To most couch potatoes, the commercials are what you put up with to watch the entertaining content.
But to advertisers, the content is just what keeps your attention while they sell to you.
The content is the vehicle, but selling is the goal.
The best investment bankers know they are salespeople, but most resist this idea for two reasons.
First, almost all of us have been conditioned to have a negative connotation to selling.
Having recently bought a car I was reminded why, but excellent salespeople aren’t like that.
They are more like people who are excellent at becoming friends with their clients, and then helping their friends achieve their goals.
The second reason most investment bankers resist the idea they are salespeople is they are still living under the illusion that investment banking is about doing deals.
No it’s not. Investment banking isn’t about doing deals.
It is a deal business.
Doing deals is the service a banker performs, but it is selling deals that drives the business.
Those who don’t understand the distinction don’t go very far.
The same is true on the buy-side.
Most of us get into the business of investing because we want to be investors.
But the difference between being a great investor and being great at building an investing business is like the 3% difference between you and an Orangutan.
I know an incredibly successful investor who has generated 20%+ IRRs for nearly a decade, but he still only manages $80 million.
You don’t build a great investment business by being a great investor, but by being great at accumulating and maintaining capital.
The distinction might seem small, but the difference is enormous.