As investment consultants and managers launch outsourced CIO (OCIO) services to meet institutions’ demands, consultant relations professionals who woo consultants on behalf of managers have been left with a very different job description.

Consultant relations professionals, who once had the sole objective of servicing investment consultants in the hopes of winning business from their institutional clients, now find themselves in a role more similar to that of an institutional sales professional, either selling their own OCIO services to consultants or hoping to land a spot on an investment consulting firm’s OCIO platform…

Compensation expert Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, says that complications and additional responsibilities brought on by the surge in OCIO demand has actually frustrated some consultant relations professionals who feel they aren’t being compensated for the increased assets they’re bringing to their firms as a result of OCIO sales. But if they can find a way of tracking their contribution, he says there may be more room for discussion over their future pay packages – as well as their recognition at their firms.

“Many consultant relations professionals would like a commission but in that [OCIO] world it’s harder to do,” Johnson says. “You work for a very long time to get results and when results do come, it’s hard to quantify they are do. It’s more of a base [salary] and bonus structure. If that really takes hold and brings in a lot of revenue, it will be easier to track. It will lead to more of a commission kind of approach.”

April 16, 2013