We may live in the age of Zoom and remote work, but local networks are as relevant today as ever for investment bankers and placement agents. This article explores why, probes the strength of your local network, and provides tactics.

Why do local networks matter?

1. Building relationships: Personal relationships are as important as ever to have the trust and influence to get shit done. Zoom is a very powerful tool, but in-person human interactions build deeper relationships faster.

2. Community matters: People also trust people much faster when they view them as a member of their community.  While community doesn’t have to be local, people will always view people in their broader metropolitan area (or local town) as part of their community.  People view you as part of their community when you share many relationships in common, especially if those relationships are with leaders of the community.  It’s more valuable to have many of your top relationships in the same local community because it will help you widen your reach in your community more than if your top relationships are spread over a wide geography.

3. Local roadshows: Roadshows are incredibly effective at opening doors and accelerating pipeline momentum, and the lowest hanging fruit is to run roadshows in your local market.

4. Be the go-to person in your market: You can be incredibly valuable as a participant on the platform if you’re the go-to person in your local market.  Develop a reputation on the platform and with your clients as the person that “knows everybody” in xyz city.

5. Local depth: There are enough investors / buyers in just about every market to make an incredible living if you just crack it.

6. Cover under-covered accounts: Every city has lots of large investors that few people sitting in cities like NY cover. Family offices in particular tend to fly under the radar, and family offices tend to know the other family offices in town.

7. Local referrals: People are more likely to introduce you to another person locally in the community than a non-local.

8. Tie goes to the local:  All else being equal, somebody is more likely to favor somebody in their local network over a non-local.

9. Cost: It’s much less costly to meet with local investors than to meet people further away.

Have you cracked your local community?

1. Roadshow: Do you run local roadshows regularly?

2. Local leadership: Do you have leadership positions in local industry associations?

3. Closed transactions: Have you closed large transactions with many investors in your market?

4. Senior relationships: Do you have relationships with the C suite of the top companies you want to represent in your local market?

How do I improve my local relationships?

1. Leverage NEXUS: Build a coverage universe in NEXUS, our operating system, using the location filter to identify all the local groups.  Our 70k+ investor groups include typically 300-2,000 investors per in all the top 15 largest metro areas in the US.

2. Run a campaign: Reach out to your target universe in a campaign via both LinkedIn and email to set up calls/meetings.

3. Be a local resource to people: Don’t view people as just prospects for your deals, and they won’t view you as just somebody selling them your deals.

4. Join/build local industry groups: Don’t just attend - seek out leadership roles and other opportunities to work with people. Volunteer, put in the time, and it’ll pay dividends.

5. Attend local conferences: Check out the Industry Events tab in NEXUS (under Tasks & Events) which has 122 events currently listed with the ability to filter based on location.

6. Create your own events: Bring people together, and encourage people to bring their friends. Make it a “thing” you do regularly that people want to be a part of.

7. Host roadshows: Set a goal of having one client visit you locally per quarter for 2 days of meetings with investors / buyers. If you aren’t running roadshows, you’re really missing a huge opportunity.

8. Local service providers: Attorneys, accountants, prime brokers, etc. can serve as a great network extension.  They’re often also trying to build their local network, and they can be great collaborators in your efforts.  They don’t compete with you, and they’re likely to open doors if you do the same.

Note: for metropolitan areas as large as NYC, this same principal can be applied to smaller sub-markets such as Fairfield county.

Happy hunting!

Here is the link to the article on LinkedIn.