Throughout my career, I have worked with a wide range of investment banks — from major US and European banks to smaller, lesser-known firms based mainly in Europe and the US.
Ten things I’ve learned about investment banks and clients — as a client:
1. Paying attention is not enough. For example, knowing executives on an informal basis is one of the most important elements in client relations. However, there is no way to teach this kind of informal work other than to fail a few times. The hurdle everyone faces isn’t simply getting noticed but getting believed.
2. Clients prefer teams. Clients consider the teams serving them as direct windows into the bank’s capabilities. The era of the individual virtuoso is declining. This is obvious, but some investment banks don’t seem to get it.
3. Although clients ‘like’ quality work, they ‘love’ impact. The work of banks should be better than clients expect, but not more or less than the situation calls for (clients dislike surprises).
4. Investment banks must never confuse success with excellence. Many firms have enjoyed a lot of the former. Most do not have enough of the latter. Don’t confuse awards with achievement.
5. Clients need stroking and affection — they are human beings first. It isn’t necessarily part of the service banks offer, but a thoughtfully developed, regular personal dialogue with clients can put a useful, highly positive frame of reference around the work bankers do with them.
6. Outstanding work is remembered for a year; poor work lingers on for a decade. Message: relatively small client projects are key in terms of reputational impact. It’s not the big things that will kill you — it’s the accumulation of little things. The essence of investment banking seen through the lens of bankers? Creating ‘referral value’.
7. Clients admire the ability to mobilize the best of the best — the ‘right few’ — across the bank. They expect investment banks to be intellectually vibrant, professionally proactive, and continually innovative. Don’t spin a story — ‘be’ a story.
8. The most valuable contributions to clients are not analytically based. The best advice I receive is usually judgmental by nature. Occasionally, the most valuable contributions consist simply of asking the right question at the right moment. Having all the answers is less important than knowing what to ask.
9. Investment bankers must tell clients the truth. William Blake, the English poet, said it best: “When I tell any truth, it is not just for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those who do.” Make the truth as interesting as it can be.
10. Investment banks are about clients, people, ideas, and relationships tied together by a collaborative mindset. They have to continually make investments along all four dimensions. That sounds like a ‘motherhood and apple pie’ statement — it isn’t.
— published on LinkedIn | 02.02.26