In investment banking, managing client relationships is central, something marketing’s classic 4Ps — Product, Price, Place, and Promotion — fails to capture.

During a multi-year study on banking excellence, I asked key decision-makers at Fortune Global 500 and Forbes Global 2000 companies what they considered the most important marketing tools of investment banks. I also asked them to rank those tools by importance. Below are the results, summarized as the ‘7Ps of investment banking’:

1. People. Alpha and omega of investment banking. Interestingly, the person is often ‘the brand’. One executive said: “I like Goldman, but loved Gregg,” [i.e., Gregg Lemkau, former Co-Head of Goldman Sachs’ Investment Banking Division]. In investment banking, the institution provides the platform, but the individual provides the trust. The bank’s greatest risk is the ‘portability of reputation’.

2. Products/services. In practice, this includes more than just the core product or service elements that respond to the client’s primary need (see ‘process’, hence, they share the number two spot). The ‘what’ is the ‘how’.

2. Process. How firms do things — the underlying processes — is often as important as what they technically offer. Process includes supplementary product/service elements like responsiveness, reliability, consistency in performance, and speed. The ‘how’ is the ‘what’.

4. Pricing. Pricing matters, but not as much as bankers think. Clients often mention non-monetary costs such as wasted time or unproductive meetings. Many said pricing (typical quote) “isn’t their top concern,” provided the value and relationship are strong.

5. Promotion. Clients view promotion not as advertising, but as (quote) “communication and education.” In other words, promotion means guiding them effectively through the bank’s services, processes, and people (their experience). Conferences, IR days, and in-person interactions matter, including informal gatherings where relationships deepen. Message: Pedagogy trumps persuasion. Be a professor, not a promoter.

6. Place (refers to product/service delivery). Today, many services are delivered electronically, meaning they can be delivered almost instantaneously to any location in the world. Still, in critical moments, clients want to meet face-to-face. They appreciate the fact that bankers visit them regularly, systematically, and on time. Place equals the client’s boardroom.

7. Physical environment. Offices, materials, and professional appearance send subtle (tangible) cues. While not decisive, key decision-makers/clients admit they are not insensitive to the signals of quality those cues produce.

For more details, visit www.pieterklaasjagersma.com/reports.