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Blog · Coverage and territory · Asset managers

Ten questions a head of distribution asks, and the table that answers each

The ten questions an asset manager's head of distribution puts to the wholesalers and the institutional team, where is share of wallet lowest, which intermediaries turned, which strategy is under-distributed in a channel, which consultants advise the most and rate us least, which advisers have gone quiet, which platforms are reviewing us, where are the redemptions coming from, what did the roadshow move, which relationships are single-threaded, and what changed, each with the table from the transfer agent and CRM data, and the answer to send back.

The short answerA head of distribution's questions are about intermediaries and flows, and each has a table from the transfer agent file, the positions and the CRM: share of wallet per intermediary against the norm; the redemption watch for intermediaries whose flows turned; channel mix per strategy against its peers; consultant coverage with ratings and recency; adviser contact recency against cadence; platform status and review dates; net flows by source; activity before and after a roadshow against unvisited intermediaries; single-threaded relationships; and the movements page. Each reconciles to month-end assets and net flows, and the answer to send back is a wholesaler's account of their territory from memory.

A head of distribution asks the wholesalers how their territories are going and hears about their territories. The transfer agent file and the CRM hold the territories as tables. This guide is the ten questions, the tables, and the answer to send back.

The ten

# The question The table Identity Send back
1 Which intermediaries turned? Redemption watch: flows against baseline, strategy context, runway Assets reconcile to flows and market Assets-only view
2 Where is share of wallet lowest? Share per intermediary against the norm, gap value Flows sum per strategy A share with no wallet source
3 Which strategy is under-distributed in a channel? Channel mix per strategy against peer strategies Strategy flows sum across channels A strategy total
4 Which consultants advise most and rate us least? Consultant coverage: advised assets, rating status and date, recency Mandates have an advising consultant A consultant list from memory
5 Which advisers have gone quiet? Contact recency against cadence, per wholesaler Assigned intermediaries sum Activity counts
6 Which platforms are reviewing us? Platform status, rating, review date, assets on platform Platform positions sum A platform's assurance
7 Where are the redemptions coming from? Net flows by intermediary, channel and strategy, ranked Flows sum to the strategy total Net flow as one number
8 What did the roadshow move? Flows at visited intermediaries against unvisited, same weeks Same as 7 Flows at visited only
9 Which relationships are single-threaded? Intermediaries with contacts from one wholesaler only, by assets Contact log attributed A wholesaler's word
10 What changed? The movements page Every line cites Narrative

A worked exchange

Head of distribution: Which intermediaries turned? Response: I-2207 in S-104: four million a month in, now six million a month out for three months, while the strategy gathered forty-one million. $180m at risk; runway fourteen months at this rate. Wholesaler W-04. Table 1, row 1. Head of distribution: Has anyone called them? Response: Last contact 62 days ago, by W-04; no second contact at the intermediary. Tables 5 and 9. Head of distribution: And the platform? Response: I-2207's parent platform has S-104 under review since March; review date next month. Table 6.

Three tables, one intermediary, one week to act.

Where it goes wrong

Assets watched, not flows. The market hides the turn.

Territory reviews from memory. The wholesaler's account of their own territory.

Consultants uncovered. The gatekeepers of institutional flows on nobody's list.

Roadshow measured on visited only. The market moved everyone.

Every month, ten tables

Covirage produces the ten tables from the transfer agent, positions, platform and CRM exports, with the identities checked. The asset managers page describes the setup, and the redemption watch guide covers the first table.

Questions people ask

Which question first?

The redemption watch, because flows turn months before assets fall and a wholesaler who calls at the turn has a conversation; one who calls when the assets have halved has a post-mortem. Intermediaries with three months of outflow in a strategy that is otherwise gathering are the first table.

Do these need end-client data?

No. Intermediary identifiers, strategy codes, flows and positions. The end client never appears. The CRM's activity log adds contact recency per intermediary, on the same identifiers.

What is the identity?

Assets this month equal assets last month plus net flow plus market movement, per intermediary per strategy, within a tolerance; and net flows per strategy sum across intermediaries to the strategy's total. A table that does not reconcile to the transfer agent's totals is sent back.