“Day flew by—excellent involvement (not too much, not too
little). Many interesting exercises to take back to the office.”
“Quality of instruction and content was excellent.”When we reviewed this feedback, obviously we were pleased. We
did what any red-blooded American marketer would do: we printed
up a course description with these endorsements—from satisfied
customers of the new product—and sent it out again to the 1,700
local members. Further, we sent the promotional material to more
than 50 local investment chapters (comprised of 37,000 CFA des-
ignation holders worldwide) around the country, which could have
translated into several thousand more prospects.
Given the preceding discussion about the importance of team-
work in the investment field, you might think that this sort of
training, designed by and for investment professionals, would be
a smash hit. Brian and I expected to have to free our schedules for
weeks to come to handle the deluge of requests, especially after it
was “tested” (first set of guinea pigs had attended) and became a
proven product.
The results? Three people signed up locally, and three chapter
presidents called with lukewarm inquiries. That was it. The localTeamwork Today? 7108-13 ware 71 1/19/01, 1:10 PM